Vice President, Associate Experience Design Director

GSW, powered by Syneos Health; Santa Monica (CA); Hybrid; USD 145,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits (Medical, Dental, VIsn

401k match

Flexible PTO

Job summary

GSW Santa Monica is seeking a VP, Experience Design Director to lead creative direction and delivery of brand experiences for healthcare accounts. Hybrid role for the LA area; remote PST/MST candidates may be considered.

The role partners with senior Experience Design leadership to translate brand strategy into intuitive, engaging experiences across web, mobile, immersive environments, and emerging platforms.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in digital/experience design with leadership across multiple accounts.
• Advanced Figma skills: scalable components, auto layout, prototyping, workflows.
• Ability to build and govern Figma design systems; teach advanced techniques.
• Strong portfolio showing visual/interaction design and scalable systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in design or related field; or equivalent with portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Lead experience design across multiple accounts and establish creative vision.
• Direct day-to-day experience team; ensure alignment and quality.
• Drive strategic discussions with clients and cross-functional leads.
• Mentor designers and manage workloads; develop talent.
• Lead new business pitches and contribute to agency initiatives.

Skills

Figma expert

Design leadership

Figma design systems

Adobe Creative Cloud

Presentation skills

Healthcare advertising

Emerging channels (XR/VR/AR)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in design

Tools

Figma Weave

Comfy

Job description

Description
Our GSW Santa Monica team is hiring a VP, Experience Design Director.

Description
Our GSW Santa Monica team is hiring a VP, Experience Design Director.
This is a hybrid role if living in the LA area. Will consider remote PST or MST candidates.
The VP Experience Design Director leads the creative direction and delivery of brand experiences across multiple healthcare accounts. This role partners with senior Experience Design leadership to translate brand strategy and audience needs into intuitive,engaging experiences across web, mobile, immersive environments, and emergingplatforms. The VP Experience Director provides day-to-day team direction, maintains creative standards, and builds trusted client relationships while helping shape the agency’s experience design practice.
The ideal candidate combines exceptional visual and interaction design judgment with advanced, hands-on Figma expertise. They lead with professionalism and accountability, approaching challenges constructively and taking initiative to turn concerns into actionable solutions. They can guide complex design systems and prototypes, resolve design challenges directly, and develop the capabilities of the team. Success requires close partnership with UX, technology, copy, creative, account, strategy, and medical teams to create accurate, accessible experiences for healthcare professional, patient, and consumer audiences.
Responsibilities:

• Lead experience design across multiple accounts, partnering with senior Experience Design leadership to establish and maintain the creative vision for assigned brands.
• Provide day-to-day direction to the experience team, facilitate creative reviews, and review all experience work for strategic alignment, brand consistency, accessibility, and creative quality.
• Drive strategic and tactical discussions with clients and account teams. Partner with strategy, account, and medical leads on overarching brand experience initiatives and client points of view.
• Build and nurture client relationships, present work with clear rationale, and proactively identify promotional opportunities and organic account growth.
• Set standards for Figma design systems, component libraries, and collaborative workflows. Personally resolve complex design and prototyping challenges and coach designers in advanced Figma practices.
• Guide concepts, interaction models, prototypes, animations, and presentations that explain what should be built, how it should work, and why it matters to the audience.
• Partner with UX and technology teams to ensure experiences are feasible, accessible, and responsive to audience needs across digital and emerging channels.
• Review scope assumptions and creative team hours for deliverables with account and project management partners, aligning creative ambition with available resources.
• Manage staNing and workloads, match talent to project needs, and maintain high standards across concurrent engagements.
• Mentor designers and design leaders through clear feedback, performance guidance, and active support for career development.
• Consult with creative leadership, account services, project management, and other agency partners to achieve agency objectives and resolve delivery challenges.
• Participate in agency leadership, champion the agency’s vision and initiatives, and lead experience design eNorts for new business pitches.
• Keep the team current with design tools, emerging technologies, healthcare audience expectations, and regulatory considerations relevant to the work.

Qualification Requirements:

• 10+ years of relevant experience in digital design, experience design, interactive design, or a related creative discipline, with demonstrated leadership across multiple accounts and multidisciplinary teams.
• Advanced Figma skills are required, including scalable component libraries,variants and component properties, auto layout, variables and modes, advanced interactive prototyping, and collaborative workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to build, govern, and evolve Figma design systems, troubleshoot complex files, and extend components without breaking existing systems. Must be able to work directly in Figma and teach advanced techniques to others.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional visual and interaction design, scalable design systems, and the ability to connect creative decisions to audience needs and business objectives.
• Deep understanding of typography, composition, brand identity, visual hierarchy, and interface design across web and mobile.
• Proven ability to direct creative work, develop talent, manage workloads, and assess scope assumptions and creative eNort.
• Strong client presentation and relationship skills, with experience leading strategic discussions, supporting account growth, and contributing to new business pitches.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud and modern digital design tools such as Figma Weave or Comfy
• Familiarity with healthcare communications, regulatory review, and the accuracy required in healthcare advertising.
• A bachelor’s degree in design, visual communication, or a related creative discipline, or equivalent specialized education and relevant experience supported by a strong portfolio.
• Experience with XR/VR/AR or other emerging channels is a plus.

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $145,000 to $170,000. The base salary range represents the anticipated low and high of the Syneos Health range for this position. Actual salary will vary based on various factors such as the candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role. In addition, some positions may include eligibility to earn commissions/bonus based on company and / or individual performance.
At GSW, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace. If your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. At times, we will consider transferable skills from previous roles. We also encourage you to join our Talent Network to stay connected to additional career opportunities.
GSW is a full-service healthcare communications agency that goes beyond advertising to create personalized brand experiences that involve, inspire, educate and activate people through ongoing brand journeys. As one of the world’s ten most-awarded healthcare advertising agencies, GSW is hell-bent not to replace the same old with the same old. This is achieved through a provocative premise — if other brands communicated the way healthcare brands do, how many customers would they have? GSW turns against this premise through discovery of beneath-the-surface customer insights that we impact with stories, simplicity and authenticity.
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Syneos Health companies are affirmative action/equal opportunity employers (Minorities/Females/Veterans/Disabled)
At Syneos Health, we believe in providing an environment and culture in which Our People can thrive, develop and advance. We reward and recognize our people by providing valuable benefits and a quality-of-life balance. The benefits for this position will include a competitive compensation package, Health benefits to include Medical, Dental and Vision, Company match 401k, flexible paid time off (PTO) and sick time. Because certain states and municipalities have regulated paid sick time requirements, eligibility for paid sick time may vary depending on where you work. Syneos Health complies with all applicable federal, state, and municipal paid sick time requirements.