Prevention and Wellness Director - Jefferson County Department of Health

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LOCATIONS: Health Department of Jeff Co

TARGET CLOSE DATE:

07/25/2025

PAY GRADE:

Grade 42

TYPE:

Full time

JOB SUMMARY:

The Jefferson County Department of Health is seeking a Director of Prevention and Wellness who will be responsible for the strategic oversight of multiple divisions including Environmental Health, Population Health, Health Equity, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Quality Improvement, Epidemiology, and Disease Prevention. The Director is responsible for developing strategic plans, ensuring regulatory compliance, driving operational excellence, managing budgets, and aligning departmental programs with strategic health objectives to enhance public health outcomes. As a manager of managers, the Prevention and Wellness Director assigns and reviews work, administers performance appraisals, makes hiring decisions and offers, provides work-related feedback, and makes recommendations for disciplinary action when needed.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

The Jefferson County Department of Health provides competitive pay and comprehensive benefits packages to include medical and dental insurance, employer-sponsored retirement plan (pension), generous paid holidays, sick and vacation leave, and more. The pay range for this job is listed below:

Health Department $145,163. - $225,201

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: 
The following are job-related qualifications that are required for employment consideration for this position: 

  • Master's degree in Public Health (MPH), Public Administration (MPA), Health Administration (MBA or MSHA), Social Work, Nursing, or a public health or healthcare-related friend from an accredited university or collage.

  • Experience in a leadership role within a healthcare or public health setting (e.g., creating or editing policies and procedures, leading strategic health programs, high-level communication).

  • Experience managing state and/or federal public health grants.

  • Experience developing and maintaining a budget.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
The following are job-related qualifications deemed desirable by Jefferson County Department of Health. These qualifications may be considered by the hiring agency when reviewing applications and inviting candidates to participate in subsequent steps in the selection processes. 

  • Professional Engineer (PE) license.

  • Doctorate in Public Health, Public Administration, Health Administration, Social Work, Nursing, or in a public health or healthcare-related field from an accredited university or college. 

  • Experience in applying and operationalizing health equity principles within public health frameworks.

  • Experience with budget development and fiscal oversight across multiple program areas.

  • Experience in emergency preparedness, quality improvement, health equity, and population health management.

TYPICAL JOB DUTIES

  • Provides strategic and operational leadership over the Department’s environmental health functions, including sanitation, food safety, air quality, and other regulatory compliance programs. Ensures that all services meet or exceed local, state, and federal public health standards.

  • Leads the development, implementation, and continuous evaluation of population health initiatives. Utilizes community health assessments, data analytics, and stakeholder input to design programs that address social determinants of health and reduce health disparities across Jefferson County.

  • Directs the development and implementation of department-wide quality improvement initiatives using evidence-based models.

  • Administers the department’s readiness and responsiveness to public health emergencies, including natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and bioterrorism threats. Ensures integration of equity, communication, and rapid mobilization strategies into emergency preparedness planning and response efforts.

  • Provides oversight for the department’s epidemiology, surveillance, and communicable disease control functions. Ensures timely analysis and reporting of disease trends to guide public health interventions, inform policy, and improve health outcomes in Jefferson County.

  • Leads the administration, budgeting, compliance, and reporting for local, state, and federal public health grants, including initiatives such as Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) and Maternal and Child Health (MCH). Ensures grant objectives align wIth strategic goals and community priorities.

  • Designs and directs a strategic plan for the allocation of opioid settlement funds. Partners with community organizations, treatment providers, and stakeholders to expand prevention, harm reduction, and recovery support services addressing substance misuse and co-occurring health challenges.

  • Represents the department at community events, public health conferences, and inter-agency meetings. Delivers presentations at community forums, professional conferences, and media events.

  • Ensures health equity are a core principle across all department programs, services, and policies. Utilizes strategies to reduce racial, economic, and geographic disparities in health outcomes and ensures that all public health efforts are inclusive and accessible.

  • Supervises managers of divisions including Disease Control, Population and Community health, Environmental Health, Quality Improvement and Health Equity. Supervises staff by assigning and distributing work, directing staff in their job duties, monitoring progress of work, providing feedback and/or training.

  • Creates and manages budgets for all divisions, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and compliance with fiscal policies. Prepares, monitors, and administers departmental or organizational budget by reviewing spending trends, expenditure reports, analyzing financial data and ensuring expenditures are within annual budgetary limits.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Job involves physical exertion required for sustained periods of light physical activity such as walking or standing. May involve occasional lifting of items or objects weighing up to 25 lbs.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Work is conducted almost exclusively indoors in an office setting and involves use of standard office equipment, such as computer, phone, copier, etc. May be exposed to a variety of adverse working conditions, including: exposure to bodily fluids and other bio-hazard materials (e.g., urine, sweat, saliva, blood, etc.), and exposure to contagious or infectious diseases. Job requires continuous education to maintain certification/licensure.

EEO STATEMENT:

The Personnel Board of Jefferson County provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment with the Personnel Board of Jefferson County, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.  Each Merit System member city/agency operate its own equal employment opportunity policies available on the individual city/agency website.

ACCOMMODATION:

To request an accommodation in the application or hiring process due to your own ongoing medical condition or disability, please contact our Accommodations Coordinator at accommodationrequest@pbjcal.org or phone at 205-279-3500 (select option 1) Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time. The accommodation process is reserved solely for job seekers with disabilities requesting accessibility assistance or accommodation in the job application process.

NOTE:

This job posting may close before, or be extended beyond, the listed Target Close Date based on the employment needs of the Merit System. More detail regarding this job is available by clicking Apply.

DISCLAIMER:

This job posting is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of the job duties, responsibilities, or skills and abilities required to do the job and may be changed at the discretion of the Personnel Board at any time.