Director of Communications

SARASOTA COUNTY GOVERNMENT Director of Communications (R14730) About Our Job Sarasota County is home to over 441,000 residents, 96,000 seasonal residents and visitors from around the world! As the Director of Communications, you will lead, develop, and implement a County-wide communications strategy to disseminate information both internally and externally related to County initiatives and activities. You will lead a team of 33 people who are our main points of contacts communicating with our community. They do this by working with external customer service initiatives, media relations, social media, organizational branding and messaging, the County website, creative services, and project coordination to support our departments, ACCESS TV, the county 311 Contact Center and Welcome Center. Duties: As the Director, you will: • Develop short- and long-term communication goals and strategies to advance them • Develop customer centric messaging through internal and external communications, community relations, media relations and other methods including social media strategies. • Establish and maintain effective working relationships with news media professionals as well as other agencies, boards, authorities, commissions and community groups • Establish and manage the department’s budget and staffing plans. • Review and approve all procurement projects and solicitations. • Oversee the development and reporting of the annual Citizen Opinion Survey. • Produce the County Administrator’s Annual Report in print and digital form. • Oversee responsive public records coordination in accordance with Florida Public Records laws. • The Director or their designees will serve as lead PIO. This position will work the hours needed to best handle the communications needs of the county. Typically, those hours are Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. About You Minimum Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree • 10 years of professional experience in customer service, media relations, public administration, internal and external strategic communications and social media, including multiple years of supervisory experience • OR Master’s degree and eight (8) years of experience, as described above Preferred Qualifications • Extensive experience in government-based communications strategies About Everything Else Pay: $119,000 – $134,000 based on your experience. APPLY: https://bit.ly/3HiVmrc