Member Engagement Manager

Chicago Yacht Club seeks an engaging, relationship-driven Member Engagement Manager to lead member onboarding, retention, and engagement initiatives. The successful candidate will be a visible ambassador for the Club, skilled at creating meaningful member connections and strengthening the member experience with professionalism, confidentiality, and exceptional attention to detail.

Position Summary

Reports to: General Manager  Status: Full-time, exempt

The Member Engagement Manager leads the Club's member engagement strategy from onboarding through long-term participation and retention. This individual develops meaningful relationships across the membership; oversees member engagement programs, records, and communications; identifies opportunities to improve participation and satisfaction; and helps ensure that Club programming, services, and experiences reinforce the value of membership.

Essential Responsibilities

Engagement Strategy and Onboarding

• Develop and implement annual strategies for member engagement, participation, and retention.
• Develop and oversee new-member welcome, orientation, and integration programs that help members quickly establish meaningful connections within the Club.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for newly approved members during their first year, connecting them with programs, committees, and fellow members aligned with their interests.
• Maintain accurate, confidential member engagement records in the Club's database or CRM system.
• Monitor participation, attrition, transfers, resignations, and category utilization; recommend initiatives that strengthen engagement and support the Club's long-term membership objectives.
• Assist with retention forecasting, budgeting, and the annual member engagement plan.

Member Engagement and Retention

• Serve as a highly visible and accessible ambassador for the Club, fostering relationships across membership categories, generations, and areas of member interest.
• Collaborate with Club departments to create engagement opportunities that encourage participation in sailing, boating, dining, social events, youth and family programming, committees, and member traditions.
• Develop initiatives that recognize member milestones, accomplishments, life events, and contributions to the Club community.
• Identify members who may be disengaged or at risk of resigning and implement appropriate outreach and retention efforts.
• Gather, document, and evaluate member feedback through personal interaction, surveys, focus groups, event feedback, and other channels.
• Serve as a liaison between members and Club management, ensuring concerns, suggestions, and service-recovery opportunities are handled with discretion, professionalism, and follow-through.
• Partner with the Events, Food & Beverage, Sailing/On the Water, Communications, and Facilities teams to ensure member feedback informs programming and service improvements.

Communications and Administration

• Lead member engagement communications, including welcome materials, renewal communications, member notices, newsletters, directories, and digital content, in coordination with Club leadership and communications staff.
• Maintain accurate member profiles, contact information, household details, membership category information, committee participation, and engagement history.
• Ensure member files, agreements, and related records are handled confidentially and in accordance with Club policy and applicable requirements.
• Support the development and ongoing improvement of the member directory, Club app, website member content, and other member-facing platforms.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly reports on onboarding, participation, retention, member satisfaction, feedback trends, and other key performance indicators.
• Develop and manage the departmental budget, including engagement programming, orientation, member communications, printing, database tools, and related expenses.
• Attend appropriate Board, Membership Committee, and other Club committee meetings; provide staff support, reports, and recommendations as requested.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree preferred, with concentration in hospitality management, communications, marketing, business, or a related field.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in private-club member relations, hospitality, events, member engagement, or customer experience.
• Private-club, yacht-club, country-club, hospitality, luxury service, or membership-organization experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success in relationship-building, member engagement, retention, and service recovery.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Strong judgment, discretion, diplomacy, and ability to manage sensitive member matters confidentially.
• Experience using CRM, membership-management, event-registration, and communication platforms.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and comfort preparing reports, presentations, correspondence, and data analysis.
• Availability to work a flexible schedule, including selected evenings, weekends, holidays, and Club events.

Performance Measures

Success in this role may be evaluated through:

• Member retention, renewal, and attrition trends, including first-year member retention.
• Completion and quality of new-member onboarding and orientation.
• Member participation across Club programs, events, committees, sailing activities, and dining.
• Member satisfaction, feedback response time, and resolution of concerns.
• Accuracy and timeliness of member records, reporting, and committee materials.
• Progress against approved member engagement goals.
• Budget management and effective use of engagement-program resources.

Compensation and Benefits

Base Salary: $75,000 – $80,000  Annual incentive: Up to $15,000  Total Compensation: $75,000 – $95,000  Benefits: Medical, dental, retirement plan/match, paid time off, Club dining or meal benefit, professional development, and parking/transit as applicable. Also eligible to participate in the employee holiday fund, contributed to annually by Club members.