Who We Are:
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) is a federation of 10 Member Societies which in turn have more than 130,000 members across the globe. AIP was founded in 1931 in an effort to alleviate societal and economic turmoil and to better humanity through science. Today, almost 100 years later, we further our positive impact through our mission: to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity. We want you to become a part of this mission!

Summary:
AIP is seeking to fill a key executive role to lead AIP’s engagement with its most valued stakeholders, the AIP Member Societies (MS) and Affiliates, which collectively represent hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers, educators, students, and other professionals. This role provides a unique opportunity to drive positive change in the physical sciences enterprise.

In this role you will lead the AIP Federation Office team and marshal resources and capabilities from across the AIP team to engage in researching, understanding, and responding to the priorities of AIP’s Member Societies and Affiliates to advance their success. You will also have the opportunity to provide executive and strategic leadership to AIP as a member of the Institute’s executive team, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer.

This is a high-touch and outward looking position that interfaces directly with senior staff and volunteer leadership of our Federation’s members. Success in this role will demand establishing open dialog and building trust—all in the context of engaging with and building a deep understanding of the STEM society and association enterprise. Along with and in support of the CEO, you will lead initiatives of the Federation that address needs identified by Member Societies through the Federation Assembly (a convening of delegates from all 10 Member Societies). You will also be responsible for connecting AIP and the Member Societies to AIP Affiliates and other relevant organizations, extending the reach of the Federation to partners with whom AIP shares an aligned mission. You will also act as the executive sponsor for AIP federation collective actions.

The Federation Officer also sits on the AIP Portfolio & Innovation Council (PIC) which is charged with setting direction for the life-cycle management of AIP’s portfolio of programs, products, and services, ensuring the portfolio’s alignment to AIP’s Strategic Framework and FIRE goals, and fostering a staff culture of innovation, structured risk taking, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

What You’ll Do:
To be successful as AIP’s Federation Officer:

• As a primary point-of-contact with the AIP Federation members, you will develop and cultivate a web of relationships among staff and volunteer leaders at AIP, Member Societies, and Affiliates.

• You will establish and implement an AIP Federation engagement and partnership strategy to cultivate a relationship between and among AIP, our Member Societies and our Affiliates based on trust and partnership.

• You will coordinate in collaboration with the AIP Chief of Staff and CEO, across the AIP Executive Office and within the executive team on relationships with and communication to executive-level Member Society and Affiliate leadership.
• In collaboration with the AIP Chief of Staff and CEO, you will coordinate efforts across all of AIP to deepen these relationships and to communicate effectively with Member Society and Affiliate leadership.

• You will be lead on AIP’s developing, recording, and responding to a robust understanding of the strategies and priority goals of AIP Member Societies and identify partnership opportunities with and among the full membership of the AIP Federation.

• You will be the source of thought leadership to the AIP executive team, the Board of Directors, the AIP Federation Assembly, and to the leadership of AIP Member Societies and Affiliates on how AIP can advance Member Society and Affiliate success. This effort will include activities that enable and promote sharing, information exchange, networking, and group learning. In collaboration with a volunteer committee, you will also plan, the AIP Annual Forum, which brings together stakeholders from across the whole AIP Federation for a day of learning and discourse.

