---
title: '21GRAMS- Director, Product Design (UI) at Real Chemistry'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/21grams-director-product-design-ui-real-chemistry-boston-bgbgksz1mj0w'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-29'
---

# 21GRAMS- Director, Product Design (UI) at Real Chemistry

- **Company:** Real Chemistry
- **Location:** Boston, MA / Carmel, IN / Chicago, IL / Lambertville, NJ / United States / Water Street, NY
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-10-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-29
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/realchemistry/jobs/5457157008

## Job description

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.

21GRAMS, a Real Chemistry subsidiary, is an advertising agency born to make healthcare more human. Not just in our work, but in how we conduct business, approach client relationships, and treat each other. We believe in being good to each other and hard on the work, and in creating work that makes a meaningful difference for patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and brands.

Job Summary

The Director, Product Design is a senior design leader responsible for setting the product design vision, raising the quality of the work, and building the conditions for teams to deliver cohesive, accessible, and effective digital experiences. This role leads complex engagements across websites, platforms, products, services, and connected ecosystems, translating user needs, brand strategy, business goals, technology constraints, and healthcare requirements into clear experience direction.

This is not solely an execution role. The Director is accountable for design strategy, client leadership, team development, resourcing, design operations, and measurable experience outcomes. They remain close enough to the work to guide critical decisions, facilitate discovery, critique design, and step into high-impact moments while enabling senior designers to lead day to day.

## What You Will Do

Design Vision and Product Strategy

- Own the product design vision and experience strategy across a portfolio of complex client engagements, connecting user needs, brand intent, business objectives, and technical feasibility.
- Partner with Experience Strategy, UX, Product Management, Creative, Technology, Data, Medical, Strategy, and Account leadership to frame opportunities, define roadmaps, and establish measurable outcomes.
- Lead discovery and definition activities, including stakeholder alignment, experience principles, journey framing, service blueprints, value propositions, prioritization, and product or platform planning.
- Identify opportunities that extend beyond the immediate brief and turn them into clear, decision-ready recommendations for clients and agency leadership.

Design Excellence and Delivery

- Set and uphold a high bar for interaction design, visual design, responsive behavior, content hierarchy, prototyping, motion, and end-to-end experience coherence.
- Guide teams from early concepts through detailed design, validation, launch, and optimization, ensuring that strategic intent is maintained through implementation.
- Oversee scalable design systems, component libraries, pattern governance, and documentation in Figma, working with engineering partners to improve quality and delivery efficiency.
- Build accessibility into the work from the start, applying WCAG 2.2 AA principles and inclusive design practices rather than treating compliance as a final review step.
- Use qualitative research, analytics, usability findings, and business measures to evaluate design decisions and recommend iteration.

Client and Cross-Functional Leadership

- Act as a trusted senior design partner to clients, clearly articulating experience strategy, design rationale, trade-offs, risks, and recommendations to executive and working teams.
- Lead high-stakes presentations, workshops, critiques, and decision-making sessions, creating alignment across internal and external stakeholders.
- Partner with project and account leadership on scope, staffing, schedules, assumptions, and change management; surface delivery risks early and propose practical solutions.
- Represent Product Design in new-business opportunities, estimates, proposals, capability presentations, and pitch work.

People Leadership and Practice Development

- Manage, coach, and develop product designers across levels through clear expectations, actionable feedback, growth plans, and regular career conversations.
- Create an environment where designers can do their best work, with strong critique, psychological safety, accountability, and thoughtful delegation.
- Partner with Experience leadership on hiring, staffing, performance management, succession planning, and capability development.
- Improve the Product Design practice through reusable methods, templates, standards, training, and responsible adoption of emerging tools, including AI-enabled workflows.
- Contribute to a culture of collaboration across Product Design, UX, Creative, Technology, and Strategy, reducing silos and improving continuity from concept through launch.

What Success Looks Like

- Clients see Product Design as a strategic partner, not only a production capability.
- Teams have clear experience direction, decision criteria, and an appropriate level of design leadership from discovery through delivery.
- Creates a more consistent, accessible, and high-quality experience across the portfolio.
- Designers receive strong coaching, understand what is expected of them, and demonstrate measurable growth.
- The practice becomes more scalable through better systems, methods, staffing decisions, and cross-functional ways of working.
- Experience recommendations connect to defined user, client, and business outcomes.

