Director of Public Relations

ICBD Holdings • Fort Lauderdale, FL

4d • Onsite

About The Position

ABA Centers is seeking a strategic, mission-driven Director of Public Relations to lead and elevate the organization’s national visibility, reputation, and thought leadership. This role will drive proactive media strategy, position the company as a leading voice in healthcare, and improve its online reputation. The ideal candidate is both a strategist and a hands-on communicator who thrives in a high-growth environment and is passionate about expanding awareness, access, and understanding of autism services.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in public relations, corporate communications, or media relations.
• Strong understanding of media landscape and experience in building relationships with key media contacts.
• Proven success securing national and regional earned media coverage.
• Experience developing and executing strategic PR plans in a high-growth organization.
• Exceptional writing, editing, and storytelling skills with the ability to tailor messages for diverse audiences.
• Experience supporting executive communications and media training.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in public relations, communications, journalism, or related field.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in healthcare, behavioral health, autism services, or multi-site healthcare organizations.
• Business/finance PR experience to be better equipped to tell our stratospheric de novo growth story.
• Agency management experience.
• Bi-lingual in Spanish.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement comprehensive public relations strategies to enhance the company's brand awareness and reputation, aligned with business growth priorities.
• Position the organization and its executives as thought leaders in autism care, healthcare access, behavioral health, business, and finance.
• Secure “best in business” awards and list placements in such top-tier business publications as Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, Financial Times, Inc., Entrepreneur, and Fast Company, etc.
• Identify and capitalize on proactive media opportunities tied to special interest months, research, community impact, company milestones, client success stories, and clinic-based events.
• Collaborate with regional teams to generate local media coverage in key growth markets
• Partner with executive leadership to shape messaging that supports growth, recruitment, and market expansion.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with both national and regional media contacts in relevant beats.
• Draft and distribute press releases, media pitches, op-eds, and executive commentary.
• Secure high-impact earned media placements throughout broadcast, print, digital, and podcast platforms.
• Prepare executives leaders for media interviews, including talking points, briefing materials, and media training.
• Support events, conferences, and workshops to represent ABA Centers and engage with the autism community.
• Manage crisis communications planning and response.
• Monitor media coverage, industry trends, and public sentiment.
• Track and report PR performance metrics, including media reach, share of voice, sentiment, and business impact.
• Manage PR tools, media databases, and agency relationships.
• Maintain LinkedIn profiles of the company’s Chairman and CEO.
• Assist in coordinating details of public appearances.
• Draft speeches as needed.
• Monitor and manage the organization’s online presence across the primary review platforms (Google, Indeed, and Glassdoor).
• Develop and implement a comprehensive online reputation strategy aligned with brand, growth, and recruitment goals.
• Respond promptly and professionally to reviews, maintaining HIPAA compliance and brand voice standards.
• Partner with clinical, operations, HR, and recruiting teams to address concerns raised in reviews and identify opportunities for systemic improvement.
• Identify recurring themes in feedback and translate insights into actionable recommendations for operations, patient experience, and employee experience improvements.
• Establish protocols for escalating sensitive, negative, or high-risk feedback to appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Proactively increase positive reviews by implementing employee feedback campaigns.
• Track and analyze reputation metrics (ratings, sentiment, response times, review volume, and trends) and provide regular reporting to leadership.
• Support employer brand reputation by collaborating with Talent Acquisition and HR to strengthen ratings and messaging on career platforms.

Benefits

• 21 paid days off (15 days of PTO, which increases with tenure, plus 6 holidays).
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) options.
• Medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, and life insurance.
• Generous 401(k) with up to 6% employer match.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director