Executive Creative Director, Creative & Content

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

Organization Overview

At Lilly, we serve an extraordinary purpose. Every day, we make a difference for people around the globe by discovering, developing, and delivering medicines that help them live longer, healthier, and more active lives.
 

The Lilly Creative Capabilities team fuses data, creativity, and technology to turn bold ideas into work that moves people worldwide. As a true creative engine, we partner across the enterprise, uniting deep brand expertise with integrated insights and modern production to deliver breakthrough ideas with confidence and speed. We design human-centric experiences that build trust, deepen understanding, and drive measurable outcomes. Together, we push past “good enough,” raising the bar for creative excellence and operational agility. If you are driven to lead, to learn fast, and to raise the bar every day, come help us redefine what a best-in-any-class in-house agency can do.
 

Who We Are:

We are transforming what an in-house agency can be, building a modern creative organization that sets new standards for excellence in health. As Executive Creative Director, you will lead and inspire a high-performing team to deliver bold, integrated ideas across a diverse portfolio of 15 to 20 brands and multiple therapeutic areas. Your work will help shape how people connect with one of the most essential aspects of their lives: their health.

This is a rare opportunity to drive creative transformation at scale, where brand strategy, storytelling, and production come together to create meaningful, human-centered work with speed, precision, and craft. You will ensure brand strategies are brought to life across a wide range of audiences, from healthcare professionals to consumers, through everything from campaign refreshes to large-scale launches. You will champion a culture of innovation, elevate creative standards, and foster collaboration across disciplines. This role is for a hands-on creative leader who challenges convention, embraces emerging technologies like AI to unlock efficiency and insight, and builds inclusive, high-trust teams. If you are ready to translate vision into breakthrough ideas, inspire others to do their best work, and help redefine what is possible in an in-house agency, we'd welcome the opportunity to have you join us and help shape the future of in-house creativity.

What We Are Looking For

• A culture builder and talent magnet who attracts, develops, and retains top creative talent while creating psychological safety, setting crisp expectations, elevating creative performance, and celebrating outcomes and craft.
• Vision-driven creative leader with a proven track record of setting a high creative bar, shaping brand platforms, and shipping integrated work that moves people and business, with deep respect for science and human impact and comfort operating in regulated categories.
• Demonstrated executive presence with the ability to build trust, expand the in-house agency remit through measurable outcomes, and translate complex needs into clear, inspiring creative direction.
• Architect of integrated campaigns for HCP and consumer audiences across digital, social, video, CRM, web, experiential, and print who is fluent in omnichannel journey design from first impression to conversion and adherence.
• Builder of a best-in-any- class IHA team and capabilities across brand design, copy, art direction, experience design, content design, and production who scales processes without sacrificing craft.
• Influential driver in creative and content strategy ensures every asset is purposeful, precise, and performance driven while setting creative standards, establishing review rituals, and coaching teams to elevate taste and execution.
• Champion of inclusive, human-centered storytelling who reflects the diverse communities we serve and responsibly pushes representation forward.
• Proven collaborator who partners closely with Account and Project Management teams to ensure flawless execution from campaign refreshes to large-scale launches while balancing speed, quality, and cost.
• Data and insights fluent leader who translates analytics into creative action, knows how to brief, test, learn, and optimize, and understands enterprise measurement contexts such as MMM, MTA, and brand lift.
• Relentlessly push creative boundaries while leveraging technology to unlock new possibilities by integrating automation, generative tools, agentic AI, and intelligent workflows that increase speed, precision, and consistency.
• Cross-functional force multiplier develops strong partnerships with Marketing, Brand, Communications, Content Operations, Medical, Legal, Regulatory, Media, Analytics, and Capability Partners to align creative with business priorities.
• Exceptional communicator who tells a clear story, runs compelling creative reviews, and simplifies complex messages for internal and external audiences.
   

Minimum Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, advertising, journalism, business administration, or a related field; MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years of creative and leadership experience within CGP, retail, sportwear, ecommerce or a background in healthcare/pharma or high-velocity consumer categories
• 10+ years of creative leadership experience in roles such as Group Creative Director, Creative Director, or equivalent with portfolio demonstrating impactful, boundary-pushing creative work
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization and/or visas for this role.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale, innovative omnichannel creative campaigns and content initiatives.
• Deep technical expertise in design software and tools (Adobe Creative Suite) combined with proficiency in emerging AI-powered design technologies,
• Demonstrated experience managing, inspiring, and leading creative teams with a proven ability to develop powerful and effective creative concepts.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, able to drive alignment and inspire action at all levels.
• Experience working within highly regulated or compliance-heavy environments such as healthcare, finance, government, or media, with a strong understanding of the importance of process rigor, documentation, and cross-functional review.
• Demonstrated success in leading centralized creative teams that support multiple brands and stakeholders across diverse marketing channels.
• Strong leadership presence with a collaborative, ego-free approach to driving results.
• Effective capacity management skills at both individual and team levels.
• Ability to diagnose process vs. technology pain points and implement solutions through project planning and milestone management.
• Proven success managing enterprise-level clients and complex, multi-channel creative campaigns.
• Deep understanding of creative development, digital marketing, brand strategy, and omnichannel strategy.
• Comfortable leading in regulated environment with deep respect for science and human impact.

Other

• Position based in Indianapolis. Relocation package provided. Up to 15% travel.

Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form (https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response.

Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location.  The anticipated wage for this position is

Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.

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