The Director, Member Experience & Engagement plays a role in the growth, engagement, and retention of the Society’s membership. Reporting to the CEO, this position leads the strategy for strengthening the member experience across the full lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding through long-term engagement and renewal, ensuring that SMPS’s value proposition is clear, compelling, and consistently delivered.

Membership is everyone’s business at SMPS, and this role serves as the strategic lead and organizational connector for that work. The Director collaborates closely with the leadership team and staff across business units to align membership, chapter success, marketing, programs, operations, and member communications around a shared commitment to member value, engagement, and growth.

This position requires a strategic, collaborative leader with strong relationship-building, communication, and analytical skills, as well as a deep understanding of membership-driven organizations. A key aspect of the role is using data, member insight, and cross-functional collaboration to guide priorities, improve outcomes, and ensure that SMPS delivers a high-quality and coordinated member experience.

RESPONSIBILITIES

MEMBERSHIP GROWTH AND RECRUITMENT

• Develop and execute innovative strategies to recruit new members, including outreach campaigns, partnerships, and events.
• Analyze market trends and identify target audiences and segments to expand the membership base.
• Collaborate with the marketing and communications team to create compelling messaging and outreach strategies that clearly articulate the SMPS member value proposition.
• Partner with local chapters to support their membership growth initiatives through shared resources, campaigns, and strategic guidance.
• Provide chapters with training, tools, and best practices to enhance their recruitment efforts and align with Society goals
• There needs to be something added here for retention *not sure how to word it*

MEMBER EXPERIENCE, ENGAGEMENT, AND RETENTION

• Own the end to end member journey, mapping key touch points from onboarding through renewal and designing a seamless, high quality experience at each stage.
• Build and nurture relationships with members to understand their needs, ensuring their satisfaction and deepening engagement with SMPS offerings.
• Develop and implement programs, services, and events that add clear value to the member experience and encourage ongoing participation.
• Identify opportunities to increase member engagement in communities, committees, chapters, and leadership pathways, including networks and affinity groups.
• Monitor membership trends, feedback, and engagement data to proactively address retention challenges and opportunities.

Online community leadership

• Lead the strategy, management, and ongoing evolution of MYSMPS, SMPS’s online community platform powered by Higher Logic, to strengthen member engagement, connection, and value.
• Develop and execute a community engagement plan that drives participation, peer-to-peer interaction, knowledge sharing, and alignment with broader membership goals.
• Oversee community health, including content planning, moderation, response coordination, and support for productive and inclusive member interaction.
• Partner with marketing, chapter success, and internal subject matter experts to activate discussions, promote relevant content, and ensure members experience MYSMPS as a valuable extension of SMPS membership.
• Monitor community performance metrics, engagement trends, and member feedback to identify opportunities for improvement and measure impact on member engagement and retention.
• Establish and maintain community standards, participation guidelines, and escalation practices to support a positive and well-managed member experience.
• Identify opportunities to connect MYSMPS with programs, committees, events, onboarding, and renewal efforts so the platform supports the full member journey.
• Serve as the internal lead on Higher Logic community management practices, recommending enhancements, workflows, and platform improvements that advance member experience goals.

DATA, INSIGHTS, AND REPORTING

• Oversee the membership database to ensure accurate and up?to?date records that support decision?making and reporting.
• Analyze membership data to track growth, retention rates, engagement levels, and utilization of benefits and programs.
• Prepare regular reports for leadership and the board of directors on membership statistics, trends, and the impact of engagement initiatives.
• Use data and member feedback to test, refine, and scale engagement strategies over time

Member Communications & Promotion

• Partner with the marketing team to develop and deploy member-centric campaigns that promote membership, benefits, programs, and engagement opportunities.
• Serve as the primary voice of the member in content planning, ensuring that messaging reflects member needs, feedback, and the SMPS member experience and value proposition.
• Collaborate with marketing to align email, web, and social communications with member journey stages, including prospect, new member, engaged member, and at-risk member.
• Coordinate membership-specific communications, including renewal notices, onboarding sequences, and engagement nudges, while leveraging marketing’s brand, creative, and channel expertise.
• Review and interpret engagement metrics, including opens, clicks, and participation trends, with marketing and recommend adjustments to improve member experience and outcomes.

