Head of Membership

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists

Hours
35 hours per week

About the Organisation

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) is the professional body for speech and language therapists across the UK. The RCSLT has over 22,000 members and employs around 65 staff, predominantly based in a London office. The RCSLT also has offices in Belfast, Edinburgh, and Cardiff. 
 
Our mission is to improve the lives of people with communication and swallowing needs by facilitating and promoting research, producing guidance, holding events, and influencing government. We aim to promote better education and training for speech and language therapists and provide information to our members and the public about speech and language therapy.

About the role

The Membership Team delivers an indispensable, personalised, and insight‑driven experience. Our vision is for every therapist to feel supported, connected, and valued through exceptional service. We empower members at all stages of their careers by linking them to the right resources and communities and supporting them through key transitions. We own and lead the Member Value Proposition (MVP) to ensure members feel they receive strong value for money, protecting the organisation’s core income stream. 

Reporting to the Director of Membership and Communications, the post holder has delegated authority for operational membership decision‑making, acting as the organisational steward of the Member Value Proposition and representing member needs across the organisation. The post holder is to lead and develop the RCSLT’s membership function, ensuring cohesive delivery across membership operations, member support, and member journeys. 

The role is also responsible for implementing a clear, insight‑informed membership plan that supports retention, value for money, and the effective delivery of the organisation’s core membership fee income stream, ensuring high‑quality experiences and strong cross‑organisational alignment.

We are looking for a strategic and collaborative Head of Membership who can lead and evolve our membership and engagement function. The successful candidate will bring a strong understanding of membership lifecycle management, value proposition development, and insight-led decision-making, with the ability to translate data into clear priorities and improved member experiences. 

They will have proven experience leading teams and managing people in a fast-paced, changing environment and working cross-functionally to achieve organisational goals. Confidence in using and championing CRM systems as a core organisational asset is essential, alongside a solid understanding of data protection and GDPR. 

The ideal candidate will be an effective communicator and influencer, able to present recommendations to senior leadership and build strong stakeholder relationships. They will be skilled in driving digital adoption, supporting teams through change, and embedding continuous improvement approaches. A calm, structured, and solutions-focused mindset is key, as is a commitment to a member-centred approach and high-quality service delivery, including oversight of complaints processes. 

Responsibilities

Leadership and Operational Excellence:

• Provide clear direction, performance oversight and coaching for the three membership managers.
• Uphold operational stability and excellent service across all member interactions, directing the managers in the development of SOPs, enquiry frameworks, journey maps and sprint processes.
• Oversee the strategic resolution of member complaints, ensuring systemic themes drive continuous service improvement.

Membership Planning and Delivery:

• Lead the development and delivery of the annual membership plan, translating organisational strategy into actionable priorities for operations, support and journeys.
• Coordinate cross-team delivery to ensure priorities are met and performance issues are addressed promptly.
• Establish the plan for member retention, engagement, and income stability by leveraging the data insights from multi-channels ( dashboards, member survey, enquiry data).

MVP Stewardship and Journey Leadership:

• Maintain the MVP, ensuring it is evidence-based, compelling and communicated effectively across member touchpoints.
• Oversee the development of segment-specific value statements and renewal messaging.
• Lead journey mapping updates, sprint facilitation and improvement prioritisation.
• Accountable for the performance of renewal and onboarding journeys.
• Direct the continuity of our email marketing platform (currently Campaign Master) lifecycle communications

Cross-Organisational Influence:

• Influence cross-functional workstreams (Communications, Professional Development, Policy and Public Affairs, Nations and Digital) to ensure service delivery is aligned with membership insight.
• Chair quarterly membership insight discussions to drive evidence-based decision-making and service design across all directorates.
• Partner with Finance on retention projections, fee modelling input and operation of controls value-for-money evidence.
• Champion the effective use of the CRM across the organisation, ensuring it evolves as the single source of truth for member data and interactions.
• Act as a central advocate for member needs, ensuring delivery across all directorates reflects member priorities and experience expectations.

