Membership Director

AcademyHealth offers a collegial environment, challenging work that makes an impact, excellent benefits, and a competitive salary. Because we offer remote and hybrid work arrangements, candidates do not need to be physically located in the Washington, DC area.

Us: AcademyHealth is the professional home and leading national organization for health services researchers (HSR), policymakers, and health care practitioners and stakeholders. We – together with our members and partners – increase the understanding of methods and data used in the field, enhance the professional skills of a vibrant and diverse community of researchers and research users, support evidence-based policy and practice, and advocate for the use of evidence to improve health and health care for all. Our core priorities include supporting the people (through training and resources), strengthening the systems (through capacity building and advocacy), and ensuring evidence gets used (through policy and practice implementation). We are committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable working environment.

You: A strategic and innovative leader who is energized by change and the opportunity to reimagine how an organization engages with its community. You bring a track record of developing and executing strategies that grow engagement, build strong relationships, and deliver value to diverse audiences. You are curious, creative, and comfortable challenging conventional approaches; you anticipate emerging opportunities and challenges and turn them into thoughtful, actionable strategies. You are a collaborative leader who builds trust, brings people together around a shared vision, and can move effectively between big-picture strategy and execution.

We believe that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills. As such, you do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position – applications are welcomed from a broad range of applicants.

How you’ll contribute:

The Director of Membership leads AcademyHealth’s strategy to redefine and strengthen how the organization builds relationships with and delivers value to its members and broader communities. This role will help AcademyHealth rethink what membership can and should look like—developing new approaches to recruitment, retention, engagement, and community-building that reflect the changing needs and expectations of our audiences.

Membership is central to AcademyHealth’s identity, and this role serves as a key source of expertise, relied upon to interpret trends, challenge assumptions, identify opportunities, and translate insights into strategy and action. The Director brings a strong understanding of the membership landscape to decisions ranging from day-to-day operations to Board-level planning.

The Director of Membership reports to the Senior Director of Learning and Engagement and manages a team of two.

• Lead the evolution of AcademyHealth’s membership strategy, including the current transformation of the member model, ensuring that membership remains relevant, compelling, and responsive to changing member and community needs.
• Develop innovative approaches to recruitment, retention, and engagement, using member insights, data, emerging trends, experimentation, and best practices to test new ideas and continuously improve the member experience.
• Serve as the organization’s internal expert and strategic advisor on membership, interpreting trends and data and translating insights into recommendations for senior leadership, the Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and Membership Committee.
• Partner across the organization—including IT, Marketing, Meetings, Finance, and the Signature Centers—to ensure member needs and insights inform programs, benefits, experiences, communications, and systems that bring AcademyHealth’s member strategy to life.
• Set strategic priorities and establish measures of success for membership, using data and analytics to assess performance, identify opportunities, anticipate challenges, and inform decision-making.
• Lead and develop the membership team, creating a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a core member of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Team, driving organization-wide adoption and effective use of AcademyHealth’s CRM, Fonteva. Shape the CRM vision and strategy, identify opportunities to improve how teams use data and technology, and partner across the organization to develop reports, dashboards, workflows, and functionality that enable better decision-making and engagement.

Desired Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required or equivalent combination of education and experience; CAE or other relevant professional certification preferred.
• Seven or more years of progressively responsible experience in membership, community engagement, association management, or a related field, with significant experience leading membership strategy. Experience directing a membership function within a professional association or society strongly preferred.
• Experience leading significant change or transformation, ideally including redesigning a membership model, value proposition, dues structure, engagement strategy, or related organizational approach, is preferred.
• Experience leading and developing teams and fostering a highly collaborative, high-performing culture.
• A strategic, curious, and creative thinker who challenges conventional approaches, identifies emerging opportunities, experiments with new ideas, and translates vision into action.
• Demonstrated success developing and implementing strategies to attract, retain, and engage members, customers, or communities with diverse needs and expectations.
• Strong understanding of membership trends, data, analytics, and the evolving role of associations and professional communities.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to influence and build relationships internally and externally; experience presenting membership strategy, performance, or recommendations to senior leaders and governing bodies is preferred.
• Strong experience with Association Management/CRM systems (Fonteva or comparable), including driving organization-wide adoption, managing member data, improving user engagement, and streamlining operations.
• Commitment to AcademyHealth’s mission and to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

What you should know:

• AcademyHealth is a hybrid work environment, with options for remote and office work.
• Applicants outside the metropolitan DC area are encouraged to apply.
• We will be conducting our hiring process virtually and conducting interviews via phone or video. We will provide candidates selected for interviews with all the required instructions.

Applications:

Qualified applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to Human Resources via email: View email address on click.appcast.io. For more information, please go to