Creative Director, Copy (Pharma)

Job Overview

CG Life is looking for a Creative Director, Copy who believes the right words can make complex ideas impossible to ignore.

This creative leadership role is for someone who combines conceptual thinking with exceptional writing instincts—someone who can find the idea, shape the story and create a distinctive voice that makes brands more meaningful, memorable and human.

We’re looking for a writer as much as a leader—someone with a strong point of view on ideas, language and storytelling who can set a creative vision, inspire clients and teams, and stay close enough to the work to make it better.

As CG Life evolves how we work, this person will also help advance the role of AI in the creative process, using emerging tools to expand exploration, accelerate experimentation and create new possibilities for how ideas, stories and language are developed.

Key Responsibilities

Creative Leadership & Copy

• Lead the development of integrated creative ideas and verbal expression across campaigns, brand and experiences, from concept through execution.
• Partner closely with art to develop ideas from the start, bringing a strong conceptual and verbal point of view rather than treating copy as an executional layer.
• Translate strategy and complex science into distinctive creative ideas, narratives and language that are clear, compelling, human and ownable.
• Establish and evolve brand voice, tone, messaging and narrative, creating verbal systems that can flex across audiences, channels and touchpoints while remaining cohesive and recognizable.
• Move comfortably between big-picture thinking and hands-on craft—concepting, writing, editing, shaping narratives and refining language as needed.
• Set a high bar for creative excellence and craft, pushing teams beyond expected category language, familiar claims and conventional healthcare storytelling.
• Think beyond individual executions to build ideas and narratives that can travel across film, digital, social, experiential, content, emerging formats and the broader brand experience.
• Find the human truth inside complex science, helping teams turn data, mechanisms and clinical information into stories people can understand, care about and remember.
• Stay deeply connected to culture, language, storytelling, technology and emerging forms of expression, bringing fresh references and perspectives into the work and the creative department.
• Partner with art, brand & experience, strategy, medical/scientific, technology, account and production teams to create connected ideas rather than discipline-specific solutions.
• Own the quality and integrity of the verbal creative product from concept through production while leading, mentoring and developing copywriters and multidisciplinary creative talent.
• Protect the strength of the idea while navigating scientific accuracy, brand requirements and regulatory realities, finding creative opportunity within constraints rather than allowing them to flatten the work.
• Present and sell creative ideas to clients with clarity and conviction, articulating not just what the words say, but why the idea, narrative and language matter.
• Champion experimentation and contribute to pitches and new-business opportunities, helping push the creative product and CG Life forward.

Advance AI within the creative practice

• Actively explore and apply generative AI and emerging creative technologies throughout the creative process—from research and ideation through concept development, narrative exploration, prototyping and production.
• Use AI to expand creative possibility—exploring more directions, challenging first answers and uncovering unexpected connections—not simply to generate more copy faster.
• Prototype new AI-enabled approaches to concepting, writing, narrative development and verbal exploration and share successful workflows with the broader creative organization.
• Bring strong creative judgment to AI-generated and AI-assisted work, knowing when the technology strengthens an idea, when it makes language generic or predictable and when human thinking needs to take the lead.
• Collaborate with teams to determine where AI-generated or AI-assisted outputs are appropriate while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, originality, brand voice and creative integrity.
• Bring a test-and-learn mindset: willing to experiment with new models, tools and techniques, evaluate what works and continuously evolve how the team creates.

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of experience in copywriting or creative leadership, ideally within an agency or similarly multidisciplinary environment.
• A portfolio demonstrating exceptional conceptual thinking, writing and storytelling across integrated campaigns and experiences.
• Exceptional command of language, voice, tone, narrative and messaging, with the ability to move confidently between a powerful campaign idea, a memorable headline and longer-form storytelling.
• A conceptual thinker who can originate and develop ideas in partnership with art, strategy and other creative disciplines—not simply execute against an established concept.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex scientific and technical subject matter into clear, compelling and human creative without losing accuracy or meaning.
• Strong understanding of how ideas and language behave across channels, audiences and experiences rather than approaching copy as a collection of individual deliverables.
• Deep understanding of contemporary culture and language, with strong instincts around what feels fresh, relevant and ownable versus familiar or expected.
• Hands-on experience with generative AI, prompt development and AI-enabled creative workflows, particularly across ideation, concept development, writing, narrative exploration and content development.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate and sell creative thinking to internal teams and clients.
• Strong editorial judgment and attention to craft, with the ability to elevate work at both the conceptual and line-by-line level.
• Experience managing and mentoring copywriters and multidisciplinary creative teams.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and determining the strongest creative and verbal approach rather than defaulting to predetermined deliverables.
• Experience working within regulated environments and partnering with medical, scientific and regulatory teams while protecting the strength and integrity of the creative idea.
• Pharmaceutical experience required.

Benefits:

• We are proud to offer a comprehensive benefits package to all of our employees:
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance. We cover a generous portion of employee contributions
• 401K plan. We invest in present and future you, which is why we offer a generous match and immediate vesting on our plan
• Parental Leave. Generous paid time off for parents to bond with their newest addition
• Professional Development. Each employee has an annual budget to allocate to professional development opportunities. Employees are encouraged to take a workshop, attend a webinar, join associations, and do anything else that will help them grow in their careers.
• And more! We offer flexible time off, life insurance, LTD, a robust employee assistance program, and more!

At CG Life, we recognize that attracting the best talent is key to our strategy and success as a company. As a result, we aim for flexibility in structuring competitive compensation offers to ensure we are able to attract the best candidates. As required by law in this state, the estimated salary range for this position is $150,000 - $175,000 USD and represents our good faith estimate as to what our ideal candidates are likely to expect. We tailor our offers within the range based on organizational needs, internal equity, market data, geographic zone, and the selected candidate’s experience, education, industry knowledge, location, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the selection process. At CG Life, it is not common for individuals to be hired at the higher end of the range, and compensation decisions depend on a variety of factors. This position is eligible to participate in a discretionary bonus program, subject to the rules governing the plan. CG Life offers a variety of benefits, including health benefits, 401K retirement with a generous company match and immediate vesting, and flexible time off.  

A Note to Candidates:

It has come to our attention that some candidates are being contacted by individuals falsely claiming to represent CG Life. Please note that all official communications from CG Life will come from an email address ending in @cglife.com. If you are contacted by anyone using a different domain, please consider it fraudulent. CG Life will never ask candidates to pay fees or share financial information at any stage of the hiring process

This job posting is intended for direct applicants only; please, no outside recruiters.