Insights Director, Digital Inclusion

Department: GSMA Mobile for Development

Team: Digital Inclusion

Location: London, hybrid working

Position type: Fixed Term Contract until Sept 2027

What the hiring manager says

“This role is a unique opportunity to support the mobile industry and stakeholders to drive digital inclusion for underserved members of society, in particular women and rural populations. As the Insights Director, you will develop and deliver a research agenda that truly drives impact on the ground, ensuring that millions can access and use mobile, mobile internet and mobile money services. The role offers the opportunity to shape an exciting and varied mix of primary research projects and industry engagement, providing unparalleled access to key industry players across Africa and Asia, and the opportunity to influence the agenda of an industry that has a profound impact on millions of lives.” Dominica Lindsey, Senior Director, Connected Women

About the Team

The Digital Inclusion team is comprised of two programmes: Connected Women and Connected Society, and sits within GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D). Mobile for Development (M4D) is a dedicated global team within the GSMA, which brings together our mobile operator members, tech innovators, the development community and governments, to prove the power of mobile in emerging markets.

The GSMA Connected Women programme works with mobile operators and their partners to address the barriers to women accessing and using mobile internet and mobile money services. Connected Women aims to reduce the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services and unlock significant commercial opportunities for the mobile industry and socio-economic benefits for women.

The GSMA’s Connected Society Programme works with the mobile industry and key stakeholders to increase access to and adoption of the mobile internet, focusing on underserved population particularly for rural populations, women, and underserved groups. It works with mobile operators and stakeholders to bridge the "usage gap," where individuals live within coverage areas but do not use mobile internet.

About the Role

The Insights Director will lead on research and knowledge products for the Connected Women and Connected Society programmes, generating insights to use in advocacy and market engagement activities. This includes the Mobile Gender Gap and the State of Mobile Internet Connectivity report series, as well as further research on the barriers and opportunities to accessing and using mobile, that women and underserved populations face. This role will also lead on inputting to other GSMA team’s research on digital inclusion as well as financial inclusion from a gender perspective. Research will include commissioned research, other primary or secondary research, data analysis or monitoring and evaluation.

Key roles and responsibilities include the following:

• Lead the Digital Inclusion Insights team to develop high quality outputs, including the flagship report series (Mobile Gender Gap and State of Mobile Internet Connectivity), case studies and more.
• Develop and deliver an overall vision and strategy for Connected Women and Connected Society research and insight activities, which will support the wider strategy of the respective programmes.
• Ensure the programmes insights activities are based on robust data and deliver outputs on time and within budget to a high standard, against the agreed workplan and impact monitoring.
• Manage external agencies to deliver on large research contracts.
• Disseminate the research and insights, via a range of channels (e.g. webinars, blogs, events, presentations).
• Support the team with bespoke insights to help mobile operators and other key stakeholders develop, launch and scale successful initiatives to drive digital and financial inclusion.
• Collaborate effectively across the GSMA at global and regional level, including other M4D teams and GSMA Intelligence.
• Ensure the Digital Inclusion team and other relevant GSMA M4D team members are up to speed with relevant internal and external research and insights.
• Manage the Insights team to deliver all of the above with operational excellence.
• Contribute towards shaping the overall strategic direction of the programmes.

About You

The right candidate will be able to draw on a solid foundation of research and commercial expertise and be excited to join a diverse team that shares a passion for the ways mobile can empower underserved citizens in the developing world. We welcome applications from professionals with the following demonstrated qualifications:

• Significant experience in designing and delivering high quality research, including developing research strategies, designing research approaches, creating research tools, synthesizing results, and communicating insights appropriately to different audiences.
• Experience and familiarity with the mobile industry, ideally with exposure to the mobile for development sector.
• Significant experience conducting research on marginalised groups in low- and middle-income countries, ideally related to digital and financial inclusion via mobile.
• Experience of/ genuine interest in both the commercial and social benefits that are presented by reducing the gaps in mobile access and use.
• Fluent and compelling written and oral communications skills, including the ability to structure and tailor complex findings into clear messaging for different stakeholder audiences.
• Experience establishing, managing and inspiring productive relationships across stakeholders, including senior-level stakeholders and third party contractors.
• Excellent cultural awareness and a desire to work with teams around the world.
• First rate project and people management skills with the ability to handle multiple projects and tasks at the same time.
• A self-starter, highly motivated to develop initiatives and drive through to completion who is able to work independently with an entrepreneurial, creative, can-do orientation.
• Ability to work in a matrixed structure, to positively influence peers and support cross functional collaboration across the GSMA. A diplomatic team player, being able to effectively connect together a wide group of internal GSMA interests and resources, to support their work.

About your Skills

• Leadership – ability to develop and deliver team strategy and to support individual personal development across a diverse team through coaching and mentoring
• Communication - excellent written and verbal communication skills, with expertise in tailoring style, tone and content for a range of audiences, including private sector, government and development sector stakeholders
• Delivery - highly organised, with ability to lead the team to deliver multiple complex projects simultaneously across a range of themes, on time and to high-quality
• Analysis – very strong ability to ensure selected methodologies across a range of research projects are fit for purpose and robust; ability to ensure high quality analysis and evidence-based conclusions are delivered across diverse studies and methods
• Commercial Awareness – experience and ability to translate research into suitable, high-quality, actionable outputs and commercially-viable recommendations for mobile operators and other private sector stakeholders in LMICs, and to ensure that the research design is appropriate to facilitate this.

We strive to offer a meaningful and inclusive application experience for all candidates. Should you require any accommodations or adjustments due to a disability or for any other reason during the hiring process, please contact talent@gsma.com with your request.

Contract type: Fixed Term Contract (Fixed Term)

Worker type: Employee