Director of Membership Growth

Why This Role Matters

The Director of Membership Growth plays a critical leadership role in advancing the organization’s mission by driving the revenue and relationships that power the organization. As the front line of new business development, this role is responsible for growing the organization’s membership—particularly across high-growth sectors such as cybersecurity, cloud, data centers, energy, space, AI, defense tech, and quantum—and increasing the market penetration across Northern Virginia’s technology ecosystem.

By bringing new companies into the community, the Director not only generates revenue, but also strengthens the organization’s influence, broadens its network, and enhances its ability to convene leaders and deliver high-impact programming. This role directly fuels the organization’s capacity to lead on the issues shaping the region’s innovation economy. 

Position Summary

The Director of Membership Growth is a quota-carrying sales leader responsible for generating new membership revenue through proactive prospecting, pipeline development, and closing new business. Reporting to the CEO, this role owns the full sales cycle—from identifying and engaging prospective member organizations to securing and onboarding new members. 

This is a highly external, relationship-driven sales role focused on new business acquisition. The Director must bring strong business development and consultative selling skills, with the ability to clearly articulate the organization’s value proposition to senior executives across the region’s technology ecosystem. Success in this role is measured by revenue growth, pipeline strength, and the ability to consistently convert prospects into engaged member organizations, while laying the foundation for long-term relationships that support retention and future growth. 

Key Responsibilities

• New Business Development & Sales Execution
  • Identify, qualify, and close new member organizations to drive dues revenue growth. 
  • Own and achieve annual membership revenue targets. 
  • Prospect and generate new leads through proactive outbound outreach to senior executives, networking, referrals, and industry engagement. 
  • Build and manage a robust sales pipeline, maintaining consistent outbound prospecting activity to generate and advance opportunities and accurate forecasting. 
  • Conduct discovery conversations to qualify prospective members, understand their needs and effectively position the organization’s value. 
  • Deliver compelling presentations and close new member organizations. 
  • Maintain disciplined use of CRM tools to track pipeline, activity, and performance. 
• Market Expansion & Relationship Building
  • Identify and engage high-value organizations across technology, government contracting, venture, academia, and the public sector. 
  • Build executive-level relationships that convert into new memberships. 
  • Represent the organization at events, meetings, and industry functions to generate leads and visibility. 
• Collaboration & Member Experience
  • Partner with internal teams to ensure smooth onboarding of new members. 
  • Contribute to member retention and expansion efforts by maintaining relationships with new members and identifying opportunities for continued engagement and growth (secondary to new business focus). 
  • Provide market feedback to inform membership strategy and value proposition. 

What Success Looks Like

• Consistently meeting or exceeding membership sales targets 
• Maintaining a healthy, active pipeline with strong conversion rates 
• Expanding the organization’s membership base across key strategic segments 
• Establishing a strong personal presence in the regional tech ecosystem 
• Supporting strong member retention through relationship continuity and engagement 

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years professional experience, with at least 7–10+ years in B2B sales, business development, or revenue generation roles 
• Proven track record of exceeding sales quotas 
• Experience managing a full sales cycle, from prospecting through close 
• Strong executive presence and ability to sell to senior decision-makers 
• Excellent communication, presentation, and negotiation skills 
• Experience in technology, government contracting, or related ecosystems preferred 
• Familiarity with CRM systems and pipeline management best practices 
• Experience in membership-based organizations, associations, or selling relationship-driven/intangible offerings strongly preferred 

Preferred Experience

• Highly knowledgeable about current trends and news shaping the technology industry and the Virginia technology ecosystem, with particular insight into Northern Virginia’s innovation landscape.
• Strong familiarity with, or demonstrated interest in, emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence (AI)—and their impact on business, government, and the regional economy.

Location

• Northern Virginia
• Hybrid, mostly remote

Willingness to travel: 25%

Additional Information

Our client offers a competitive salary and benefits package, including a 401(k) match, affordable healthcare premiums, and eligibility for an annual performance bonus, including:

• 401(k) match up to 4%
• Cell phone reimbursement
• Medical insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision insurance
• Flexible spending account (FSA)
• Paid vacation days
• Paid sick leave
• Flex days
• Paid company holidays