Director, Membership Development | Full-Time | Old State Social Club at Beaver Stadium

About the role

The Director, Membership Development is responsible for leading membership sales and market development for a new Club opening, building the membership base, prospect pipeline, community presence, and sales infrastructure from the ground up. This is a highly entrepreneurial, hands-on role that requires both strategic planning and daily execution. The Director will lead pre-opening membership acquisition, Founding Member recruitment, business development, prospecting, tours, events, partnerships, and conversion while helping establish the systems, communications, processes, and market relationships needed for a successful Club launch. During the pre-opening and early opening phases, this position will also take an active role in membership-related communications, promotional execution, prospect and member updates, and local marketing coordination until additional Club and marketing support positions are fully established. Success is measured by new member acquisition, membership revenue, Founding Member and opening targets, qualified pipeline growth, conversion rates, market awareness, partnership development, CRM execution, and overall membership readiness leading into opening. The ideal candidate is a self-motivated, highly accountable professional with an entrepreneurial mindset who is comfortable building something from the ground up.

About the venue

Old State Social Club is the first private social club inside Beaver Stadium, one of college football’s most iconic venues. It is part of the stadium’s renovation at Penn State University and opens in Fall 2027. Operated by Oak View Group, the club gives Penn State’s most devoted community a place of its own all year, not only on Saturdays in the fall.

Responsibilities

Membership Sales & Revenue Growth

• Achieve pre-opening, monthly, quarterly, and annual membership sales, initiation fee, dues, and net growth goals
• Own the full membership sales cycle from lead generation and prospecting through tours, consultation, closing, enrollment, and initial onboarding
• Conduct Club tours, hard-hat tours, presentations, virtual consultations, community presentations, and sales appointments
• Maintain consistent outbound prospecting activity through calls, emails, texts, networking, LinkedIn, referrals, and other lead-generation channels
• Maintain a healthy and accurately forecasted sales pipeline with clear next steps for every qualified prospect
• Build and execute structured follow-up strategies for prospects based on their stage in the sales process
• Consistently identify opportunities to improve lead-to-tour, tour-to-application, and application-to-member conversion

Business Development & Lead Generation

• Build the Club's presence within the university, alumni network, business community, and surrounding market before opening
• Establish relationships with university departments, athletics, alumni organizations, donors, faculty and staff groups, corporate partners, chambers of commerce, professional organizations, local businesses, and community leaders
• Identify and develop partnerships capable of generating measurable membership leads and revenue
• Build corporate and department membership opportunities through proactive business development
• Create prospecting lists and targeted outreach strategies for priority audiences and market segments
• Represent the Club at university, alumni, athletics, business, networking, and community events

Membership Communications & Marketing Execution

• Serve as a primary owner of membership-related communications during the pre-opening phase until dedicated marketing and/or communications support is established
• Maintain a consistent communication cadence with prospects and early members throughout the pre-opening process
• Draft and execute local membership emails, invitations, event communications, follow-up messaging, sales campaigns, and promotional outreach
• Coordinate with regional and corporate marketing partners on creative development, digital advertising, social media, public relations, and university communication opportunities
• Proactively identify communication needs instead of waiting for information gaps or member questions to surface

Events, Open Houses & Experiential Sales

• Own the membership strategy and sales execution for pre-opening events, open houses, preview events, community activations, hard-hat tours, Founding Member events, and other acquisition opportunities
• Develop clear objectives, target audiences, invitation strategies, registration processes, staffing plans, sales touchpoints, and follow-up strategies for membership events
• Coordinate cross-functionally with operations, culinary, marketing, university partners, athletics, and other stakeholders to execute successful events
• Ensure every membership event includes a defined lead capture and post-event conversion strategy
• Track event performance, including RSVPs, attendance, qualified leads, applications, memberships sold, revenue generated, cost, and conversion
• Conduct post-event recaps and continuously refine event strategy based on results

Opening Readiness & Cross-Functional Coordination

• Serve as a key membership representative throughout the Club opening process
• Work closely with Club leadership, operations, culinary, marketing, regional leadership, university partners, athletics, and other stakeholders to ensure membership priorities are represented in opening decisions
• Communicate changes that may impact sales, prospects, or members quickly and accurately
• Maintain clear ownership of membership-related action items and follow through to completion
• Identify gaps in the prospective and new-member experience before opening and work cross-functionally to resolve them

Member Onboarding, Retention & Engagement

• Build strong relationships with early and Founding Members to establish loyalty and advocacy before opening
• Create an intentional handoff from prospect to member, ensuring members understand their benefits, Club access, programming, and next steps
• Support the transition from a pre-opening acquisition strategy to a sustainable post-opening membership growth and retention strategy

CRM, Reporting & Sales Accountability

• Maintain accurate and complete prospect, membership, revenue, and sales activity records within Salesforce and other required systems
• Ensure all leads have accurate stages, sources, activity history, next steps, and follow-up dates
• Maintain disciplined daily reporting of calls, emails, texts, appointments, tours scheduled, tours completed, applications, memberships sold, initiation fee revenue, dues revenue, and other required KPIs
• Develop and maintain reliable membership forecasts and identify risks to monthly and opening goals early
• Track lead sources and acquisition channels to determine which partnerships, campaigns, and events are driving qualified prospects and paid memberships
• Provide regular pipeline, sales, conversion, revenue, event, and launch-readiness updates to Club and regional leadership
• Use performance data to adjust prospecting strategy, follow-up cadence, events, partnerships, and marketing efforts

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Hospitality, Sports Management, or a related field; equivalent professional experience considered
• 5-7+ years of experience in sales, business development, membership sales, hospitality sales, fundraising, sponsorship sales, or relationship-based revenue generation
• Demonstrated success meeting or exceeding sales, revenue, and growth goals
• Strong proactive prospecting, networking, relationship-building, presentation, negotiation, and closing skills
• Ability to build a sales pipeline and market presence from the ground up rather than relying primarily on established inbound lead flow
• Ability to independently identify priorities, create a plan, and execute without requiring significant day-to-day direction
• Strong written communication skills with the ability to draft polished prospect, member, event, and stakeholder communications
• Experience developing strategic partnerships and converting relationships into measurable business opportunities
• Experience managing a sales pipeline and maintaining accurate CRM records
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously in a fast-moving opening environment where timelines, information, and priorities may evolve
• Strong judgment, follow-through, accountability, attention to detail, and sense of ownership
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Experience with Salesforce or similar CRM platforms is preferred
• Ability to work a flexible schedule, including evenings and weekends, as required for networking opportunities, tours, Club events, university activities, and member engagement

Preferred Experience

• New business, new venue, pre-opening, grand opening, or market-launch experience
• Private clubs, hospitality, university athletics, alumni relations, fundraising, sponsorship sales, chambers of commerce, or membership-based organizations
• Experience establishing community and corporate partnerships
• Experience planning and executing lead-generation events,