JOB DETAILS
Job Title: Head of Retention and Services
Team: Fellowship
Grade 2
Reports to: Director of Fellowship
Hybrid working 60/40 in the office.
Salary: £50-£60K pa
IN A NUTSHELL
The purpose of this role is to lead on Fellowship services and retention, driving sustained income through excellent service delivery, clear membership value, and data-led insight. While the Head of Fellowship Experience shapes the overall Fellowship journey, this role ensures that day-to-day services, operational processes, and member feedback directly support renewal and long-term engagement. With Fellowship contributing nearly £6 million annually, including Gift Aid, this role is critical to the RSA’s financial resilience and long-term mission.
As with all roles in the department, this post contributes to increased engagement, stronger net promoter scores and sentiment, and higher retention.
CONTEXT
* The Head of Fellowship Retention & Services is a key income-generating role, responsible for the retention of Fellows and stewardship of a £5.9m income stream.
* The role leads a busy Services team, handling over 1,600 monthly queries and managing complaint escalations.
* It also oversees retention strategy informed by data and insight, with strategic use of Salesforce.
* The role requires a strong focus on income performance, data systems, and rapid problem-solving.
SCOPE
* Financial: Budget holder
* Responsible for budget of circa £280K per annum excluding staff salaries.
* Responsible for generating income of £5.9 million from Fellowship.
* Staff:
* 3 direct reports (Senior Services Manager, Senior Salesforce Administrator and Data & Insights Analyst)
* 3 indirect reports (Fellowship Coordinators (Services)).
* Key internal contacts: Director of Fellowship, Director of Content and Communications, Head of Media and Public Affairs, Head of Marketing, Head of Digital, Head of Fellowship Engagement, Head of Development and Growth, Finance Business Partner, Director of Finance, and Head of Strategic Partnerships
* Overseeing the teams’ key external contacts including suppliers, partners, and boards.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
RETENTION STRATEGY AND INCOME STEWARDSHIP (50%)
Strategic Leadership
* Lead the development and execution of the RSA’s Fellowship retention strategy to support financial sustainability.
* Champion retention across the organisation, building alignment with teams involved in the Fellowship journey.
* Contribute to long-term financial planning and scenario modelling for Fellowship income, including Gift Aid and life Fellowship.
Performance Management & Risk
* Maintain oversight of income performance, Gift Aid eligibility and financial risk across all fellowship income streams.
* Monitor and report on key KPIs, including renewal rates, sentiment, income and key financial indicates (such as lifetime value, cost to serve etc.), providing regular insights to senior stakeholders, the Executive Committee, the Trustee Board and the Nominations and Governance Panel.
* Accountable for the team hitting monthly, quarterly and yearly income targets.
Campaigns and Retention Innovation
* Identify and deliver strategic opportunities to enhance renewal rates, mitigate attrition, and foster a sense of belonging across various Fellowship segments.
* Design and lead targeted, insight-led retention campaigns using persuasive messaging, behavioural insight and segmentation.
* Take a campaign-led approach to retention, treating it as an active, ongoing relationship that requires storytelling, persuasion and regular re-engagement.
* Develop business cases and pilots for new approaches to retention, including testing new formats, benefits or service models through a return on investment lens (resources, income and sentiment).
* Utilise creative communication techniques, informed by audience insights, to foster affinity and a sense of belonging.
SERVICE EXCELLENCE (15%)
Team Leadership & Culture
* Oversee the Services and Retention team to deliver fast, friendly and value-aligned support that delights Fellows and builds trust at every touchpoint.
* Champion a culture of responsiveness and accountability, where service is not just efficient but personal and impactful.
* Use CSAT scores, qualitative feedback and response time metrics to continuously monitor and improve the service offer.
* Drive service innovation by identifying and implementing technology solutions that enhance access, speed and consistency (e.g. chat, automation, self-service tools, knowledge base).
Issue Resolution
* Treat every complaint or issue as an opportunity to win Fellows over, ensuring empathetic responses and clear resolution pathways.
