Director Of Public Affairs & Media Relations

You already know how the decision actually gets made. You’ve just spent the last few years watching other people make it.

You’re the one who knows which reporter to call before the story runs, and which staffer actually moves the council member. When something goes sideways at 5 o’clock, someone says “get them on the phone,” and the room settles a little, because you know what to do and who to do it with.

That instinct is the part of you most jobs can’t use. Here it’s the whole job.

Why This Seat Exists

Providence is a communications firm in Bakersfield. Clients hire us for one reason: the thing has to actually happen. A permit that gets a project off the ground. A reputation that holds through a bad week. We work across agriculture, water, energy, transportation, healthcare, and more — the industries that build things in California and take heat for it.

For twenty years, the hardest of those calls has run through one person: our founder. This role exists to change that. We’re handing the next leader our most complex accounts, our project managers, and the calls that used to only get made well when she made them.

Who this is for

Eight-plus years in public affairs, media, or communications, and you’ve led people through real pressure. You’re not chasing a title — you’ve probably held a few. You want a seat where your judgment is the product and the outcome is yours.

You’ll fit how we work without being told to:

• You tell the truth first, especially the hard version. Your word is what clients and officials are actually buying.

• You take the thing nobody assigned. A dropped ball is just a ball, until you pick it up.

• You keep score by what the client got — the permit, the coverage, the crisis that never happened.

• You build around this client, this week, not last engagement’s template.

How we work

In this seat, what matters is the work and the client — not desk time. The people who thrive here have mastered their own productivity: they know how to use their time to do the best work possible, and they’re efficient enough at it that the day can bend around their life when they need it to. Kid has a thing at 10 — go. Pickup at 3 — go. At this level, nobody’s counting chairs.

Here’s the honest catch, and it’s the whole point: that freedom is earned by output, not handed to you for showing up. It’s built for people who are already among the most efficient and productive in any room — the ones who use the command of their own time to make the work better and to give themselves room when they need it or want it. Early on, you prove the work gets done at a high level, and nothing drops. Do that, and how you arrange your day is your business. If you need someone over your shoulder to produce, you’ll be miserable here.

As the leader, you set the tone. You hold your team to the same bar that earns it: the work is excellent, and the client never waits.

Benefits:

• $110,000–$125,000 base salary

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, 401(k)

• Paid time off

• Hybrid flexibility when appropriate

$110,000 - $125,000 yearly

• Lead Providence’s public affairs and media relations practice under the VP of Communications & Client Services — strategy, standards, and delivery.

• Supervise, coach, and develop the Project Managers: set clear account, budget, quality, and responsiveness expectations, and build people who can carry more.

• Develop and execute public affairs, media relations, crisis communications, and stakeholder strategies for assigned clients.

• Directly manage the most complex, high-risk, or specialized client accounts while keeping capacity to lead the team.

• Direct earned media and crisis response, and lead media training and spokesperson prep before clients face a camera.

• Build and maintain relationships with journalists, government officials, community leaders, and industry stakeholders — and hold the team to the two-hour acknowledge / one-day close-the-loop standard.

• Contribute to proposals, presentations, and account growth, and keep work accurate in the firm’s systems (Asana, Harvest).

• Real public affairs, government affairs, political, or campaign experience — the core requirement for this role. You’ve worked where policy, elections, regulators, and the press intersect, and you know how decisions get made in that arena.

• 8+ years of progressively responsible experience in public affairs, media relations, government relations, or communications.

• 3+ years supervising or leading teams; experience developing account leaders or communications professionals.

• .Track record managing strategic client relationships, complex projects, budgets, and deadlines

• Strength in earned media, spokesperson prep, public affairs, stakeholder engagement, and crisis communications.

• Valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, auto insurance; able to travel up to 25% within California.

• Fluent English; advanced Microsoft 365; U.S. work authorization; able to pass a background check.

Preferred (not required):

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

• Established media, government, community, or industry relationships in client sectors.

• Experience with California permitting, regulatory processes, elected officials, or regulated industries.

• Ability to speak, read, or write Spanish.

Providence Strategic Consulting is a full-service communications firm in Bakersfield. We build strategic communications and public affairs campaigns that get projects permitted, and we run the media relations, PR, and stakeholder work that protects clients while they build. Clients span agriculture, water, oil and gas, transportation, healthcare, nonprofit, retail, and telecommunications. For twenty years, clients who care about the outcome more than the invoice have called us when a permit has to happen, or a reputation is on the line. We are known for speed — two hours to acknowledge, a day to close the loop — and we are building a deeper leadership bench as we grow. If you lead well, move fast, and know how decisions actually get made in California, this is a firm that will put that to work.