Sr. Director Membership & Engagement Strategy | University of Washington Alumni Association
Are you interested in working for a world-class Global leader? Do you enjoy creating an impact for one of the foremost public Universities? Are you passionate about advancing diversity, sustainability and innovation? If so, you need to read on.
The University of Washington Alumni Association (UWAA) is looking for a Senior Director of Membership and Engagement Strategy for their Alumni Association in Seattle. This is a brand- new position based on the growth goals of the organization. As the Sr. Director of Membership and Engagement Strategy, you will create a more strategic, forwarding thinking program, focusing on their dues-paying membership programs and services.
You will lead and oversee the production and delivery of University Advancement’s Alumni & Stakeholder Engagements (ASE) unit’s membership program and its centralized events team. You will oversee the strategy for the regional alumni volunteer engagement and programming. You are a member of the Senior Leadership Team. You will oversee collaborative and integrated initiatives that advance the mission of the UW and the UWAA. Along with leading the strategy, execution, and evaluation of these three areas, you and your teams’ goals are to engage diverse audiences of alumni and friends of the UW in profound, meaningful, and inclusive ways. Currently the dues-paying membership is over 60K. You will own the budget, program assessment, and evaluation of these programs as well. You will have three direct reports and up to 10 people overall on your team; $1M consolidated budget.
The Sr. Director of Membership and Engagement Strategy will oversee a broad and diverse portfolio of programs, services, and events including collaborating with program teams across University Advancement’s Alumni & Stakeholder Engagement (ASE) and University Advancement. You will implement UWAA’s regional engagement strategy, including management of volunteers located in key cities and states identified as major markets. There will be extensive internal and external campus and community engagement, communications, and collaboration across all divisions of UW, UWAA members, students, donors, retirees, and the general public.
Committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB,) you and your team will contribute to advancing understanding and actions that are actively anti-racist. You will develop and support inclusive, equity-focused, and co-created programs and services with historically underrepresented or marginalized UW audiences in support of the institution’s public mission.
Fast forward a year, what will you have achieved?
You will be leading your three teams which are operating at peak efficiency; they all have created plans and with your strategic direction, and are implementing their programs. The Member team is analyzing their audience, stewarding current members effectively while engaging new members. The Events team has built out a capacity system for intaking event requests, managing and implementing them to meet stated outcomes. Your Regional program is humming. You are a strong manager, therefore have forged excellent relationships with your team. You trust your team and they trust you. You have regularly scheduled 1:1’s with your team. All events are scheduled for the year. You have debriefs scheduled after your events to assess if the goals have been met. You are digging into those results to help further tune and update your strategy. You have developed best practices for the team. You are using data to measure success to help prioritize and make better-informed decisions to create better, meaningful member programming and events. You have seen an increase in participation and more meaningful engagement at events. You are delivering on the 2024 plan as well as starting to create the 2025 strategic plan. You have reimagined UWAA’s membership by creating strong partnerships with the other Sr. Directors. You are an expert in the strategic administration of a dues-paying membership. You have assessed other membership communities. You understand prevailing trends. You have brought new community ideas to the program. You have grown the membership. You are on the path to having a mature, stable program that is modernized. You are a thought leader. You are inspirational. You are thriving. You are a respected leader in the organization. You are happy.
How will you get there?
30 days:
Meet the Leadership team
Meet your team
Start to dig into the organizational mapping to know their goals and priorities
Know the mission/values/vision and how it contributes to the organization
60-90 days:
Immersed in membership programming, events, Regional team plan an getting into the work
1:1’s are scheduled; regular team meetings are scheduled
Understand the operations of the team
Know your budget; it’s $1M out of $9M
6 months:
Completed a diagnosis of the membership program
SWOT analysis is completed
Understand the procedures of the membership system, you know the space
You are creating the strategy of the program and driving the program forward
Attending several key events and getting familiar with the events schedule (with events occurring on evenings and some weekends)
Meeting with regional volunteers and attending key regional events
What you will need:
Demonstrated success in building dues-paying membership programs or transferrable experience
Successfully scaled profound engagements and have gravity that align with the mission of the program
Effectively incorporated DEIB into events; demonstrated experience creating events for a diverse audiences
Demonstrated ability and experience in program administration, building, and leading teams, staff supervision, program integration, and assessment
Committed to racial equity; familiarity and comfort with the skills needed to manage and lead in an organization that strives to be anti-racist
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to effectively communicate objectives, energize and inspires staff to achieve results and meet goals while creating a culture of collaboration within direct teams as well as across organizational units to build and maintain positive relationships
Independent leader, strong problem solver with the ability to take initiative, set priorities and handle multiple projects efficiently and effectively
Ability to make decisions in ambiguous situations, and exercise good judgment based on information and analysis in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
Successfully incorporated data and analysis to effectively evaluate the success or improvements of programs and events
Higher education, non-profit industry experience a +
The University of Washington Alumni Association is part of the University of Washington. They are built on a fully integrated model of support for the UW that brings together development, alumni, stakeholder engagement, marketing and communications, and operations. They work to advance UW’s vision to be the greatest public university in the world as measured by its impact on the lives of people here and everywhere. They serve to advance the mission and highest ideals of the University of Washington by fostering public understanding and pride, serving and engaging alumni and friends, and developing and enhancing lifelong philanthropic relations.
For the University of Washington to be the greatest public university in the world as measured by its impact, the UW and UWAA must weave equity and anti-racism into everything they do. Diversity is integral to excellence. Being a more equitable organization starts with them, focusing on groups that have been excluded and under-engaged will lead to better outcomes for the whole community. Ensuring that diversity, equity, and inclusion are natural outcomes of their activities will require them to state their values, live by those values, and work toward their vision every day. To sustain their efforts, they have defined a path forward with their values clearly articulated and shared throughout the organization. They value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives, strive to create welcoming and respectful learning environments, and promote access, opportunity, and justice for all.