## What You Should Have

- 10+ years of experience in product design, experience design, interaction design, or a related discipline, including 3+ years managing and developing designers.
- A portfolio demonstrating leadership across complex, multi-channel digital products or platforms, from strategy and concept through detailed design and launch.
- Experience leading multiple workstreams or a portfolio of client engagements in an agency, consultancy, product organization, or similarly complex environment.
- Deep fluency in human-centered design, interaction design, visual systems, prototyping, responsive design, information architecture, and design systems.
- Strong working knowledge of Figma and modern collaborative design workflows; familiarity with Adobe Creative Cloud and prototyping or motion tools is helpful.
- Practical knowledge of accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.2 AA, and the ability to guide teams in designing inclusive experiences.
- Demonstrated ability to partner with engineering, product, research, content, analytics, strategy, creative, and account teams.
- Excellent executive communication, facilitation, storytelling, critique, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
- Experience defining design outcomes and using research, usability testing, analytics, and performance data to improve experiences.
- Comfort operating in ambiguity, making informed trade-offs, and balancing strategic leadership with hands-on guidance when the work requires it.

This Position Is a Strong Fit If

- You can move between the 30,000-foot view and the detail that determines whether an experience actually works.
- You are direct, low-ego, generous with feedback, and able to challenge the work while supporting the people doing it.
- You bring structure to ambiguity, anticipate needs, and help teams make better decisions faster.
- You care about craft, but judge success by the quality, usefulness, accessibility, and impact of the experience.
- 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.

## Preferred Experience

- Healthcare, pharmaceutical, patient support, medical technology, or other regulated-industry experience.
- Experience with privacy, consent, regulated content, and design considerations for patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.
- Experience supporting business development, scoping, estimating, and presenting capabilities or pitch work.
- Experience leading enterprise websites, authenticated platforms, service ecosystems, omnichannel programs, or AI-enabled experiences.

Pay Range: $140,000 - $155,000 This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting.  Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors including but not limited to work experience, skills, certifications, and geographical location. The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Real Chemistry is proud to be Great Place to Work® certified; check out what our people shared about our culture and workplace on our Great Places to Work Profile [here](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.greatplacetowork.com%2Fcertified-company%2F7038366&data=05%7C02%7Cclehmar%40realchemistry.com%7C1f18aaed4326491b3efc08ddd690f025%7C6fa5bfc4f95843f8bb395d382689654b%7C0%7C0%7C638902640185888156%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=pwvaCn37QXkjVQ0p6u92Oz4FA4j5NQZoNJL0ffy01qs%3D&reserved=0).

We believe we can do our best when feeling our best, which is why we’ve put together a benefits program designed to give you the support you and your family need at every stage of life. 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 vison 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](https://www.realchemistrybenefits.com).

At Real Chemistry, we believe we're at our best when we're connected. Our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach is designed to foster collaboration, learning, innovation, and meaningful relationships while providing flexibility where appropriate. Because our workforce spans multiple countries, regions, and client needs, work arrangements may vary by role and location. Some positions offer hybrid or remote flexibility, while others require regular in-office presence. For example, certain teams and regions, including some of our UK operations, have office-based requirements. Your recruiter will discuss the specific expectations for the role you're pursuing during the interview process and keep you informed throughout the hiring journey. For employees located within a one-hour commute of a Real Chemistry office, we require in-person attendance two days per week, either from a Real Chemistry office or when working onsite with clients. Employees in regions without a nearby office may work remotely and come together throughout the year for collaboration, culture-building, learning, and team connection opportunities. While these guidelines reflect our current workplace model, we understand that everyone’s circumstances are unique. If you require additional flexibility, we welcome an open conversation with your recruiter and our HR team to discuss your needs and determine what may be possible.

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.

*Notice: Real Chemistry and its affiliates' names are being misused by scammers through messaging services, fake websites, and apps. Do not share personal or financial information or make payments to any unverified sources claiming to be connected to Real Chemistry. We are working to stop these unauthorized activities and protect our community. Read more [here](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.realchemistry.com%2Fscam-alert&data=05%7C02%7Cclehmar%40realchemistry.com%7C1f18aaed4326491b3efc08ddd690f025%7C6fa5bfc4f95843f8bb395d382689654b%7C0%7C0%7C638902640185967986%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=vBa1KYjD6TUHgTF3FdPRQZvM8E8WUgHZqu9yHevh1%2BI%3D&reserved=0).

## About Real Chemistry

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Real Chemistry is a global healthcare communications network that connects the world of science with world-class storytellers to help life-changing medicines and therapies reach their full market potential.
- **Entity Type**: Private
- **Headquarters**: New York, USA (with major hubs in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dubai, Edinburgh, Indianapolis, Lambertville, London, Los Angeles, Manchester, Munich, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.)
- **Founded**: 1999 (25+ years in operation)
- **Founders**: Jim Weiss

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Healthcare communications, marketing, medical affairs, data & analytics, and digital transformation services for the life sciences industry.
- **Target customers**: B2B, primarily pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies (0 of the top 20 pharma companies work with them).
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To help life-changing medicines and therapies reach their full market potential by translating complex science into sharable narratives and results.

