Director, Membership

Employment Type: New, Full Time, Permanent

Salary: base + bonus, based on relevant experience

About CFA Society Toronto

CFA Society Toronto is the world’s largest Societies of CFA® Charterholders, dedicated to supporting the professional and business development of over 11,000 members. Our diverse community consists of members from both institutional and retail arenas, active in various roles including portfolio management, trading, research analysis, financial advising, and consultancy. Through our programs and initiatives, we offer opportunities for continuous learning, networking, and leadership development, empowering our members to excel in a dynamic and competitive global market and ensuring they remain at the forefront of the industry.

Founded in 1936, CFA Society Toronto is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with CFA Institute, the global body that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) curriculum and sets voluntary, ethics-based performance-reporting standards for the investment industry.

Chartered Financial Analyst® and CFA® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

What we offer:

• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits and retirement savings program

• Hybrid work environment (minimum 2 days in-office)

• Collaborative and supportive work environment

• Opportunity to join a growing and expanding organization

About the Opportunity:

The Director, Membership is a senior leadership role accountable for developing and executing CFA Society Toronto’s membership strategy, with direct responsibility for strengthening membership growth, improving retention, and elevating the member experience. This is an opportunity to shape the next stage of member value and engagement for the largest CFA Society in the world with over 11,000 members. As volunteers are an essential part of the Society and its member community, responsibility for the volunteer program falls within the scope of this position. The role is well suited to a leader who wants to combine strategy, relationship-building, execution, and sound business judgment to strengthen the professional community serving Toronto’s investment and finance industry.

The role provides dedicated ownership of the Society’s approach to several membership functions, including acquisition, onboarding, retention, and experience.

Working closely with the CEO and Leadership Team, the Director will translate the Society’s strategic plan into practical membership priorities, measurable initiatives, and disciplined execution.

This role is expected to be highly visible with members and key stakeholders, representing CFA Society Toronto at events, meetings, and outreach activities. The Director will serve as an internal advocate for the member perspective and will help ensure that education and professional learning, volunteer opportunities, communications, and member services align to a coherent, high-value member journey.

Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities:

Membership Strategy, Planning and Leadership (35%)

• Develop, implement and continuously refine a multi-year membership strategy aligned with CFA Society Toronto’s strategic plan, annual business plan, and member value proposition.

• Establish clear annual membership objectives, initiatives and key performance measures for acquisition, retention, engagement, and member satisfaction.

• Lead annual operating planning and budgeting for membership-related initiatives, including resource requirements, business cases, risks, and expected outcomes.

• Partner with the CEO and Leadership Team to identify member priorities, emerging trends and opportunities to deepen the Society’s relevance to investment and finance professionals in the Toronto market.

Membership Growth, Retention, and Lifecycle Engagement (35%)

• Lead the development and execution of engagement strategies that strengthen membership relevance and value with targeted acquisition and retention outcomes.

• Provide dedicated accountability for the Society’s end-to-end member lifecycle and experience, ensuring that initiatives are coordinated rather than fragmented across functions.

• Direct and guide the Volunteer Experience with CFA Society Toronto and, in collaboration with the Manager, Volunteer Relations, develop a vision of building and enhancing the existing engagement program.

• Build a stronger onboarding experience for new members and early-career CFA charterholders, with particular attention to first-year retention, sense of belonging, and pathways into Society engagement.

• Develop a strategic approach to the recently launched Associate membership class, including activation, engagement, progression to Professional/Charterholder membership, and management of expected higher attrition.

• Implement a disciplined lapsed-member reactivation program, including segmentation, outreach, insight gathering, and measurement of conversion outcomes.

• Create mechanisms for ongoing member feedback, including surveys, interviews, focus groups and post-event insights, translating findings into practical and actionable improvements.

• Represent CFA Society Toronto with members and prospective members at events, meetings, and outreach activities to build relationships and identify opportunities to enhance membership value.

Cross-Functional Membership Initiatives (15%)

• Function as the internal champion for the member perspective, ensuring needs inform key strategic initiatives.

• Collaborate with other CFA Society Toronto team members across Education and Events, Marketing and Communications, Operations and Outreach functional areas to enhance and support member-related initiatives and tactics. Activities include and are not limited to the following:

• Support member intake, inquiries, and data reporting and analysis

• Partner on communication campaigns targeting acquisition and onboarding, in particular

• Work with Programming and Professional Learning leads, aligning member offerings to career stage, skill-building needs, and community building efforts

• Engage with Business Development to identify non-dues opportunities that strengthen membership value.

Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement and Other (15%)

• Serve as a key member of the CFA Society Toronto Leadership Team, contributing to organizational strategy, enterprise-wide decision-making, business planning, risk management, and the achievement of strategic priorities and performance objectives.

• Provide leadership, coaching, and mentorship to the Manager, Volunteer Relations, fostering a high-performance culture, strengthening leadership capability, and ensuring alignment with organizational goals and member needs.

• Support governance-related membership matters and Board discussions that require member insights, data, trend analysis, and/or strategic context.

• Cultivate and strengthen executive-level relationships with members, volunteers, committee leaders, CFA Institute partners, and key stakeholders to advance member value, engagement, retention, and sustainable growth.

• Champion a collaborative, member-centric approach across the organization and lead or contribute to strategic initiatives and special projects that support CFA Society Toronto’s long-term success and evolving priorities.

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Qualification Requirements:

• Post-secondary degree in business, marketing, communications, finance, or a related field.

• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in membership, client experience, marketing, association management or a related function.

• Minimum 5 years of people leadership experience, as well as leading large initiatives across multiple teams.

• Experience in a member-based, professional association, financial services organization, or similarly stakeholder-rich environment is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute growth, retention, engagement, onboarding and client/member-experience strategies with measurable outcomes.

• Strong data fluency, including the ability to interpret member or customer data, identify trends, and convert insights into action.

• Familiarity with the CFA® Program and CFA Institute ecosystem is an asset, as is knowledge of the asset and wealth management, capital markets, and/or financial services sectors.

• Experience with CRM, database, and/or association management tools is required.

• Must be able to work in a hybrid work environment and attend member events outside standard business hours as required.

Core Competencies:

• Strategic Membership Leadership: Develops practical strategies that connect member needs, organizational priorities, market trends and measurable outcomes.

• Member Service Orientation: Builds trust with members and prospective members; understands the drivers of community, relevance and value.

• Commercial and Growth Mindset: Applies disciplined thinking to acquisition, retention, reactivation, non-dues opportunities and return on strategic investment.

• Data-Informed Decision-Making: Uses data, feedback and evidence to diagnose issues, test assumptions, monitor progress and improve execution.

• Relationship Building and Influence: Works effectively with members, committees, staff, partners and senior stakeholders in a collaborative environment.

• Operational Excellence: Creates clear processes, accountability, service standards and reporting mechanisms that improve member-facing execution.

• Communication: Communicates with clarity, judgment and executive presence in writing, presentations and interpersonal settings.

• Collaboration: Operates well within a flat, team-driven organization and aligns cross-functional colleagues around shared outcomes.

• Results Focus: Prioritizes the highest-impact initiatives and follows through with strong sense of urgency, discipline and accountability.

• People Leadership: Coaches, supports and challenges staff and partners in a way that build