Senior Creative Team in Manchester

About VML

VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and human‐first, award‐winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate‐Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca‐Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester WaveTM Reports as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services, and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML's specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world's largest and most awarded health agencies. VML's global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney. VML is a WPP agency (NYSE: WPP). For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

The Role

As a Senior Creative Team lead, you are the engine behind our most impactful health communication campaigns. You will help define the creative vision, translating complex scientific insights into both visually arresting campaigns and compelling, compliant narratives that resonate deeply with diverse audiences. Your collective skills, strategic thinking, and passion for human health are critical in developing revolutionary work that makes a real difference.

Responsibilities

• Lead conceptual development and strategic direction of groundbreaking creative campaigns, translating complex health information and strategic insights into impactful, visually stunning ideas and clear, engaging narratives.
• Develop compelling visual and written communication ideas across all channels, ensuring aesthetic excellence, brand consistency, medical accuracy, and regulatory compliance from concept to execution.
• Oversee the creation and production of high‐quality, impactful creative solutions for our clients from concept to final delivery, delegating to and overseeing junior team members and external vendors where necessary.
• Act as primary mentors and guides for junior creative team members, fostering their growth, elevating their craft, and inspiring them to push creative boundaries.
• Proactively partner with multidisciplinary teams (account, strategy, medical affairs, regulatory) to ensure purposeful, effective, and compliant creative output.
• Play a significant role in new business pitches, jointly developing visually persuasive concepts, strategic rationale, and presentations that secure new clients.
• Stay abreast of emerging design trends, visual technologies, storytelling techniques, and best practices in health advertising to continually innovate and elevate our creative offering.

Skills And Experience

• Experienced art director / copywriting duo within an agency setting, with a strong, demonstrable focus on health, pharma, or wellness brands.
• A portfolio showcasing a broad range of innovative, strategically sound, and visually arresting/compelling creative ideas across various channels (print, outdoor, film, digital, integrated campaigns, UI/UX, websites, blogs, and social media).
• Proven ability to generate original ideas and concepts, collaborating effectively, and adapting to diverse client needs and target audiences (HCPs, patients, consumers).
• Exceptional eye for detail, typography, layout, and overall aesthetic.
• Exceptional writing and editing skills with meticulous attention to detail, accuracy, and brand voice.
• Deep understanding of the healthcare landscape, regulatory frameworks, and ethical guidelines governing health communications.
• Proven ability to translate complex scientific or medical information into clear, compelling, and compliant creative copy.
• A genuine and demonstrable passion for human health/healthcare, reflected in your collective portfolio and approach to problem‐solving.
• Strong presentation skills, capable of confidently articulating your creative vision and strategic rationale to clients, effectively selling in impactful and original ideas.
• Proven experience mentoring and providing constructive feedback to junior creative team members.
• Solid understanding of production processes across various media, from digital to print and film, as well as core advertising, communications, and marketing principles within the healthcare space.

The Ideal Creative Team

• Complement one another seamlessly, demonstrating a powerful partnership that elevates your combined output and inspires those around you.
• Adept at managing multiple complex projects simultaneously, consistently meeting deadlines, and thriving under pressure as a unified force.
• Passionate about elevating the creative output and standards of your team, and you inspire excellence in others.
• Constantly strive for innovation, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare advertising with a high bar for your own work and that of your creative partnership.

We believe the best work happens when we’re together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That’s why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.