Chapter Success & Collaboration

• Collaborate with the chapter success lead to align Society and chapter-level membership and engagement priorities.
• Jointly support chapter leaders on member experience topics, with the chapter success lead handling day-to-day coaching and the Director focusing on strategy, tools, and scalable practices.
• Co-develop resources, training, and shared campaigns that help chapters recruit, onboard, and engage members consistently with the SMPS value proposition.
• Participate in key chapter leader touchpoints, including leadership calls and orientation sessions, to share insights on member experience trends and priorities.
• Work with the chapter success lead to surface chapter innovations, challenges, and member feedback that can inform Society strategies.

LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATION

• Provide strategic leadership for the member experience and engagement function, ensuring that goals, priorities, and initiatives are clearly defined and aligned with SMPS’s overall strategy.
• Supervise and coach the Membership Coordinator and other assigned membership or engagement staff, setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and supporting professional growth.
• Foster a collaborative, member-focused, and growth-oriented team culture that emphasizes service, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Partner closely with the marketing team, chapter success lead, education and events, and operations and finance to ensure a coordinated and high-quality member experience across programs, channels, and chapters.
• Collaborate with the CEO, senior leadership, and volunteer leaders to integrate the member experience and value proposition into organizational planning, budgeting, and decision-making.
• Represent member needs and insights in cross-functional projects, helping colleagues understand member perspectives and implications for their work.

OTHER

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

• Bachelor’s degree preferred or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• 7–10 years of progressive experience in associations, professional societies, nonprofits, membership, or related fields, with direct responsibility for member growth, retention, engagement, or chapter support.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing membership, engagement, or customer experience strategies that produced measurable results.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and collaborating effectively with marketing, chapter relations, operations, finance, and volunteer leaders.
• Experience supervising staff, setting priorities, and building a high-performing, service-oriented team culture.
• Strong relationship-management skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility with members, chapter leaders, volunteers, and internal stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present insights, recommendations, and performance results to senior leadership and volunteer audiences.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and move work forward in a small-staff environment.
• Demonstrated ability to use data and analytics to inform decisions, identify trends, measure outcomes, and improve member experience and engagement.
• Commitment to delivering a high-quality member experience and advancing a collaborative workplace culture.

REQUIRED TECHNICAL

• Experience with an association management system (AMS), including managing data structures, workflows, queries, reports, and user permissions.
• Proven ability to own day-to-day AMS administration and optimization in partnership with operations/IT support, ensuring the system effectively supports membership, engagement, and reporting needs.
• Ability to identify and resolve data integrity issues and to design processes that maintain accurate, complete, and reliable membership records.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office 365, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Comfort using reporting tools, dashboards, and engagement metrics from the AMS and related platforms to support strategy and decision-making.
• Experience managing an online member community, engagement platform, or Higher Logic environment, including strategy, moderation, content activation, and performance tracking.

NICE TO HAVE

• CAE (Certified Association Executive) or similar certification.
• Experience working with volunteer committees, boards, chapters, or component-based organizations.
• Experience supporting member communications, engagement campaigns, or lifecycle marketing in partnership with a marketing team.
• Familiarity with community engagement, email marketing, or member platform tools.

LOCATION | TRAVEL

• DMV (Washington DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia)
• A mix of remote and onsite
• Some travel may be required

About Society for Marketing Professional Services

BUSINESS TRANSFORMED THROUGH MARKETING LEADERSHIP.The Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) is a community of marketing and business development professionals working to secure profitable business relationships for their A/E/C companies. Through networking, business intelligence, and research, SMPS members gain a competitive advantage in positioning their firms successfully in the marketplace. SMPS offers members professional development, leadership opportunities, and marketing resources to advance their careers.Today, SMPS represents a dynamic network of over 7,000 marketing and business development professionals from architectural, engineering, planning, interior design, construction, and specialty consulting firms located throughout the United States and Canada.

Connections working at Society for Marketing Professional Services