• Applying your strategic, organizational, and consensus-building skills, you will support the work of the Federation Assembly and its subordinate task forces as the Assembly’s Executive Secretary and a member of the Assembly’s Steering Committee.
• You will work with AIP staff and the Federation Assembly to ensure the identification, development, and execution of collective actions—that is, collaborative initiatives, programs, and projects that capitalize on synergies of AIP and the Federation’s membership and advance the shared impact of the Federation in the physical sciences enterprise.
• You will be an innovative leader, fostering different and bespoke approaches to engaging the Federation’s membership in the exchange of ideas with a view to identifying areas for action.
• You will also provide staff support and leadership to the Membership Committee of the AIP Board of Directors.
• You will exercise your communication skills in integrating a Federation perspective and cultivating a “culture of membership” throughout AIP as the backbone of the Institute’s relations with Member Societies and Affiliates.
• You will work with your team and colleagues on the executive team to marshal expertise and capabilities from across AIP to form agile cross-functional teams in support of Federation collective actions and in support of advancing Member Society success.
• You will work with your colleagues on the executive team to reach your goals and drive AIP’s success through efforts such as:
  • Collaborate with the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer on AIP’s membership dues models, member services, partnership agreements, and understanding the financial sustainability of the Member Societies.
  • Collaborate with the Chief Content Officer and to ensure the priorities of Member Societies are accounted for in the development and execution of AIP’s content strategy and the deployment of AIP’s Digital Experience Platform.
  • Collaborate with the Chief of Staff to prepare the CEO for engagements with MS and Affiliate governance bodies, communicate at a regular cadence about key AIP updates, and understand the history of these relationships to factor prior knowledge and efforts as we seek to deepen engagement.
  • Support the work of the AIP Diversity, Equity and Belonging Officer to advance Member Society collective actions focused on cultivating an inclusive physical sciences enterprise.
  • Engage with the AIP Development Office and AIP Foundation to identify grant support for federation collective actions—including grants from private philanthropies, individual donors, and federal sources of support.
  • Engage with the AIP Chief Research Officer to ensure AIP is at the forefront of empowering AIP Member Societies and Affiliates to cultivate positive change in the physical sciences enterprise.
• As a member of AIP’s Portfolio & Innovation Council, you will:
  • Acquire and apply market intelligence and research outcomes that can help evaluate development or evolution of new AIP programs, products, and services that are aligned to priority issues and needs of the MS.
  • Evaluate and prioritize new and continuing AIP programs, products and services, and provide oversight for their development, implementation, and performance.
  • provide guidance and support to product and program leaders to ensure appropriate market positioning, content quality, and adoption by AIP primary audiences.

What You’ll Bring:

• Substantive and senior-level experience in a membership-based association, organization, or science-related corporation – preferably one with institutional members.
• Specific expertise in business and/or new program development, including prior-supervisory and budgeting experience.
• Demonstrated success in strategy development and execution.
• Demonstrated success in growing relationships in a membership or diverse stakeholder enterprise.
• Superb interpersonal and communication skills and demonstrated ability to work collegially with senior-level external and internal stakeholders, with the highest standards of integrity.
• Demonstrated experience communicating vision and value of organizational brand to stakeholders and potential partners.
• Demonstrated experience at working with cross-functional teams and facilitating work in a horizontally integrated function.
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects with competing priorities and exercise sound judgment in evaluating such situations and issues.
• Ability to conceive, develop and execute strategic objectives and programmatic goals.
• Demonstrated ability to achieve strategic and operational goals in complex inter-connected stakeholder enterprises.

To Apply:

Include a resume and cover letter. We encourage you to apply even if your experience does not fully match the position description; we will consider people from a variety of backgrounds and career experiences.

Why Join Us:

AIP embraces a flexible hybrid work environment to balance in-person collaborative work with remote work. The team works in a flexible, hybrid schedule and reports to our offices in College Park, Maryland and Washington, DC as needed. Employees are required to reside in DMV metro area (Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC).

We offer comprehensive benefits, including generous paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, an annual retirement contribution of 10% of base pay, tuition assistance, commuter benefits, and more.

Your colleagues at AIP are welcoming, gracious, and eager to help each other succeed. With our commitment to community service, institute-wide social opportunities, and ongoing learning and development, AIP is a rewarding place to work.

About AIP:

The American Institute of Physics is a dynamic, forward-thinking 501(c)(3) membership corporation of scientific societies. Our mission is to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity. AIP is a trusted and reliable source of information and analysis and is a center of excellence that advances the physical sciences enterprise through research and analysis aimed at improving the understanding of our heritage and promoting future progress.

Diversity welcome! Diversity is integral to our mission and is ingrained in everything that we do at AIP. We encourage and invite people of all backgrounds to apply and join our team. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, creed, marital status, gender identity or expression, political affiliation, personal appearance, national origin, ancestry, protected veteran status, or physical or mental disability.