Director of Marketing & Communications

Location: Toronto, Ontario (On-site) Employment Type: Full-Time

About Naan Kabob Group

Naan Kabob Group is a hospitality and technology company behind Naan Kabob, one of Canada's leading premium fast-casual restaurant brands, and nüu, an innovative corporate catering platform transforming workplace dining. Founded in 2010, the group has grown into a multi-brand organization serving thousands of guests, businesses, and communities across the Greater Toronto Area, with ambitious plans for corporate expansion, franchise growth, and technology-driven innovation across North America. At Naan Kabob, we are committed to serving fresh, preservative-free halal food inspired by Afghan hospitality in a modern dining experience. Through nüu, we connect businesses with curated restaurant partners, making office catering simple, reliable, and memorable through technology and exceptional service.

Our mission is to bring people together through exceptional food, genuine hospitality, and innovative experiences. We are passionate about building brands people love while creating meaningful experiences for our guests, franchise partners, corporate clients, employees, and communities. We are an entrepreneurial organization that moves quickly, values ownership, collaboration, and execution. We believe great ideas only matter when they are brought to life.

About the Role

We're looking for a marketing leader who thinks beyond marketing. Reporting directly to the Vice President of Marketing & Development, the Director of Marketing & Communications will lead the marketing, communications, public relations, strategic partnerships, and brand growth initiatives across Naan Kabob Group, including Naan Kabob and nüu. This is not a traditional corporate marketing role. We're looking for someone who understands that great brands are built through meaningful partnerships, strong public relations, exceptional storytelling, and marketing that drives measurable business growth. The successful candidate will be responsible for strengthening our brands, increasing awareness, supporting restaurant and catering growth, building strategic partnerships, supporting franchise expansion, and leading integrated marketing initiatives across the organization. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building relationships, creating opportunities, solving problems, and working with a lean, high-performing team where ideas move quickly into execution.

Key Responsibilities

Marketing Strategy & Brand Growth Develop and execute the overall marketing strategy for Naan Kabob Group. Lead brand strategy across Naan Kabob, nüü, and future business ventures. Build annual marketing plans aligned with business objectives. Drive customer acquisition, retention, and brand awareness. Ensure brand consistency across all customer touchpoints. Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to execute integrated marketing campaigns. Oversee creative direction, content development, photography, video, and campaign execution.

Public Relations & Communications

Develop and lead the company's public relations and communications strategy. Build relationships with media, journalists, influencers, and industry leaders. Secure earned media opportunities, interviews, speaking engagements, and brand features. Lead communications for restaurant openings, product launches, franchise announcements, partnerships, and company milestones. Support executive thought leadership and corporate storytelling. Protect and strengthen the reputation of the company's brands.

Strategic Partnerships & Business Development

Identify and develop strategic partnerships that support business growth. Build relationships with corporate organizations, office towers, property managers, developers, landlords, hospitals, universities, community organizations, sports groups, and industry associations. Develop sponsorships, collaborative marketing initiatives, and community partnerships. Support corporate catering growth through partnerships and customer acquisition initiatives. Identify new market opportunities and revenue-generating initiatives.

Franchise Marketing

Support franchise recruitment and expansion initiatives. Develop franchise marketing materials and communication strategies. Assist with franchise presentations, discovery events, and recruitment campaigns. Build scalable marketing programs that support future franchise partners.

Digital Marketing

Oversee digital marketing initiatives including paid advertising, SEO, social media, email marketing, website optimization, and online reputation. Analyze marketing performance and customer insights to improve campaign effectiveness and return on investment. Collaborate with internal resources and agency partners to execute digital strategies.

Leadership & Collaboration

Work closely with Operations, Catering, Franchise Development, Technology, Finance, and Executive Leadership to align marketing initiatives with business goals. Coordinate internal marketing resources and external agencies to ensure projects are delivered on time and within budget. Foster a culture of creativity, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Reporting Structure

This position reports directly to the Vice President of Marketing & Development and works closely with the Executive Leadership Team. The Director will collaborate with internal marketing resources while managing relationships with external agencies, consultants, media partners, photographers, designers, and strategic vendors.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role will be measured by meaningful business growth and measurable marketing impact.

Key performance indicators include

Increased restaurant traffic and sales. Growth in corporate catering revenue through nüü. Increased brand awareness and positive media coverage. New strategic partnerships that generate measurable business value. Growth in customer acquisition and retention. Improved digital performance across website traffic, SEO, paid advertising, and social media. Support for franchise recruitment and expansion. Delivery of marketing initiatives on time, on budget, and with measurable ROI. Strong collaboration across departments and consistent brand execution.

Qualifications

5-8+ years of progressive experience in marketing, communications, public relations, brand management, or a related leadership role. Proven experience developing and executing successful marketing strategies that drive measurable business growth. Strong public relations, communications, and media relationship experience. Demonstrated success building strategic partnerships and collaborative business relationships. Experience supporting business development, customer acquisition, or revenue growth initiatives. Experience within hospitality, restaurants, retail, franchising, consumer brands, or technology companies is considered a strong asset. Strong understanding of digital marketing, SEO, paid advertising, social media, email marketing, content marketing, analytics, and CRM platforms. Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and relationship-building skills. Strong commercial mindset with the ability to connect marketing initiatives to business objectives. Comfortable working in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment where priorities evolve quickly. Experience working with lean teams while coordinating agencies, consultants, and external partners. Highly organized with excellent project management skills. Self-motivated, resourceful, proactive, and accountable with a strong bias toward execution. Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Public Relations, or a related field. Equivalent experience will also be considered.

Technology & Tools

Experience with many of the following is considered an asset: Google Analytics (GA4) Google Search Console Google Ads Meta Ads Manager LinkedIn Ads SEO platforms (SEMrush or similar) CRM and email marketing platforms Adobe Creative Suite Canva Microsoft 365 AI tools including ChatGPT and other emerging AI technologies Project management platforms

Compensation & Benefits

We believe exceptional people should have the opportunity to grow with the business they help build.

We offer

Competitive salary. Performance-based annual bonus. Comprehensive health and dental benefits. Paid vacation. Employee dining discounts across our brands. Professional development and leadership training. Career advancement opportunities within a rapidly growing hospitality and technology company. The opportunity to play a key leadership role in shaping the future of Naan Kabob Group.

Why Join Naan Kabob Group? This is an opportunity to help build two exciting and growing brands while working directly with senior leadership. You'll have the autonomy to make decisions, build meaningful partnerships, shape marketing strategy, strengthen public awareness, support franchise growth, expand corporate catering, and help drive the continued success of both Naan Kabob and nüu. If you're entrepreneurial, relationship-driven, execution-focused, and excited about building brands that make a real impact, we'd love to hear from you.