At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human‑centred creativity, and AI‑driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact‑obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities.

Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem.

Job Summary

Real Chemistry is looking for an Associate Design Director to join our growing team! 21GRAMS, part of Real Chemistry, takes an innovative approach to advertising, and focusing on making healthcare more human. Not just in our work, but in the way we conduct business, approach client relationships, and treat each other. It’s a place where people subscribe to the adage, “Be good to each other, but hard on the work.” A place where people are not just in it for the pay check, but to make a dent in the universe. Sound like you?

The Associate Design Director manages copy and creative teams, providing guidance and motivation to ensure quality of content and style to meet the client’s marketing strategies and objectives. They will be expected to develop creative ideas that solve business challenges and write clear, compelling copy when required. With Strategy and Account partners, the Associate Design Director will share responsibility for brand strategy, team cohesion, client management, and creative quality and understand the importance of producing great work as well as developing great people.

What you’ll do

• Understand the relationship between copy, art direction, and design; be able to direct others in that principle
• Creating and executing strategic tactics and creative concepts that solve business challenges
• Partnering with Account and Strategy departments to develop creative and project briefs
• Managing the creative teams’ efforts and also execute own work
• Presenting to clients and advocating for our work with agency partners, clients, and outside vendors
• Attending a pitch (when appropriate)
• Inspiring creativity among their assigned team(s) and across the agency
• Developing creative, unexpected, smart, strategically grounded concepts for pitches and existing business
• Mentoring and developing junior members of the copy team
• Ensuring consistency in content, copy, art direction, and design—where appropriate—across all brand communications
• Functioning as brand steward: understanding nuances of the brand (benefits, competitive differentiation), client, and competitive environment
• Coordinating launch planning: understanding launch timelines, phases of launch materials and related regulatory restrictions
• Demonstrating leadership qualities within the team and department
• Inspiring creativity among team and across department
• Deliver strategic and/or tactical multichannel ideas that deliver on business needs and exceed client expectations
• Contributing tactics, concepts, and strategic thinking to pitch efforts to the development of creative aspects of tactical planning and pitch decks
• Contributing strategic, unique, innovative ideas to tactical planning efforts
• “Upselling” ideas beyond the tactical plan/creative brief
• Building trusting client relationships

Perfect fit for you

Our Company values – Best Together, Impact‑Obsessed, Excellence Expected, Evolve Always and Accountability with an “I” – really speak to you. You are adaptable, resilient, and OK with adjusting your scope, responsibilities, and focus as we grow. When things change, so do we. We’re always evolving. You are proactive, driven, and resourceful with strong prioritization skills and a desire to dive into the data. You are highly organized self‑starter, able to work independently and under tight deadlines.

Real Chemistry offers a comprehensive benefit program and perks, tailored to your region. Globally, this includes offices in our key markets with free snacks to keep you running all day long, generous holiday and paid time off, options for private medical, dental, and vision plans, and support in saving for the future. Other perks include mental wellness coaching and support and access to more than 13,000 online classes with LinkedIn Learning. Learn more about our great benefits and perks and search specific offerings in your region at: www.realchemistrybenefits.com.

Working with Real HART: Since the pandemic, we have adapted to how our people told us they want to work. We have office locations in cities in the US, UK, and Europe with many employees and clients that serve as hubs where and when they need us. For employees who are within an hour of one of our offices, we expect attendance in the office two days per week, either at a Real Chemistry office or onsite with clients. We are also actively opening new office locations, so if one opens near you, our Real HART policy will apply. We are not looking for attendance for the sake of attendance but believe that the opportunity to coordinate in‑office team meetings, 1:1 meetings with managers, taking advantage of on‑site learning, and connecting with client partners is a critical to delivering on our purpose of making healthcare what it should be. Outside of these offices, we have regions, where people work remotely but come together quarterly for collaboration, culture and learning opportunities. We call this our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach. Real Chemistry believes we are best together – and our workplace strategy fosters connection and collaboration in person – but also supports flexibility for our people.

Real Chemistry is an Equal Opportunity employer. We continually strive to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable work environment where our employees feel empowered to leverage all they bring from their personal lived experience and professional expertise, to make our team the best in the industry. We encourage motivated and qualified applicants to apply without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ethnic or national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Real Chemistry operates. Should you require accommodations throughout the interview process please let your recruiter know.

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