## Products & Services
- **Analytics & Insights**: Best-in-class data and analytics accessible to every capability and client, including AI-integrated solutions (used since Watson).
- **Creative Effectiveness**: Breakthrough creative that moves audiences to act, ranked No. 2 Most Creative Healthcare Network in the world per Cannes in 2025.
- **Medical Affairs**: Hundreds of PhDs, MDs, and PharmDs providing deep expertise across therapeutic areas.
- **Omnichannel Marketing**: Integrated, multi-channel campaigns for pharmaceutical brands.
- **Precision Medicine Strategies**: Tailored approaches for bringing molecules to market.
- **Global Inclusion and Health Equity**: Specialized services for equitable healthcare access.
- **Regulatory Compliant AI**: AI solutions designed for the highly regulated healthcare environment.
- **Advocacy Relations**: Patient and stakeholder advocacy programs.
- **Trial Site Selection and Recruitment Acceleration**: Services to speed up clinical trials.
- **RepAction**: A proprietary offering (likely a reputation management or action-oriented platform).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company).
- **Key Metric**: Revenue not publicly disclosed; company states that clients who worked with Real Chemistry experienced double the rate of growth compared to those who did not.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly available (private company). CEO Shankar Narayanan previously held senior roles at McKinsey & Company, Cognizant, and Equian.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Named **Healthcare Network of the Year by MM+M** in 2025.
  - Ranked **No. 2 Most Creative Healthcare Network in the world** per Cannes in 2025; won the first-ever Gold Lion awarded for a branded pharmaceutical product.
  - **Great Place To Work® certified for 5 consecutive years** in the US & UK.
  - Works with **56 of the top 100 pharmaceutical brands** by revenue (since 2023).
  - Global presence with offices in **20+ countries** and **30+ languages spoken** across the network.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Integrated, full-service network**: Combines medical expertise, AI, marketing, creative, and data analytics under one roof—unlike many specialized agencies.
- **Deep regulatory expertise**: Proven ability to navigate the highly regulated pharmaceutical environment, including regulatory-compliant AI.
- **Top-tier talent**: Hundreds of advanced-degree professionals (PhDs, MDs, PharmDs) and a network of thousands of in-house experts.
- **Proven ROI**: Clients see double the growth rate compared to non-clients, per their internal data.
- **Award-winning creative**: Ranked among the world’s most creative healthcare networks, bridging the gap between science and brand storytelling.

## Strategic Focus
- **AI integration**: Embedding AI across all capabilities, with a history of using AI since the Watson era.
- **Global expansion**: Maintaining a "local mindset" with offices and partner networks spanning the globe.
- **Tier-one commercialization partner**: Aiming to be the go-to partner for bringing molecules to market efficiently.
- **Transforming healthcare**: Driven by CEO Shankar Narayanan’s mission to transform healthcare "from what it is into what it should be."

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Values**: Employees cite "Best Together," "Impact Obsessed," "Excellence Expected," "Evolve, Always," and "Accountability with an 'I'" as core values. The company emphasizes diversity, inclusion, and collaboration.
- **Work Model**: Hybrid and Regional Teams (HART) approach—employees within a 1-hour commute of an office are encouraged to go in at least two days per week; regional teams connect quarterly for collaboration.
- **Benefits** (US Employees):
  - Flexible PTO, paid safe/sick leave, and winter break closure (Dec 25–New Year’s Day).
  - Health & wellness coverage (medical, dental, vision), mental healthcare, and a "lifestyle & wellness wallet."
  - Generous, gender-neutral parental leave, fertility/surrogacy/adoption support, and family-backup care.
  - Student loan support (up to $500/year).
  - Access to LinkedIn Learning with 13,000+ courses.
  - "Road Rules" program: employees can apply for exclusive training opportunities at another global office.
- **Recognition**: Great Place To Work® certified for 5 years running (US & UK).
- **Growth & Development**: Continuous learning culture with self-paced programs and mentorship opportunities.
- **Internships**: Summer internship program for students from US universities.

## Sources
1. [realchemistry.com](https://www.realchemistry.com/)
2. [realchemistry.com - About/Who We Are](https://www.realchemistry.com/about/who-we-are/)
3. [realchemistry.com - Careers/Working at RC](https://www.realchemistry.com/careers/working-at-rc/)
4. [realchemistry.com - Our Expertise](https://www.realchemistry.com/what-we-do/expertise/)
5. [Greenhouse - Jobs at Real Chemistry](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/realchemistry)

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