Executive Director | Dubuque, IA

Bridgewater Recovery is a behavioral health organization developing a substance use treatment program focused on expanding access to high-quality IOP, PHP, detox, and residential treatment services in Dubuque, Iowa. The program is being built to serve individuals who need a higher level of care, with a focus on clinical quality, operational discipline, strong culture, and long-term sustainability.

Bridgewater Recovery is seeking an experienced Executive Director to serve as the senior operational leader for its Dubuque, Iowa facility. This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for translating vision into execution during the facility's launch and ongoing operations, spanning IOP, PHP, detox, and residential levels of care. The Executive Director ensures regulatory compliance, financial performance, and exceptional client care while developing the leaders and teams that make it all possible.

•       Lead pre-opening planning and execution, including hiring, onboarding, policy implementation, licensure readiness, and operational go-live preparation

•       Help stand up programming across IOP, PHP, detox, and residential treatment

•       Develop operating systems, reporting structures, workflows, and accountability processes across departments

•       Oversee facility-level financial performance, budgeting, labor management, census growth, and operational efficiency

•       Monitor key performance indicators and support payer strategy, reimbursement awareness, referral growth, and census development

•       Recruit, build, and lead a high-performing leadership team across clinical, medical, nursing, admissions, operations, compliance, and administrative functions

•       Provide direct supervision, coaching, and support to department leaders

•       Work closely with the Medical Director, Clinical Director, nursing leadership, and treatment team to support high-quality, evidence-based care

•       Ensure compliance with applicable state, federal, payer, and accreditation requirements, maintaining survey and licensing readiness

•       Represent Bridgewater Recovery in the community, referral network, payer environment, and broader behavioral health market

•       Master's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Public Health, Behavioral Health Administration, Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, or a related field

•       5+ years of progressive behavioral health leadership experience

•       3+ years of executive leadership experience

•       Experience launching a new treatment facility or leading a start-up healthcare operation preferred

•       Experience with ASAM levels of care, including 3.5 residential and 3.7 detox, preferred

•       Experience with state licensure, accreditation readiness, Joint Commission, CARF, or similar standards preferred

•       Experience working with Medicaid MCOs, commercial payers, utilization review, and reimbursement-driven operations preferred

•       Prior leadership experience in a high-growth or multi-site behavioral health organization preferred

Salary: $130,000 - $170,000 annually, commensurate with experience

Performance Incentives: Additional performance-based incentives tied to census growth, financial performance, operational execution, compliance, and quality outcomes

Schedule: Full-time | On-site | Contract to start, transitioning to employee at facility launch

Bridgewater Recovery is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

EEO is the Law: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf

This opportunity is posted by Atlantic Health Strategies on behalf of Bridgewater Recovery.