Art Director

Company Description: GoTo Foods, based in Atlanta, GA, is a leading global platform company that develops and operates multi-channel foodservice brands. Through its affiliate brands, it oversees more than 7,300 restaurants, cafes, ice cream shoppes, and bakeries across all 50 U.S. states and 71 countries and territories, including Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, Moe’s Southwest Grill, McAlister’s Deli, Schlotzsky’s, and Seattle’s Best Coffee in select markets. The company drives growth and brand performance through strong enterprise capabilities in marketing, digital, technology, and franchise sales and development. GoTo Foods has been Certified™ by Great Place To Work® for two consecutive years, reflecting its commitment to a positive and inclusive workplace experience. More information is available at www.gotofoods.com.

Role Description: The Art Director is a full-time, on-site role based in Atlanta, GA, responsible for leading creative concept development and visual execution across GoTo Foods’ portfolio of brands. This role oversees the creation of brand-aligned visual assets for campaigns, packaging, in-store signage, digital channels, and presentations, ensuring consistency and high-quality design standards. The Art Director collaborates closely with marketing, brand, and digital teams, provides guidance to designers and external agencies, and manages multiple projects and deadlines. Day-to-day tasks include developing creative briefs, reviewing and refining design work, maintaining brand guidelines, and presenting concepts to stakeholders for feedback and approval. The role also involves staying current with design trends and foodservice branding best practices to support innovation and brand differentiation.

Qualifications

• Candidates should possess strong creative direction and art direction skills, including the ability to lead concept development and oversee visual storytelling.
• Candidates should possess branding expertise and experience maintaining and evolving brand identity systems across multiple channels.
• Candidates should have graphic design skills, including proficiency with industry-standard design tools (e.g., Adobe Creative Cloud) and best practices for print and digital media.
• Candidates should possess experience collaborating with cross-functional teams, managing creative projects from brief to delivery, and presenting work to senior stakeholders.
• Candidates should have excellent communication, organization, and time-management skills, and the ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on design work.
• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Fine Arts, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience in multi-brand, retail, restaurant, or consumer-facing environments is beneficial, along with familiarity with digital marketing and social media content design.

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

• 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.