Creative Director Job at Wingstop Restaurants Inc. in Arlington

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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

The Creative Director reporting directly to the Vice President, Brand and Channel Management will be a critical leader on the Brand Team, and for the organization. This person will lead the vision, development, and execution of Wingstop’s brand storytelling and visual identity across all owned and marketing assets, ensuring every touchpoint delivers a bold, flavorful, and visually arresting experience.

• Own the Brand Creative Vision: Define creative direction for key campaigns and brand territories that influence ideas and execution across packaging, website, CRM, POP materials, and content.
• Industry and Competitive Intelligence: Stay ahead of trends across QSR, culture, design, and AI to carve out unique, ownable lanes for Wingstop and accelerate progress and creativity.
• Creative Team Leadership: Build, coach, and mentor a high‑performing internal creative team. Lead and manage external creative partners to ensure consistent quality and brand alignment.
• Raise the Bar: Establish a scalable creative resourcing model (internal + external) that consistently produces bold, breakthrough creative and works with good taste.
• Visual Identity & Brand Governance: Drive development and stewardship of the brand’s visual identity system, brand book, tone of voice, and creative guidelines.
• Content Engine Management: Oversee content creation—from brainstorm through execution—for product launches, social, CRM, and brand moments. Be hands‑on when needed.
• Cross‑Functional Partnering: Collaborate with Digital, Product, Strategy, agency and PR teams to ensure integrated and flavorful execution across all channels.

What You’ll Need

• Proven flavor of success: A track record of building brand platforms, big ideas and creative development that’s not just smart — it’s driven real, measurable business growth.
• Vision: The ability to understand the needs of the consumer and business and transform them into simple visual stories that make the brand stronger and the business grow. A visual thinker who is quick to prototype.
• Leadership with swagger and substance: You’ve led teams, agencies, and cross‑functional partners with a mix of empathy and high standards—and earned trust up, down, and across the organization. Think iterative thought partner vs. tactical executor.
• Wingstop DNA: You move with urgency, integrity, and accountability—a true culture add who’s agile, curious, and unafraid to get your hands saucy. Ability to balance short term business needs with longer term thinking.
• 7+ years of brand‑building experience with serious depth in agency management and creative development across physical and digital touchpoints.
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field.
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud, specifically InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects, Proficient in Figma and Microsoft Office Suite, and Working knowledge of digital asset management tools.
• Experience and/or appetite to learn leading Gen AI design and/or video platforms (Veo, Sora, Midjourney) to delivery brand assets.
• Please include a link to your portfolio showcasing your most impactful work—highlighting campaigns, creative executions, and cross‑channel touchpoints that best represent your craft and strategic thinking.

Preferred

• Experience leading through change and keeping teams fired up through transformation.
• Knowledge of Premier Pro.
• Copywriting experience.

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 support. 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’re a curious technologist‑creative who pushes the boundaries of new tools while staying grounded in disciplined brand stewardship. You iterate quickly, welcome direct feedback, and treat each experiment—successful or not—as fuel for getting better.

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

• 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)
• Basic life and AD&D insurance provided
• Education Assistance
• Wellness reimbursement program
• Paid maternity and paternity leave

Fun Is The Best Flavor

• Lunch provided every Tuesday and Thursday in office
• Work from home Fridays
• 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.