Head of Membership Development, FounderNexus

Head of Membership Development (Partner Role)

This is not a traditional marketing, growth, or community role.

The Head of Membership Development is a partner-level position responsible for designing, building, and continuously refining the systems that attract, onboard, develop, and retain exceptional venture-backed founders across a global chapter network.

We are a profit-sharing partnership. Partner-level compensation is tied to long-term enterprise value and eventual profits, not short-term growth metrics, funnels, or vanity KPIs. This role requires judgment, systems thinking, and deep empathy for founders at different stages.

What This Role Is Really About

This role exists to:

- Architect the end-to-end founder experience, from first exposure through long-term participation

- Ensure that members consistently find the organization to be one of the highest-leverage uses of their time

- Design mechanisms that deepen trust, relevance, and learning across chapters

- Balance selectivity with growth, protecting member quality as the network scales

- Create retention through value and alignment, not obligation or lock-in

Success is measured by member engagement, retention, peer value creation, and long-term network strength — not raw signup volume.

Core Superpower (At Least One Required)

This role requires strong alignment with at least ONE of the following core superpowers. You do not need all three.

• Architecture — Joy in designing complex, carefully engineered systems that scale while preserving quality.

• Empathy — Joy in reading the energy, needs, and unspoken constraints of founders, especially under pressure.

• Refinement — Joy in continually improving, evolving, and unlocking hidden potential in people, experiences, and systems.

Working Genius Alignment

This role strongly favors:

• Discernment — judgment with incomplete information; sensing what founders actually need, not just what they request

• Enablement — helping others succeed by removing friction and clarifying pathways

Often helpful:

• Tenacity — pushing initiatives through to completion when they matter

Misalignment here tends to show up as disengagement or erosion of trust, not immediate performance issues.

What You Will Do

- Design and evolve the member journey from first touch through long-term participation

- Define and refine membership criteria, onboarding flows, and progression pathways

- Work with chapter leaders to ensure consistent experience quality across geographies

- Identify moments where member value decays and intervene systemically

- Develop feedback loops that surface real founder needs without overreacting to noise

- Make judgment calls about when to scale, pause, or redesign elements of the experience

What This Role Is Not

This role is not designed for people whose primary energy comes from:

- High-volume acquisition, funnel optimization, or growth hacking

- Community management driven by activity metrics or engagement theater

- Event production as an end in itself

- Rigid process enforcement without contextual judgment

These are valuable skills — they simply belong in different roles.

Partner Economics & Structure

This is an early partner role within a profit-sharing partnership. Compensation is tied to long-term enterprise value and eventual profits, not short-term commissions. The role carries owner-level accountability, ambiguity, and trust. In the early years, cash compensation may be limited or deferred as the organization prioritizes building durable enterprise value and long-term profitability. Partners are expected to be comfortable operating with a long-term, ownership-based upside orientation and asymmetric risk during the early phase.

This role is best suited for individuals who can operate effectively without relying on near-term cash compensation and who view deferred upside as a core part of early partnership.

Before Applying

Before applying, all candidates are required to complete a short self-assessment designed to help you determine whether this role is genuinely aligned with how you operate. We will provide a link to the self-assessment at the appropriate time. Opting out due to misalignment is a successful outcome.

If this assessment feels unnecessary or frustrating, this role is likely not a fit.