Design Lead

Grade: 057 Department: Communications and External Relations FLSA Status: Exempt Company Description By working at Harvard University, you join a vibrant community that advances Harvard's world-changing mission in meaningful ways, inspires innovation and collaboration, and builds skills and expertise. We are dedicated to creating a diverse and welcoming environment where everyone can thrive. Why join Harvard Medical School? Harvard Medical School's mission is to nurture a diverse, inclusive community dedicated to alleviating suffering and improving health and well-being for all through excellence in teaching and learning, discovery and scholarship, and service and leadership. You’ll be at the heart of biomedical discovery, education, and innovation, working alongside world-renowned faculty and a community dedicated to improving human health. This is more than a job - it’s an opportunity to shape the future of medicine.

The Design Lead oversees the creative and visual representation of Harvard Medical School (HMS) by leading and executing high-quality design projects that align with identity guidelines and institutional goals. Based in the Office of Communications and External Relations (OCER), this is the sole in-house design resource and manages, creates, and delivers visual materials across digital and print platforms, collaborating closely with editors, content producers, the identity and policy manager, and other key stakeholders to maintain HMS’ visual/graphic identity and enhance its brand presence.

Art Direction: Oversee the delivery of high-quality visual designs for all online content, including online magazine issues, news stories, and the HMS flagship website. Direct the research, sourcing, creation, and selection of photos, illustrations, motion graphics, video clips, and other artwork to enhance the understanding of scientific research content. Manage and oversee photo shoots with professional freelance photographers, ensuring high-quality visuals for OCER’s digital and print assets. Maintain copyright and usage permissions. Collaborate with editors and content producers to ensure visual assets are accurate and engaging. Design high-profile webpages for the flagship website, Harvard Medicine News, and Harvard Medicine magazine, ensuring alignment with institutional branding. Create, update, and maintain templates for Salesforce Marketing Cloud emails, presentations, stationery, and other branded materials, ensuring consistent design quality and adherence to graphic identity standards. Manage the design and production of printed materials, ensuring they meet quality standards and adhere to branding guidelines. Brand and Visual Identity: Oversee and manage HMS’ visual identity, including overseeing and protecting logo guidelines, ensuring all design outputs maintain brand consistency across channels, and updating and scaling identity and style guidelines as the organization grows. Design logos, signage, and other institutional materials for social channels, departments, units, and key events, ensuring consistency with HMS brand guidelines while coordinating with OCER’s Institutional Identity & Policy Manager to review and support incoming design requests. Supervise website content for the School’s identity guide, ensuring accurate and up-to-date resources for branding and visual standards. Manage the HMS design email inbox by providing design expertise and addressing inquiries from community members in collaboration with the Sr Director of Digital & Creative and Institutional Identity & Policy Manager. Provide feedback to internal stakeholders and external vendors to ensure proper rendering and usage of the HMS logo on promotional materials. Create materials for high-profile events, including the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Symposium, HMS State of