Art director / senior art director

Blue Matter is a strategic consulting firm serving the life sciences industry. With deep expertise in specialty therapeutics, particularly oncology and rare diseases, we help clients achieve commercial success across the lifecycle of their products, portfolios, and organizations. Market access is a core part of that work, helping clients navigate an increasingly complex access landscape. Through SALT Access, our integrated creative agency, we translate market access and commercialization strategies into compelling, effective multichannel marketing, design, and communications, with a focus on value and access messaging. Blue Matter, together with SALT Access, fosters an entrepreneurial culture and is committed to being one of the best places to work.

We are seeking a versatile, experienced, hands-on Art Director / Senior Art Director to join our growing agency team supporting pharmaceutical and life sciences clients.

This is a role for a driven, self-sufficient communicator who thrives in an entrepreneurial environment. In this role, you will actively contribute to day-to-day design execution across a range of formats and channels, and your primary responsibility will be to translate complex information into high-quality creative that is easy to understand, compelling, on-brand, and resonates with key audience segments, including payers, healthcare professionals (HCPs), formulary decision-makers, and organized customers.

From creative brief to final delivery, you will shape the look, feel, and visual storytelling of assets, ensuring they meet the highest creative and regulatory standards. You will collaborate closely with others as a key member of a small, cross-functional team, including content and account and strategic consulting teams. Because we operate as a lean, high-growth agency, you will be expected to manage your projects and deliverables with minimal oversight — bringing established expertise, sound judgment, and the confidence to make calls independently based on solid, demonstrable experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Design Execution & Production (primary focus)
  • Execute hands-on design work across projects, making sound look, feel, and layout decisions within established brand and creative direction
  • Design and build deliverables across multiple channels, including digital and dynamic/interactive materials, print deliverables, presentations, and other pharmaceutical and market access marketing materials
  • Manage projects from brief to delivery — including layout, refinement, production, and final file handoff — ensuring accuracy and quality throughout
  • Translate approved content and creative direction into clear, polished visuals that resonate with payers, HCPs, and other market access audiences
  • Support broader creative team operations by wearing multiple hats, with a strong emphasis on hands-on execution in a lean, fast-paced environment
• Creative Direction Support & Presentation
  • Bring the Creative Director’s vision to life, upholding visual standards and consistently delivering polished, high-quality work
  • Present design work and rationale internally and to clients with confidence and clarity
  • Support new business pitches by producing polished pitch materials as needed
• Collaboration & Team Leadership
  • Collaborate closely with content strategists, copywriters, and account leads to ensure alignment between visuals and messaging
  • Provide art direction and constructive feedback to junior designers and freelancers as needed
  • Help create, maintain, and evolve internal brand visual standards, templates, and asset libraries
• Quality & Compliance
  • Ensure creative work adheres to client brand guidelines and regulatory requirements (e.g., ISI, fair balance, and references)
  • Prepare files for medical/legal/regulatory (MLR) review, incorporating feedback while maintaining design integrity

Desired Experience and Skills

• Design Software Mastery: High proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (especially InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop), with expertise in Figma and PowerPoint
• Production Mindset: A true “doer” who takes pride in craft, moves quickly, and turns around high-quality, accurate files at volume
• Strategic Visual Translation: Demonstrated ability to translate strategy and content into visually compelling creative
• Regulated Industry Experience: Experience designing for regulated industries, ideally in pharmaceutical or life sciences marketing; market access experience is a plus
• Brand Stewardship: Proven experience working within and adapting brand guidelines, consistently executing on-brand work at a high visual standard
• Organization & Attention to Detail: Strong organizational skills and a sharp eye for detail, with the ability to juggle multiple projects and timelines in a fast-paced environment
• Collaborative Communication: A clear communicator, enthusiastic collaborator, and team player who can contribute ideas, accept feedback, and refine work independently

Preferred Qualifications

• Design Experience: 5+ years in a creative or design-focused role; prior agency and pharmaceutical experience strongly preferred
• Portfolio Excellence: A strong portfolio demonstrating polished design execution and layout excellence across both print and digital formats
• Motion & Interactive Design: Experience with motion or interactive work (e.g., HTML5, video, banner animation) is a plus
• Presentation Design: Experience creating or refining high-quality presentation decks in PowerPoint
• New Business Exposure: Experience producing new business or pitch materials
• Market Access Familiarity: Familiarity with the market access space and prior pharmaceutical creative experience
• MLR Process Knowledge: Familiarity with the MLR process, including annotation and reference management
• Startup Agility: Previous experience in a startup or small agency environment where adaptability is key and everyone contributes beyond their job description

Compensation

Base salary range: $90,000 - $130,000 depending on experience. Generous incentive compensation structure.

Benefits Package

• 401k - generous employer match with immediate vesting and financial planning resources
• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage options effective day 1 of employment
• Flexible spending account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Company paid insurances including Short- and Long-Term Disability and Life insurance as well as additional voluntary options
• Paid parental leave for all new parents
• Health & Wellness Benefit (e.g., gym memberships; $1000 reimbursement annually)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Generous paid time off including vacation, sick days, floating and company holidays

Blue Matter is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against otherwise qualified applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, age (40 and over), sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), national origin, disability, marital status, parental status, genetic information, political affiliation, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.