Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc.

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3027 Townsgate Road, Suite 300

Westlake Village, CA 91361

PROXY STATEMENT

FOR THE 2026 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

June 5, 2026

We have sent you this Proxy Statement and the enclosed Proxy Card because the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (referred to herein as the “Company”, “Arcutis”, “we”, “us” or “our”), is soliciting your proxy to vote at our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) to be held on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 7:30 a.m. PDT, virtually at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/ARQT2026. There will be no physical meeting location. The meeting will only be conducted via an audio webcast.

•This Proxy Statement summarizes information about the proposals to be considered at the Annual Meeting and other information you may find useful in determining how to vote.

•The Proxy Card is the means by which you actually authorize another person to vote your shares in accordance with your instructions.

In addition to solicitations by mail, our directors, officers and regular employees, without additional remuneration, may solicit proxies by telephone, e-mail and personal interviews. We may retain outside consultants to solicit proxies on our behalf as well. All costs of solicitation of proxies will be borne by us, Brokers, custodians and fiduciaries will be requested to forward proxy soliciting material to the owners of stock held in their names, and we will reimburse them for their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with the distribution of proxy materials.

Pursuant to the rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), we have elected to provide access to our Annual Meeting materials, which include this Proxy Statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (the “Form 10-K”), over the internet in lieu of mailing printed copies. We will begin mailing the Notice of Internet Availability to our stockholders of record as of April 8, 2026 (the “Record Date”), for the first time on or about April 21, 2026. The Notice of Internet Availability will contain instructions on how to access and review the Annual Meeting materials, and will also contain instructions on how to request a printed copy of the Annual Meeting materials. In addition, we have provided brokers, dealers, banks, voting trustees and their nominees, at our expense, with additional copies of our proxy materials and the Form 10-K so that our record holders can supply these materials to the beneficial owners of shares of our common stock as of the Record Date. The Form 10-K is also available in the “Financials” section of our website athttps://investors.arcutis.com/investor-relations.

The only outstanding voting securities of Arcutis are shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the “common stock”), of which there were 125,073,249 shares outstanding as of the Record Date (excluding any treasury shares). The holders of a majority of the voting power of the shares of stock entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting, present in person or represented by proxy, are required to hold the Annual Meeting.