Campus Ink is hiring a hands-on Art Director to lead apparel and merchandise artwork production onsite in Chicago.

Oversee apparel design work from concept through final production, aligning creative decisions with brand standards and manufacturing capabilities.
Direct creation and refinement of graphic assets across product lines, keeping visual consistency and craft quality through final production files.
Support concept-to-tech-pack workflows for jersey and private label products, collaborating with the executive team and manufacturers to maintain design accuracy and product quality.
Lead designers and illustrators, delegating projects based on team strengths, managing workload, and providing day-to-day mentorship and craft feedback.
Own and continuously improve the creative production pipeline, including intake, revisions, approvals, and handoff to production to reduce bottlenecks and turnaround time.
Perform strict quality control on artwork output, identifying issues before files move to production.
Partner with business development and account management to keep creative timelines aligned with partner and licensing deadlines.

Bachelor’s degree in a related field (Graphic Design, Apparel Design, or similar) preferred; not required with sufficient portfolio strength.
Proficiency in apparel design.
Preferred: experience with screen printing, embroidery, and digital decoration techniques.
5+ years of experience in art direction or senior design roles, including 1–2 years managing designers or a creative team.
Portfolio featuring production-ready apparel, merchandise, or licensed product artwork.
Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator) and production file prep for print/embroidery.
Strong project management skills for multiple concurrent projects and hard deadlines.
Excellent communication, especially providing clear creative feedback to a team.
Self-motivated, highly organized, and detail-oriented.
Lives in the Chicagoland area and can be in the office 3 days per week.

Location: Chicago, IL (onsite)

Start date: As soon as possible

Art Director

Job Description