Art Director

The Art Director is a concept and design leader within GoTo Foods' in-house creative organization. This role develops and directs distinctive, business-building creative for one or more restaurant brands across paid, owned, and earned channels. Working in close partnership with Creative Directors, copywriters, designers, content creators, program managers, Brand Marketing, Social, Digital, Media, CRM, PR, and production partners, the Art Director translates strategy into cohesive ideas and high-quality executions across social media, video, digital, web and app, email, point-of-sale, packaging, local marketing, and other consumer touchpoints.

The ideal candidate combines strong conceptual thinking and design craft with a social-first mindset, cultural awareness, platform fluency, and an understanding of how creative performance informs future work. The Art Director is accountable for brand stewardship, creative quality, efficient execution, and delivery against project objectives, timelines, and budgets.

### Essential Functions

* Develop original, strategically grounded campaign concepts and visual systems from brief through launch.
* Create and direct integrated work across paid, owned, and earned channels, including social media, short-form video, digital advertising, web and app, CRM, email, packaging, point-of-sale, local marketing, and experiential touchpoints.
* Bring a social-first perspective to concepting and execution, adapting ideas to platform behaviors, audience expectations, content formats, and emerging trends rather than simply resizing traditional campaign assets.
* Partner with content creators, social strategists, copywriters, designers, editors, and media teams to develop platform-native content for channels such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and emerging platforms.
* Art direct photography, video, motion, creator-led content, and postproduction, including preproduction planning, shot lists, casting input, on-set direction, editing, animation, retouching, and final quality review.
* Translate brand strategy, audience insights, and business objectives into compelling visual stories that drive awareness, engagement, consideration, traffic, and sales.
* Use creative performance data, social insights, testing results, and audience feedback to recommend optimizations and strengthen future concepts and executions.
* Maintain and evolve brand identity, visual standards, and consistency across consumer touchpoints while identifying opportunities to keep the work culturally relevant and distinctive.
* Present concepts and creative rationale clearly to creative leaders, brand partners, and cross-functional stakeholders; incorporate feedback without losing strategic intent or craft quality.
* Collaborate across Marketing, Social, Digital, Media, CRM, PR, Operations, and Production to deliver cohesive, channel-appropriate campaigns.
* Manage multiple concurrent assignments, proactively communicate risks, and deliver accurate work on time and within approved scope and budget.
* Direct and review the work of designers, freelancers, agencies, production partners, and other contributors as assigned; provide clear guidance and constructive creative feedback.
* Build production efficiencies through reusable design systems, templates, modular content, and thoughtful adaptation across formats and audiences.
* Apply sound judgment when using generative AI and other emerging creative technologies, following brand, legal, privacy, licensing, and approval requirements and maintaining human accountability for final work.
* Ensure creative meets accessibility, usability, technical, and production requirements for the intended channel.
* Stay current on culture, consumer behavior, social and digital platform changes, design, advertising, restaurant and retail trends, production innovation, and award-winning creative work.
* Become deeply immersed in assigned brands by experiencing restaurants, products, channels, and brand communities firsthand.

### Job Summary

The Art Director is a concept and design leader within GoTo Foods' in-house creative organization. This role develops and directs distinctive, business-building creative for one or more restaurant brands across paid, owned, and earned channels. Working in close partnership with Creative Directors, copywriters, designers, content creators, program managers, Brand Marketing, Social, Digital, Media, CRM, PR, and production partners, the Art Director translates strategy into cohesive ideas and high-quality executions across social media, video, digital, web and app, email, point-of-sale, packaging, local marketing, and other consumer touchpoints.

The ideal candidate combines strong conceptual thinking and design craft with a social-first mindset, cultural awareness, platform fluency, and an understanding of how creative performance informs future work. The Art Director is accountable for brand stewardship, creative quality, efficient execution, and delivery against project objectives, timelines, and budgets.

### Education

* Bachelor's degree in graphic design, advertising, visual communications, fine arts, or a related field preferred; equivalent professional experience considered.
* Portfolio school or advanced training in concept development, design, digital, social, motion, or related disciplines is a plus.

### Work Experience

* 3 to 5+ years of professional art direction, design, or integrated creative experience in an agency, in-house agency, or consumer brand environment.
* Portfolio demonstrating strong concept development and visual execution across integrated campaigns, with meaningful examples of social media, digital, video, and brand storytelling.
* Experience creating platform-native social content and adapting ideas across multiple formats, placements, and audience contexts.
* Experience art directing photography and/or video productions from preproduction through postproduction.
* Experience partnering with copywriters, designers, content creators, strategists, media teams, producers, and project or program managers.
* Restaurant, retail, food and beverage, franchise, hospitality, or other high-volume consumer brand experience preferred.

### Skills & Abilities

* Exceptional conceptual thinking, visual storytelling, typography, composition, design systems, and presentation skills.
* Fluency in social media creative best practices, including short-form video, mobile-first design, hooks, pacing, sound-on and sound-off storytelling, creator content, and platform-specific formats.
* Strong understanding of integrated marketing and the distinct role of paid, owned, and earned channels.
* Ability to interpret creative briefs, audience insights, media requirements, and performance signals and translate them into actionable creative direction.
* Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud, especially Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign; working knowledge of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Figma, or comparable tools is strongly preferred.
* Familiarity with generative AI and emerging creative tools, including responsible use, prompt development, quality control, and brand governance.
* Working knowledge of production specifications for digital, social, print, packaging, and video deliverables.
* Strong communication, presentation, collaboration, organization, and stakeholder-management skills.
* Ability to prioritize, manage ambiguity, respond to feedback, and maintain craft quality in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
* Experience with project management and collaboration platforms such as monday.com, Workfront, or similar tools.
* Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications and willingness to learn new tools quickly.

### Travel Requirements

* May be required to travel up to 25% of the time