The posting
Job Description
WHO WE ARE
We’re not in the wing business. We’re in the flavor business. It’s been our mission to Serve the World Flavor since we first opened in 1994, and we’re just getting started. 1997 saw the opening of our first brand partner operated Wingstop location, and by 2002 we had served the world one billion wings. It’s flavor that defines us and has made Wingstop one of the fastest growing brands in the restaurant industry.
Above all else – our success is largely due to our people and our core values, or what we call The Wingstop Way of being entrepreneurial, service-minded, fun, and authentic. We believe having a strong people foundation centered on these collective values creates a crave-worthy culture and talented team, as well as ensures our brand is poised for accelerated growth. We all win together.
WHAT WE’LL NEED
We’re looking for a Senior Art Director who can help lead the creative development of the Wingstop brand, someone with the conceptual strength, visual craft, and creative leadership to take an idea from its earliest stages through production and execution across channels.
This is a senior, hands-on creative role responsible for shaping how Wingstop shows up across culture, platforms, and experiences through integrated campaigns and compelling visual storytelling. The ideal candidate brings meaningful experience producing TV commercials and broadcast-quality campaigns from concept and scripting through production and final delivery, while elevating the brand’s visual identity, creative standards.
You’re a senior creative leader and hands-on maker who translates cultural signals into relevant, elevated, and unmistakably Wingstop work. You set a compelling visual direction, inspire others, solve creative challenges directly, and use emerging AI tools to accelerate the creative process without compromising judgment or craft.
ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Lead the development of original concepts, integrated campaigns, and culturally relevant brand ideas that drive engagement and business impact.
- Partner closely with copywriters and other creatives to develop strong creative territories, campaign platforms, visual storytelling, and executions.
- Provide creative leadership from concept through execution, helping teams turn strong ideas into cohesive, high-quality work across channels.
- Lead the visual development and art direction of TV commercials and other major productions, partnering with directors, production companies, photographers, editors, VFX artists, and other production partners from pre-production through post.
- Translate campaign ideas across broadcast, social, digital, CRM, retail, OOH, partnerships, presentations, and other customer touchpoints while maintaining a cohesive creative vision.
- Develop social-first ideas designed to perform across modern platforms, creator collaborations, partnerships, and content ecosystems.
- Translate cultural trends, digital behaviors, and audience insights into distinctive, brand-right creative opportunities.
- Help shape and evolve Wingstop’s visual identity, creative systems, and design language across campaigns, content, partnerships, and customer experiences.
- Guide and mentor designers, art directors, and other creative partners, providing clear direction and constructive feedback that strengthens both the work and the team.
- Leverage AI-powered creative tools to accelerate concept development, visual exploration, prototyping, iteration, and production workflows.
- Manage multiple projects and creative workstreams simultaneously while maintaining high creative standards and attention to detail.
- Contribute actively to a culture of curiosity, collaboration, creative ambition, and constructive feedback.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- Consistently delivers and leads work that elevates Wingstop’s visual identity and overall creative standard.
- Develops strong, original ideas that translate into culturally relevant, integrated campaigns and brand moments.
- Demonstrates the ability to lead major creative assignments from brief through production and final execution, including TV and broadcast work.
- Builds trust as a creative leader who can provide clear direction while making collaborators and other creatives better.
- Balances strong conceptual thinking with exceptional visual craft and an understanding of how ideas translate across channels.
- Effectively presents, articulates, and advocates for creative ideas with senior stakeholders and external partners.
- Uses emerging technologies and AI-enabled workflows thoughtfully to improve creative exploration, output, and efficiency.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
EXPERIENCE
- 7+ years of art direction, design, or integrated creative experience, ideally within advertising agencies, in-house creative teams, or culturally driven consumer brands.
- Demonstrated experience developing and leading integrated brand campaigns from concept through execution.
- Strong TV commercial and broadcast production experience, including concept development, pre-production, on-set art direction, and post-production.
- Experience collaborating directly with directors, photographers, production companies, editors, VFX partners, and other external creative specialists.
- Experience providing creative direction and feedback to designers, art directors, freelancers, agencies, or multidisciplinary creative teams.
- Portfolio demonstrating exceptional conceptual thinking, visual storytelling, art direction, design craft, and integrated campaign work.
- Proven ability to present and articulate creative ideas to senior stakeholders and defend creative decisions with strategic and brand rationale.
CREATIVE & CRAFT
- Exceptional conceptual thinking with the ability to originate and develop distinctive, culturally relevant creative ideas.
- Strong visual leadership and ability to establish a creative vision that others can understand and execute against.
- Excellent graphic design skills with strong typography, layout, composition, and visual systems fundamentals.
- Strong understanding of storytelling, brand building, campaign development, and art direction across both traditional and emerging channels.
- Ability to move fluidly between high-level creative direction and hands-on execution when the work requires it.
- Deep understanding of the craft and production considerations required to bring ideas to life across TV, photography, social, digital, retail, OOH, and experiential.
- Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, especially Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
- Demonstrated ability to use AI tools to support ideation, concept development, visual exploration, and creative production workflows.
- Design experience in Figma and motion graphics/animation skills in After Effects are a plus.
- Exceptional attention to detail and a high bar for creative craft.
CULTURAL AWARENESS
- Deep understanding of the cultural spaces that influence the Wingstop audience—including sports, music, fashion, entertainment, creators, fandom, gaming, internet culture, and emerging social behaviors.
- Ability to identify culturally relevant opportunities and turn them into distinctive, brand-right creative ideas and experiences.
PEOPLE SKILLS
- Collaborative leader who builds strong relationships across creative disciplines, stakeholders, agencies, and production partners.
- Confident presenter who can articulate, sell, and defend creative ideas thoughtfully.
- Gives and receives direct, constructive feedback with maturity.
- Self-starter who takes ownership and follows work through from brief to final delivery.
- Comfortable navigating ambiguity and making creative decisions without requiring extensive direction.
WHO YOU ARE
No job is too small. You recognize that the real work happens in the restaurants, and everything we do should support their success. You stay humble, roll up your sleeves, and always look for ways to help. You learn from others and contribute wherever you can.
You care deeply about doing great work and driving results. You’re curious, ask questions, and seek out opportunities to improve. You don’t just point out problems—you bring solutions, ideas, and perspectives that move the team forward.
You take full responsibility for your work and see things through to completion. You aren’t afraid to fail because you know that failure is a part of learning and growth. You take action, move fast, and keep pushing forward.
You lead with empathy, respect, and emotional intelligence. You collaborate effectively, fostering a culture of trust and constructive feedback. You understand the importance of teamwork and ensure that your actions build others up rather than break them down.
You push yourself and others to be better. You embrace healthy conflict, knowing that great ideas and strong teams emerge from honest, constructive conversations. You believe that leaders create leaders and are committed to fostering a culture of growth, challenge, and continuous improvement.
BENEFITS
FLAVOR PERKS:
- Unlimited paid time off for exempt employees
- One paid volunteer day of your choice
- Competitive bonus structure for eligible roles
- Team member stock purchase plan
- Health savings or flexible spending account options
- 401k – (dollar for dollar on the first 3% and then 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2% for team member contributions up to 5% of eligible compensation)
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
- Basic life and AD&D insurance provided
- Pet insurance
- Education Assistance
- Wellness reimbursement program
- Paid maternity and paternity leave
FUN IS THE BEST FLAVOR:
- Lunch provided every Tuesday and Thursday in office
- Discount on Wingstop gift cards
- Onsite game room
Wingstop provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service, past, present, or future, in the uniformed services of the United States (military or veteran status), or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.
