From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishassociate member/director/head etcassociate member/director/head etcSAMEsomeone who is a member etc of something, but who is at a lower level and has fewer rights → associate
Examples from the Corpus
associate member/director/head etc• Early in the setup of the Northwest Respirator Center he hired Dunning to work as his part-time associate director.• These activities are available when you join the society as an associate member.• Gross is an associate director at Woodbourne.• Mike McCarthy is associate director, head of sixth-form studies.• He later became associate director of circulation planning and vice president and business manager.• The aim is now to change the constitution to elect four associate members on to a management committee. 