Vice President, Community Engagement & Strategic Partnerships
Position Purpose
The Vice President, Community Engagement & Strategic Partnerships will lead the organization's stakeholder engagement, affiliate relations, strategic partnerships, and retention efforts.
Primary Responsibilities
Develop and execute a comprehensive community engagement strategy that strengthens stakeholder participation, satisfaction, retention, and advocacy.
Lead the organization's affiliate relations strategy, ensuring strong partnerships, alignment, communication, and mutual value creation across the affiliate network.
Build and cultivate strategic partnerships with industry organizations, associations, thought leaders, and key stakeholders to expand influence, visibility, and business opportunities.
Develop programs and initiatives designed to increase stakeholder retention, engagement, and overall lifetime value.
Partner closely with Marketing to enhance brand awareness, thought leadership, and visibility across industry channels and communities.
Monitor engagement trends, retention metrics, affiliate performance, and partnership outcomes, implementing strategies to continually improve results.
Collaborate with Education, Events, Marketing, and Membership teams to ensure community needs and stakeholder feedback inform organizational priorities.
Represent the organization at conferences, affiliate meetings, industry events, and stakeholder forums to strengthen relationships and elevate the organization's profile.
Develop and manage departmental goals, budgets, forecasts, and performance metrics aligned with strategic objectives.
Contribute to executive leadership discussions and strategic planning as a thought partner on engagement innovation and organizational impact.
Qualifications
10+ years of progressive leadership experience in community engagement, member services, customer success, partnerships, association management, or related fields.
Demonstrated success developing and implementing member engagement and retention strategies that drive measurable business outcomes.
Prominent experience managing strategic partnerships, affiliate programs, stakeholder relations, or community-building initiatives.
Strong understanding of customer experience, relationship management, and member lifecycle strategies.
Exceptional relationship-building, communication, and influencing skills with the ability to engage stakeholders at all levels.
Ability to think strategically while executing operationally in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.
Demonstrated success leading teams and fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Deep understanding of membership organizations, professional associations, customer success models, or community engagement frameworks.
Experience utilizing CRM and member management platforms, including Salesforce or similar systems.
Strong presentation, facilitation, and public speaking skills.
Strong business acumen with the ability to align engagement strategies to organizational goals and financial performance.
MBA, CAE, or equivalent advanced degree/certification preferred.
Supervisory Responsibilities
Hire, onboard, mentor, and retain high-performing team members focused on member experience and stakeholder engagement.
Establish clear performance expectations, metrics, and development plans for team members.
Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and service-oriented culture that prioritizes member success and organizational growth.
Ensure effective resource allocation and operational excellence across community engagement and partnership initiatives.
Benefits
The hiring range for this position is $175,000 to $195,000 plus eligibility for an annual discretionary bonus with a target of 7.5% of base salary. This position may be worked remotely. The benefits for this position include ongoing professional development training opportunities, health, dental, vision, well-being, health savings, flexible spending, retirement, and annual discretionary bonus. For a further description of our benefits please go to https://worldatwork.org/careers.