Director of Membership

A Week in the Life

Monday often starts with a review of what came in over the weekend through our member service system: tickets, inquiries, or unresolved issues that need attention before the week gets moving. You host a team meeting to align on the week’s priorities, surface anything that needs to be escalated, and set the tone for the team. 

Throughout the week, you spend meaningful time in data. This might mean pulling and analyzing a membership dashboard, reviewing acquisition and retention trends, comparing current-year numbers to prior cycles, or digging into a specific segment to understand what’s driving a pattern. You don’t just collect data—you do something with it. That often means setting up a call with a colleague from marketing, chapter services, or another department to share what you’re seeing and work through what it means for your shared goals. 

Collaboration is woven into every day. You are meeting with director-level peers across the organization on a regular cadence, not just when there’s a fire, but because membership touches everything. One week you might spend significant time with the Global Events team ensuring that an upcoming conference has a clear membership recruitment and renewal presence. Another week, you might be deep in conversation with the chapter services team about what recruitment training resources you can help build. You’re also doing proactive outreach to members, not just responding to problems, but genuinely checking in, building relationships, and staying connected to the member experience firsthand. 

Time is also carved out for ideation and strategy. You are pitching new ideas, testing assumptions, and constantly asking what else we could be trying. You might be developing or refining a member persona, sketching out a new onboarding journey, or working through a retention strategy with a specific segment in mind. You bring those ideas to the table, not waiting for permission, but sharing with confidence and inviting others into the thinking. 

The Global Member Service Center is also part of your week. You are meeting one-on-one with your direct report(s), monitoring service metrics and member satisfaction, and stepping in to problem-solve when something isn’t working, whether that’s a system issue, a process gap, or a member escalation. During peak seasons, you may step in directly to support member-facing interactions. 

No two days look exactly the same, and that’s by design. This role requires someone who is energized by, and genuinely comfortable with, bringing structure and clarity to complex situations. The first year in particular will be a season of building: clarifying benefits, mapping journeys, establishing rhythms, and helping the organization find its footing around a new membership vision. You will be in the middle of all of it. 

"Know Your CliftonStrengths? Here's What We're Looking For"

The strengths most needed to thrive in this role are: 

• Strategic - You instinctively see patterns where others see noise. When faced with a mountain of membership data, competing priorities, or organizational ambiguity, you sort through it quickly and identify the clearest path forward. You are always thinking several steps ahead, and you help others see the road too. 

• Communication - You know how to make ideas land. Whether you are presenting data trends to leadership, building buy-in with a skeptical colleague, or rallying an entire chapter around a new recruitment philosophy, you adjust your style without losing your substance. You are polished and direct, and people trust what you say. 

• Relator - You are drawn to depth over breadth in relationships. You want to genuinely know your members, your colleagues, and your partners, and you invest in those connections over time. This role is fundamentally relational, and you bring an authenticity to relationship-building that people feel. 

• Analytical - You do not just glance at a dashboard; you dig in. You are energized by finding the story inside the numbers, and you hold high standards for the quality of data that informs decisions. Churn trends, retention patterns, acquisition data; you want to understand what is actually happening, not just what the surface suggests. 

• Adaptability - You live well in the present. When the plan changes, and it will, you pivot without losing momentum. You are not rattled by ambiguity; you are energized by it. You can hold a long-term vision and a today’s-fire at the same time, and you help your team stay grounded when things shift. 

You Would Thrive in This Position If:

• You are fluent in membership. You know what churn data means, you can speak to retention as a pattern rather than a moment, and you understand the organizational cost of recruiting and keeping a member. Whether you arrived at this expertise through an association, fraternity/sorority, or another membership-driven organization, you bring both the vocabulary and the instincts of someone who has done this work with intention. 

• You lead with data and do something with it. You are comfortable analyzing membership dashboards, identifying trends, and translating what you find into strategic action. You don’t need someone to hand you the insights; you go find them, and then you bring people together to act on them. 

• You are a collaborator, especially when there is misalignment. You have a track record of working effectively across teams, navigating competing priorities, and finding a path forward even when not everyone is on the same page. You challenge ideas, not people, and you leave the stickiness of hard conversations at the door. 

• You are an influencer and a strategic thinker. You can sell ideas inside and outside the organization, build buy-in for change, and speak compellingly to a board, a member, and a colleague in the same week. Your communication style is both polished and candid; you know when to be formal and when to be direct. 

• You hold both the relationship and the business with equal care. You understand that member centricity and organizational sustainability are not in tension; they require each other. You are energized by the human side of this work and grounded in the reality that membership is the organization’s top revenue generator. 

• You have people management experience (or a strong readiness for it). You have led or supported a team, understand what it means to develop people while delivering results, and can manage both the operational and the relational dimensions of being a manager. 

• You are adaptable and genuinely comfortable with ambiguity. You do not require a fully built map to get moving. You can hold strategy and firefighting in the same week, build guardrails where none exist, and stay grounded and effective even when the path is still being figured out. A background in associations and/or a CAE credential is a valued plus, though not a requirement. 

Who We Are

Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (also known as Sigma Nursing or Sigma) is a global nursing organization with more than 100 years of impact, but what really sets us apart is how we support people—both the nurses we serve and the team members who make our work possible. We’re a community-oriented group of approximately 50 employees based in Indianapolis, Indiana, working in a remote-friendly environment. At Sigma, you’ll find a culture that values accountability, growth, and purpose. We offer strong health and retirement benefits, support professional development, and encourage open communication and collaboration across teams. If you’re looking for a place where your work matters and your growth is supported, you’ll feel right at home here.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion are essential to our success and are committed to creating a workplace that reflects the global nursing community we serve. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Ready to Join Us?

Apply today and help drive Sigma’s mission forward—building a stronger, more connected global nursing community.