Manager, Regional/Section Engagement

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is seeking a strategic professional who is highly skilled in building relationships and delivering exceptional support to our members. This unique role offers a blend of hands-on execution and advisory responsibilities. If you have a strong interest in data and have the ability to leverage its value, energized in identifying innovative solutions, and motivated by helping others succeed, we encourage you to explore this exciting opportunity. In support of our exceptional team members, IFT offers:

• 3 weeks’ vacation, sick days (with roll over), holidays
• Additional time off: IFT is closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
• Medical/Dental/Vision insurance, Long-Term Disability
• 401k
• Remote work option
• And more! For a complete list of benefits, visit https://www.ift.org/about-us/our-story/work-at-ift

About Institute of Food Technologists
Our story is rooted in a simple belief: food science matters. It matters for public health. It matters for sustainability. It matters for innovation, equity, and trust in the food system. And progress happens faster when experts are connected. As a scientific community grounded in purpose, IFT feeds the minds that feed the world. Since 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has been a forum for passionate food science professionals and technologists to collaborate, learn, and contribute with the goal of inspiring and transforming collective scientific knowledge into innovative solutions for the benefit of people around the world. IFT’s global community works across industries, academia, and government reaching thousands of professionals at more than 3,000 companies, 500 universities, and 90 countries. To learn more about IFT, please visit us at www.ift.org
Position Summary
The Manager, Regional/Section Engagement serves as the primary relationship manager for assigned IFT Sections in the Western US, British Columbia and Mexico/Latin America areas. Additional responsibilities include the overall health, engagement, and performance of those Sections. Through partnership with Section leaders and volunteers, you will help strengthen member engagement, volunteer leadership, recruitment, retention, and organizational effectiveness while aligning local and regional efforts with IFT's global engagement priorities.
Essential Responsibilities
• Serve as the primary staff liaison for assigned Sections, building trusted relationships with volunteer leaders and ensuring consistent communication, support, and follow-through. Facilitate recurring leadership meetings, document priorities and action items, identify emerging needs, and coordinate with peer engagement staff to ensure a consistent member and volunteer experience across the network.

• Support Section leaders to strengthen member engagement, recruitment, retention, and re-engagement efforts. Help connect local programming, communications, volunteer opportunities, student initiatives, supplier engagement, academic partnerships, and industry participation to IFT's broader member value strategy. Identify opportunities to improve engagement outcomes and expand participation within the region.

• Support the full volunteer leadership lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, development, succession planning, recognition, and leadership transitions. Provide practical tools, resources, training, and coaching that help Section leaders strengthen governance, operations, communications, and volunteer effectiveness while maintaining alignment with IFT policies and expectations.

• Coordinate executive and Board engagement activities across the Western U.S., British Columbia, Mexico, and Latin America by preparing briefing materials, facilitating follow-up, identifying local partnership and engagement opportunities, and escalating issues requiring Director-level decisions. Lead the planning and coordination of Section visits, partnering across IFT to ensure each visit is strategic, impactful, and aligned with organizational priorities.

• Track and assess portfolio and other key areas by using established scorecards and performance metrics. Analyze member and leader feedback to identify trends, recommend targeted support strategies, share best practices across regions, and contribute to forecasting, planning, and performance reviews.

• Support planning and execution of Section Leadership Conference, IFT FIRST Section leader experiences, and related engagement programs, including speaker/volunteer recruitment, assigned budget inputs, vendor coordination, materials, timelines, post-event documentation, and follow-up action plans.

• Manage cross-functional relationships, projects, and deliverables to ensure Section engagement activities are aligned, coordinated, and effectively integrated with teams across IFT that deliver member value. Success in this role will be measured by role-specific KPIs and contribution to Membership’s primary retention goals which are set annually.

• This role is expected to use AI and automation to streamline work, simplify processes, and improve engagement workflows. May supervise temporary staff, interns, contractors, or volunteers connected to regional engagement programs as assigned.

Requirements
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in association management, communications, nonprofit management, education, business, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in membership, volunteer engagement, component/chapter/section support, community management, events, or stakeholder engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to support distributed volunteer leaders, manage relationships and timelines, coordinate projects, communicate clearly, and use data and feedback to improve member engagement.
• Occasional domestic travel is expected including the ability to attend occasional evening, weekend, and overnight meetings.

Preferred Experience
• Work with professional societies, scientific associations, chapters, components, Sections, volunteer communities, international or cross-border member groups, leadership forums or trainings.
• Proficiency with CRM/community platforms, data analysis, and engagement dashboards.
• CAE or association management coursework.
• Spanish fluency/proficiency and/or language or cultural competency relevant to Mexico/Latin America engagement.
Compensation & Benefits
Hiring Salary Range: $70,000 to 75,000 Per Year (commensurate with experience and qualifications)
Benefits: IFT offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to reward and energize our employees, so they can live a balanced life and maintain their well-being. We offer medical, dental, and vision plans at affordable rates. Life and Long Term Disability insurance is completely free to all employees. Most benefits begin the first of the month following employee’s start date. To learn more about IFT and our excellent benefits, please visit our careers page here: https://www.ift.org/about-ift/work-at-ift
AI may have been used during the recruiting process.
Please visit https://www.hrsource.org/HRS/About/Recruiting_AI_Use_Notice.aspx to learn how.
Institute of Food Technologists is an Equal Opportunity Employer