* Act as a senior point of escalation for sensitive or high-profile Fellow issues, resolving matters with diplomacy and care.
* Lead on fellowship disciplinary matters, where necessary, work with the Nominations and Governance Panel and the Governance team to resolve any matters arising in alignment with bye-laws, the Fellowship Charter and code of conduct.
* Lead the escalation process for moderation issues on Circle, our online community platform, working closely with Community Managers to uphold community guidelines and ensure prompt resolution.
DATA, INSIGHT AND SYSTEMS (25%)
Strategic Ownership
* Provide overall strategic leadership on how Salesforce supports Fellowship recruitment, retention and service delivery, working closely with Salesforce, Digital, and Data colleagues.
* Lead the strategic utilisation and development roadmap of Salesforce CRM and Marketing Cloud platforms.
* Drive operational excellence by ensuring core processes run efficiently, with optimised payment systems and robust Gift Aid procedures
* Identify and champion data, system and process innovations that enhance the Fellow experience, reduce manual effort and support operational efficiency.
* Ensure data integrity, compliance and ethical handling of Fellow information to uphold trust and accountability.
Insight-Driven Decision-Making
* Lead the overall department’s use of data to drive smart, confident decision-making, ensuring insight is gathered, analysed, and acted upon.
* Build and maintain feedback loops to understand key insights for fellows using this to shape strategy and operations.
* Collaborate with internal teams to improve data quality, segmentation and access, enabling more personalised interactions.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT (10%)
* Responsible for ensuring the RSA upholds its commitments to Diversity Equity and Inclusion, ensuring all of our people feel included at work and collectively we are creating the best ‘One-RSA’, conditions for cross-organisational collaboration.
* As part of the cross-organisational leadership and management team, responsible for effective leadership and management of the whole staff team across the organisation.
* Leads by example and role models collaborative, inclusive and impactful behaviour.
* Enables impactful goals and strategic objectives to be achieved by embedding our values in everybody’s work.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential qualifications
* Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.
* Extensive experience service in leading a membership/fellowship recruitment and retention function.
Essential knowledge
* Deep understanding of the membership lifecycle, including segmentation, personalisation, and retention strategies.
* Strong knowledge of CRM systems (preferably Salesforce) and their application in membership engagement and service delivery.
* Solid understanding of data governance, GDPR, Gift Aid, and payment systems compliance.
* Familiarity with behavioural insight and campaign-led approaches to member engagement.
Essential experience
* Proven track record of generating and stewarding multi-million-pound membership income.
* Significant experience leading membership retention and service functions in a complex organisation.
* Demonstrable success in using data and insight to drive strategic decisions and improve member experience.
* Experience working with senior stakeholders and contributing to organisational strategy and governance.
* Strategic and operational experience in budget management, forecasting, and financial reporting.
Essential skills and abilities
* Strong leadership and team-building skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate cross-functional teams.
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence and build trust at all levels.
* Highly analytical and data-literate, with the ability to translate insight into action.
* Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver results.
* Ability to think strategically while maintaining attention to operational detail.
* Confident decision-maker with a proactive, solutions-focused mindset.
* Financially astute, with experience in income stewardship and cost-to-serve analysis.
Essential Behaviours and Qualities
* Highly analytical, data-driven, target-focused personality.
* Collaborative approach to working driven by what is best for the organisation and its customers.
* Committed to continuous improvement and innovation in service delivery.
* Solutions focused, always considering risks and impact.
* Strong interest in and enthusiasm for the aims and ethos of the RSA and its Fellowship.
* Commitment to the RSA’s mission, values and core expectations.
* Responsible for ensuring the RSA upholds its commitments to Diversity Equity and Inclusion.
Desirable
* Financial qualification or advanced training, or the equivalent experience.
* Experience in behavioural science or user experience design.
* Experience working with or within charitable or membership-based organisations.
If you are interested in applying, please send your updated CV to simon.pickerell@green-park.co.uk