JOB DESCRIPTION:THE ROLE
Lead Abbott's internal visual storytelling team, spanning video, motion graphics, and photography, and own the creative quality of the work across all of it. The Creative Director sets the storytelling and visual standard, directs the most important productions personally, and builds the team and systems to produce agency-level work at internal speed.
Abbott's stories are about real people and technology that changes their lives. This role exists to make sure those stories are told with the craft and honesty they deserve, on every platform where people actually watch.
WHAT THE ROLE DOES
Creative leadership
- Own the creative vision and storytelling standards for all video, motion, and photography the team produces
- Review treatments, edits, and final work; hold the quality bar on everything that ships
- Act as the senior creative voice on visual storytelling across Abbott, helping brand teams figure out when film, motion, or photography is the right tool and how to use it well
Craft
- Direct and shoot priority productions: patient stories, brand films, executive content
- Lead on set and model the craft, from documentary interviewing to cinematography, so the whole team levels up
- Guide post through edit, color, sound, and motion design
Motion graphics and photography
- Lead the motion GFX and photography team(s): set one visual language across film, motion, and stills, with the same documentary honesty throughout
- Develop editors, animators, and photographers with the same hands-on coaching as the film side
Platform-native storytelling
- Every platform gets its own edit, designed at the treatment stage, never cut down after the fact
- Set craft standards for vertical and sound-off viewing, including how stories open in the first two seconds
- Build lighter, faster production models for social alongside flagship films
- Partner with the social and digital teams who own the channels, and let what performs shape how stories get made
Team and operations
- Mentor and develop the team through hands-on coaching and honest creative feedback
- Build workflows and intake that let a small team handle high volume without losing quality
- Manage budgets, freelancers, vendors, and gear; scale up crews for big productions while keeping a small, unobtrusive documentary footprint
- Bring in AI production tools where they genuinely raise quality or speed, and skip them where they don't
WHAT IT TAKES
- Experience running an in-house video studio for a major healthcare brand: leading a team, setting standards, and delivering high volume across business lines (portfolio required)
- 15+ years as a working director and cinematographer, including founding and running a production company for national brands
- Deep documentary craft: interviewing real people, finding true moments, building emotion without a script
- Experience leading multidisciplinary creative teams, including editors, motion designers, and photographers
- Experience making platform-specific edits and working with social teams on content built for the feed
- Comfortable in regulated healthcare review
- Strong presenter who can sell creative to senior leadership
The base pay for this position is
$149,300.00 – $298,700.00
In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.
JOB FAMILY:Marketing Support
DIVISION:PA Public Affairs
LOCATION:United States > Abbott Park : AP06C
ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS:United States > Chicago : Willis Tower Building 233 S Wacker Dr., United States > Minnesota > St. Paul > Tech Center : One St Jude Medical Drive
WORK SHIFT:Standard
TRAVEL:Yes, 5 % of the Time
MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE:Not Applicable
SIGNIFICANT WORK ACTIVITIES:Continuous sitting for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day), Keyboard use (greater or equal to 50% of the workday)