Performance, Risk, and Governance:

• Govern the membership performance by tracking retention, engagement, and operational KPIs.
• Mitigate systemic membership risks by spearheading robust, evidence-based interventions that protect income and member stability.
• Ensure data quality and member sentiment and emerging risks are incorporated into organisational reporting and planning cycles.
• Govern membership processes and compliance, recognising the reputational and financial impact of failure in these areas.
• Lead on data protection and GDPR compliance across the membership function, taking ultimate accountability for the secure and ethical handling of member intelligence.

Others:

• Undertake any other duties or projects as reasonably required by the organisation.

Skills, Competencies, Experience & Attributes

Knowledge & Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of membership lifecycle, value proposition design and engagement delivery.
• Strong understanding of data protection and GDPR.
• Knowledge of insight interpretation and CRM-enabled decision-making.
• Understanding of service design principles and digital member journeys.

Experience:

• Experience leading a membership, customer experience, and engagement function.
• Managing multiple managers and cross-functional delivery.
• Using insight to guide improvement and prioritisation.
• Working in a fast-moving environment with changing demands.
• Experience presenting recommendations to senior leadership.
• Experience supporting teams to adopt new digital tools and embed them into daily workflows.
• Experience overseeing or resolving complaint processes.
• Experience working with or driving the adoption of CRM systems as a core organisational asset.
• Experience with sprint/continuous-improvement approaches.
• Experience in professional bodies or regulated professions.

Skills & Abilities:

• Strong leadership and coaching capability.
• Ability to synthesise data and insight to inform decisions.
• Ability to prioritise effectively across multiple teams.
• Excellent stakeholder communication and negotiation skills.
• Competence in planning, performance management and process improvement.
• Strong skills in CRM usage, data quality oversight and supporting others to build CRM confidence.
• Ability to drive digital adoption and support teams through behaviour and workflow change.

Personal Qualities:

• Member-centred, collaborative and improvement-focused.
• Confident but not hierarchical; able to influence.
• Calm, structured and solutions-oriented.
• Commitment to equity, diversity, and belonging and understanding of how this applies to the delivery of one's own area of work.
• Commitment to the aims and charitable objectives of the RCSLT.

Compensation & Benefits

• Generous annual leave entitlement: 25 days paid holiday (plus bank holidays), which increases with service, plus additional closure days between Christmas and New Year.
• Pension scheme: Stakeholder pension contribution of 9% from the RCSLT.
• Employee Assistance Programme: Access to a free, 24/7, completely confidential telephone helpline for all employees and their family members.
• Life Assurance: Group life assurance scheme which pays out 4x salary in the event of death in service. 
• Access to training and development opportunities
• Flexible working/hybrid working arrangements.
• Season Ticket Loan scheme.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Family-friendly policies and procedures, including enhanced maternity and paternity leave and pay.
• Occupational Sick Pay scheme
• Eye care voucher scheme
• Opportunity to become a member of our affinity groups and more!

Conditions of employment

• All applicants must have the right to work in the UK. We cannot offer sponsorship for this role.

Working locations

• Hybrid model, working in the London office and remotely
• Occasional travel within the UK if required.

How to apply

• Your application should consist of:
  • A full CV including the names and addresses of two referees (at least one should be from your current/most recent employer). Referees will not be approached until the final stages and not without your consent.
  • A cover letter of no more than 2 sides of A4 detailing why you are interested in joining RCSLT as the Head of Membership and how your skills and experience meet the essential criteria of the role. Please note that for your application to be considered, you need to submit both your CV and cover letter.
  • Completed applications should be submitted through our online recruitment portal, Personio.
• Should you wish to discuss the role in strict confidence, or for more details about the role, please contact Lorna Lewis at [email protected].

Interviews

• Our interview process will be in person in our London Bridge Office, the week commencing Monday, 8th June 2026. There will be a task that needs to be completed as part of the interview process. 

Policies

We are committed to a fair, transparent, and inclusive recruitment process. All applications are handled with strict confidentiality to protect your privacy and encourage openness throughout the process. The RCSLT is committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace where everyone feels valued and has a sense of belonging.

We aim to embed equity, diversity, and belonging practices throughout our recruitment and selection procedures. We strive to ensure everyone is valued equally for their contribution, experience, knowledge, and skills. We welcome applications from candidates of all different backgrounds.

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