Assistant Project Operations Manager, Handset Affordability

Location: London

Position type: Fixed Term Contract until Dec 2027

About the Team

GSMA 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 realise the impact of mobile in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

This role sits within the GSMA’s 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. For more information, please visit the GSMA Connected Women website at: www.gsma.com/connectedwomen. 

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 groups in developing markets. For more information, please visit the GSMA Connected Society website at: www.gsma.com/connectedsociety 

About the Role

As Assistant Operations Manager, you will be working as a part of a team and project focused on improving affordability and ownership of internet-enabled handsets for women so that they can use them to help meet their needs and support their livelihoods.

The role reports to the Operations Manager, who leads on operational management of the Digital Inclusion Connected Women’s team across delivery, reporting (including donor reporting) and business planning. The Digital Inclusion team consists of two programmes, Connected Society and Connected Women. This role is critical to the success of the overall operational management of the Connected Women team. You will support the Operations Manager as well as various workstream Leads and Directors, and be working with the wider M4D team, subject matter experts, compliance/finance, legal, HR and marketing teams.

As an Assistant Operations Manager, you will be responsible for the following key tasks:

• Assist the Operations Manager to track and report on deliverables and KPIs
• Maintain the programme’s’ workplan updates and tracking via regular team meetings, work planning and tracking milestones
• Support with monthly programme reports, marketing newsletters, quarterly and annual donor reports
• Maintain programme risk and issue logs
• Work with the Finance team to manage end-to-end procurement including track expenses, contract suppliers, raise and process purchase orders, and manage invoices
• Track and maintain programme travel logs, ensuring the team is aware of the required process and budget available
• Support the team with event planning and logistics
• Assist with programme business planning
• Integrate and streamline Connected Women and Connected Society processes in collaboration with the Digital Inclusion Operations colleagues
• Any other duties commensurate with level as requested by the Operations Manager, Digital Inclusion

About You

The ideal candidate will display the following skills and qualifications:

Hard skills

• Demonstrable operations and project management experience
• Demonstrable experience in managing programmes within a complex compliance environment
• Experience in managing procurement processes
• Proven experience in managing project level activities focused on achieving results
• Strong escalation management skills, to ensure that issues receive attention and mitigation support from senior stakeholders
• Ability to absorb complex information and communicate effectively at all levels to both expert and non-expert audiences
• Proficiency using Office (i.e. Excel and PowerPoint), MS teams, Workday, ActivityInfo, and other project and grant management software is required

Soft skills

• Demonstrable emotional intelligence skills and influencing skills
• Demonstrable experience of stakeholder management, including managing upwards
• Good presentation and speaking skills desirable
• Strong ability to drive collaboration through identifying a common objective
• Ability to manage overlapping activities and prioritise
• Experience working internationally and in cross-cultural environments
• Demonstrable structured and methodical thinking
• Can-do attitude, willingness to learn and apply new skills

You must have the existing right to work in the UK.

Contract type

Worker type

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.

To learn more about the GSMA, visit our career site, our LinkedIn page and our Twitter page.

Being You at the GSMA

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 sucess 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. When we’re at our best – we are collaborative, considerate and compassionate to others, and we create a safe space for one another to thrive, assuming positive intent in our colleagues. And if we aren’t at our best and the pressure is on – we feel free to be ourselves but still remain curious, lean into the tough stuff and we are always respectful to others and accountable for the part we play.