Assistant Operations Manager, Handset Affordability

Location

London

Position type

Fixed Term Contract until end of December 2027, Full-Time, Hybrid working, 2-3 days in the office

What the hiring manager says

"We're looking for someone who is highly organised, proactive and excited by the opportunity to support programmes that drive digital inclusion at scale. This role offers broad exposure across operations, programme delivery and stakeholder coordination, making it a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys variety, collaboration and meaningful impact in their work."

About the Team

GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) Foundation is a dedicated global team within the GSMA, bringing together our mobile operator members, tech innovators, the development community and governments, to realise the impact of mobile in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

This role sits within the M4D Digital Inclusion & Gender Team, which includes the Connected Women and Connected Society programmes.

GSMA's 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

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 groups in developing markets

The programmes are funded by the FCDO (UK), Sida (Sweden), and are supported by the GSMA and its members. Additional research and work is also funded by the Gates Foundation.

About the role

The Assistant Operations Manager role will be an exciting opportunity for an individual with a passion for international development and the role of digital innovation in driving socio-economic impact for the underserved.

You will be working across the Connected Women programme as part of the Digital Inclusion & Gender Operations team including supporting a project focused on improving affordability and adoption of internet-enabled handsets for women to support their livelihoods.

This role is critical to the overall success of the Connected Women programme and reports directly to the Connected Women Operations Manager who leads operations across delivery, reporting (including donor reporting) and business planning, as part of the wider Digital Inclusion & Gender Operations team.

In this role you will also work with various Project Leads and Directors, subject matter experts, compliance/finance, legal, HR and marketing teams, as well as the wider M4D team.

Responsibilities

• Assist the Operations Manager to track and report on deliverables and KPIs
• Support the preparation of monthly internal programme reports, as well as quarterly and annual external donor reporting
• Maintain programme risk, issue and lessons learned logs, ensuring timely escalation where required
• Assist with programme activity planning and track programme workplans
• Lead end to end procurement processes including supplier onboarding, contracting, purchase order and invoice management, in collaboration with the Finance team
• Coordinate event planning and logistics, including sourcing and booking venues and liaising with programme teams and marketing
• Manage budget forecasts
• Support all aspects of team travel
• Maintain organised, shared filing systems i.e. SharePoint
• Any other duties commensurate with level as requested by the Operations Manager

About You

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following skills and experience:

Qualifications

• Demonstrable operations and project management experience, ideally with donor-funded projects
• Strong organisational and planning skills, with ability to manage multiple priorities across different programmes
• Experience supporting budgeting, forecasting and financial processes
• Proven track record tracking and reporting on project activities
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including the ability to work effectively across teams and manage upwards
• Flexibility to respond to changing requirements and priorities
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work as part of a team, supporting other team members in a busy global environment, across several different geographical locations
• Excellent attention to detail
• Proficiency using MS Office (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams) and experience with project or grant management systems
• An interest in international development and/or social enterprises in emerging markets

About Your Skills

This is a hands on role requiring a proactive, self motivated individual who can work independently and collaborate effectively to support programme success.

Key Capabilities

Project Management: Fundamental to ensuring activities are well coordinated and delivered effectively. Requires the ability to manage competing priorities, track deliverables and reporting requirements, and maintain accurate documentation and oversight across multiple workstreams.

Communication, Agility, Teamwork and Stakeholder Management: Critical to effective coordination and collaboration. Requires clear and professional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey information concisely, prepare reports, and engage confidently with different audiences.

Contract type

Fixed Term Contract (Fixed Term)

Worker type

Employee

What We Offer

Working at the GSMA offers you unparalleled access to the mobile industry. We offer a chance to truly shape the direction of mobile, whatever your role. By joining the GSMA, you will be exposed to a fast paced, rapidly evolving environment, working on global solutions, genuinely fascinating and industry changing projects and a stimulating and dynamic environment designed to enable you to flourish.

In addition to architect designed offices and competitive compensation, our benefits include fantastic learning & development opportunities, generous holiday allowances, four additional days off for professional development and many others.

We care deeply about diversity, equity and inclusivity and aspire to be the best at it. Your well being and work/life balance is important, so flexi time and remote working is available to all staff. We're keen to ensure everyone is equal, represented and connected so we particularly encourage applications from all demographics. The success of the GSMA year on year will continue to be contributed by people from all walks of life.

GSMA Values

Our values not only drive our culture - they shape how we work and interact inside and outside our global organisation.

Passionately driven

We approach everything we do with unparalleled capability, tenacity and commitment, knowing that the challenging scale, pace and complexity of our work is what leads to its world changing impact.

Insightful leaders

We continually develop and engage our expertise, insight and creativity so that we're always ready to respond to the changing landscape with authority, agility and nuance.

Stronger together

We lean on each other so the industry can lean on us, embracing our diversity by actively seeking out perspectives and skill sets beyond our own, fuelling each other's successes and constantly asking how we can help. Underpinning our values is our collective mindset to show up purposefully as good human beings every day, in every situation