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

Oak View Group•University Park, PA

13d

About The Position

The Director, Membership Development leads membership sales and market development for a new Club opening, building its membership base, prospect pipeline, community presence, and sales infrastructure from the ground up. This entrepreneurial, hands-on role combines strategic planning with daily execution across pre-opening membership acquisition, Founding Member recruitment, business development, prospecting, tours, events, partnerships, and conversion. The Director also helps establish the systems, communications, processes, and market relationships needed for a successful Club launch. During the pre-opening and early opening phases, the Director takes an active role in membership communications, promotional execution, prospect and member updates, and local marketing coordination until additional Club and marketing support is established. Success is measured by member acquisition, membership revenue, Founding Member and opening targets, qualified pipeline growth, conversion rates, market awareness, partnership development, CRM execution, and membership readiness. The role pays an annual salary of $65,000–$85,000 and is commission eligible. It is based at Old State Social Club at Beaver Stadium. The position will remain open until December 31, 2026.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Hospitality, Sports Management, or a related field; equivalent professional experience is 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 leads.
Ability to independently identify priorities, create a plan, and execute without significant day-to-day direction.
Strong written communication skills, including 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 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.
Ability to work a flexible schedule, including evenings and weekends, as required for networking, tours, Club events, university activities, and member engagement.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Salesforce or similar CRM platforms.
New business, new venue, pre-opening, grand opening, or market-launch experience.
Experience in 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, open houses, tours, or experiential sales initiatives.
Experience writing and executing customer, prospect, or member communications.
Experience working across multiple departments and external stakeholders in a deadline-driven environment.
Knowledge of consultative or relationship-based sales methodologies.

Responsibilities

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 and a healthy, accurately forecasted pipeline with clear next steps and structured follow-up for qualified prospects.
Improve lead-to-tour, tour-to-application, and application-to-member conversion.
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 that generate measurable membership leads and revenue, including corporate and department membership opportunities.
Create prospecting lists and targeted outreach strategies, and represent the Club at university, alumni, athletics, business, networking, and community events.
Lead membership-related communications during pre-opening until dedicated marketing or communications support is established; maintain prospect and early-member communications and draft membership emails, invitations, event communications, follow-ups, 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.
Own 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.
Plan event objectives, target audiences, invitations, registration, staffing, sales touchpoints, lead capture, and follow-up; coordinate execution with internal teams and external stakeholders.
Track event performance, conduct post-event recaps, and refine event strategy based on results.
Represent membership priorities in opening decisions and coordinate with Club leadership, operations, culinary, marketing, regional leadership, university partners, athletics, and other stakeholders.
Communicate changes that may affect sales, prospects, or members; own membership-related action items and identify and resolve gaps in the prospective and new-member experience.
Build relationships with early and Founding Members, create an intentional prospect-to-member handoff, and support the transition to sustainable post-opening membership growth and retention.
Maintain complete and accurate prospect, membership, revenue, sales activity, lead source, stage, activity history, next step, and follow-up records in Salesforce and other required systems.
Report sales activity and KPIs; maintain forecasts, identify risks to goals, track acquisition-channel performance, and provide pipeline, sales, conversion, revenue, event, and launch-readiness updates to Club and regional leadership.
Use performance data to adjust prospecting, follow-up, events, partnerships, and marketing efforts.