Membership Services Manager

Status: Full-time exempt (not eligible for overtime)

Reports to: Director of Membership 

Location: Remote within USA

Compensation: $85,000 annually, eligible for benefits (see details below)

Job Summary

The Membership Services Manager ensures that LION provides consistent, high quality customer service to members across the United States and Canada.

This role on the Membership Team focuses primarily on managing membership accounts and ensuring members are aware of products and services available to them as a benefit of their LION membership. This manager-level role requires the ability to work independently, use advanced analytical skills to assess information and meet regular deadlines while acting as the primary point of contact for new and renewing LION members. 

The Membership Services Manager owns the review of new applications and renewals to ensure that all current and potential members meet the standards for LION’s membership criteria. This role will also provide ongoing support to members, responding promptly to member questions and requests. This role will also assist in onboarding new members, solicit member feedback and engage in the development of strategies to encourage member retention. 

This is an exciting time at LION as our membership grows and news entrepreneurs engage with LION programs that aim to help them move their businesses toward sustainability. 

Key Responsibilities

• Membership Operations Management [70%]
• Provide excellent customer support to new and renewing members which includes ongoing communication with members through email, zoom, phone and Slack
• Manage processing new member applications and recommend improvements to optimize the member experience
• Manage ongoing deadlines for applications and renewals, ensuring internal goals for response times are met or potential challenges are flagged in advance 
• Enforce LION’s membership criteria to ensure clarity and reflection of LION’s values in our membership roster 
• Utilize project management tools (Asana) and data management tools (Salesforce) to log communication and document membership activities 
• Maintain consistent, high quality standards for data management and data integrity in collaboration with LION’s Data and Evaluation Team 
• Work collaboratively with the Community Manager to connect members to other entrepreneurs and programs during the onboarding process 
• Work closely with the Director of Membership and Membership Team to assess feedback from annual surveys and develop new strategies to improve the member experience 
• Regularly engage with members to gather feedback and understand the opportunities and challenges for their businesses, which may include contributing to surveys, leading focus groups or scheduling calls with individual members  
• Manage tasks related to member access to benefits, which includes regularly verifying membership status and communicating with outside vendors 
• Help identify opportunities to add benefits, services or other resources that will address the most crucial business needs of our members 
• Make recommendations for future updates to the membership criteria 
• Content Development [20%]
• Write resource posts, member spotlights and other content that highlights resources available to LION members
• Support the development of case studies for the Membership Team, which could include writing, conducting interviews and/or assessing examples of impact from the field 
• Contribute to other member-facing communication
• Other Duties as Assigned [10%] 
• This role could assist in planning and executing in-person and virtual events, as assigned by supervisor
• As new needs arise, this role could be temporarily assigned to other duties to ensure that LION is providing a balanced workload to the overall team 

LION is an Equal Opportunity Employer

LION believes that a team with diversity of backgrounds and experiences will generate the most innovative ideas and ultimately do the best work in support of our mission. This is why we welcome contractors, vendors, staff and board members who contribute to a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment. We understand diversity as multi-dimensional and intersectional, encompassing aspects of our identities including race and ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability, class, geography, lived experiences and more. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply to opportunities at LION so that we build a team that reflects the diversity of independent news entrepreneurs we wish to serve.

We know there are great candidates who might not check all the boxes listed below or who possess important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. 

Skills and Qualifications for The Role

• Customer service: Proven track record managing programs and projects that involve stakeholders with a range of needs that require some degree of customized responses and/or support 
• Familiarity with journalistic standards: An understanding of journalism and demonstrated ability to utilize strong analytical skills in situations where there is a need to independently interpret information, make decisions and recommend next steps 
• Equitable and Inclusive: Actively seeks and incorporates diverse perspectives into decision-making processes, fostering a respectful and inclusive environment
• Transparent: Builds trust with others by consistently acting in a trustworthy, respectful, and inclusive manner, demonstrating integrity in all interactions
• Project Management: Independently establishes clear project goals, milestones, and procedures, and assigns appropriate roles and responsibilities to team members
• Effective Communication: Develops and delivers communications using various modes to address different audiences, with support and guidance
• Planning & Prioritization: Seeks guidance and support to manage workload, and actively works on developing basic work procedures and prioritizing tasks with assistance
• Technical Proficiency: Can quickly learn and navigate systems including Salesforce, Memberful and other relevant data and communication tools
• Detail Orientation: Pays close attention to seemingly small details to ensure a high-quality member experience

Skills and Expectations for Teamwork at LION

• Work in a way that upholds and reflects our organizational values: Being data-informed, equitable and inclusive, people-centered, systems thinkers, transparent and iterative
• Use digital tools and platforms to stay organized, communicate transparently, and collaborate with team members remotely 
• Collaborate strategically with others, clearly defining processes for decision making
• Give and receive constructive feedback to help the team produce its best work
• Celebrate our wins and learning moments
• Take on an experimental mindset and demonstrate flexibility to iterate on our work, systems, and processes 
• Be willing and able to ask for help when needed, and demonstrate an ability to learn and grow in the role

Physical Requirements and Environmental Conditions

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position, at a desk or similar, 90% of the time. Time spent in stationary location includes operating a computer and relevant peripherals and communicating via phone.

Travel Requirements

• Available to travel for staff retreats 1-2 times per year (approx. 3 days per retreat)
• Available to travel for annual LION member event annually (approx. 3 days)

About LION

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional journalism association for independent news publishers. While most of our 400+ members across the U.S. and Canada run local news businesses, we also have members who serve larger regions and specific identity-based communities across geographies. LION provides teaching, resources and community to independent news entrepreneurs as they build and develop sustainable businesses. One of our core values is being people-centered, and here are some ways we build that culture for our staff. 

90 Day Introductory Period

This introductory period is a try-out time for the employee and the Company. During this introductory period, the Company will evaluate employees’ suitability for employment and employees can evaluate the Company as well. The purpose of the introductory period is to be intentional about setting clear goals for the employee to accomplish, prompting regular feedback and support from the employee’s manager, and providing structure for a candid conversation about whether either the employee or the manager believes there is a misalignment of the employee’s competencies with and interest in the role.