Insights Manager, Central Insights Unit

Department: Mobile for Development

Team: Central Insights Unit

Location: London (hybrid)

Position type: Fixed Term Contract until March 2027

What the hiring manager says

“The ideal candidate will bring a curious and analytical mindset, strong research skills, excellent written communication, and a deep interest in how digital technologies can advance sustainable development in low- and middle-income countries. They will be skilled at generating evidence-based insights and communicating both global trends and local perspectives with clarity and impact.

This role offers the opportunity to develop thought leadership and deliver actionable insights to inform inclusive and sustainable development, working in a collaborative, diverse team passionate about leveraging digital technologies to reduce global inequalities.”

About the Team

The Central Insights Unit (CIU) sits at the core of GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) and produces country- and region-specific research and analysis on the role and impact of digital technologies in advancing sustainable and inclusive development.  Our work spans across many themes and verticals including digital inclusion, gender, financial inclusion, agriculture, health, utilities, humanitarian action and climate action.

The thematically cross-cutting nature of our research means that our knowledge base is wide-ranging as we bring clarity to emerging opportunities in digital development. Our work directly supports international donors to build expertise and capacity as they seek to advance digitalisation initiatives in low- and middle-income countries.

About the Role

This role offers an opportunity to contribute to research that informs sustainable development initiatives, shapes global development discourse, informs programmes and policy, and supports the responsible scaling of digital innovation across sectors such as humanitarian action, agriculture, health, climate resilience, and digital and financial inclusion.

Working as part of an interdisciplinary team, the postholder will lead primary and secondary research and produce high‑quality outputs for a range of stakeholders, including donor and development partners, governments, and private sector actors. The role will play a key part in advancing how digital technologies are understood and applied to tackle critical development challenges.

Specifically you will:

• Develop clear, well-structured scopes of work to drive holistic research projects across different contexts.
• Ensure research outputs are tailored to context and audience, including policy makers, industry leaders and development practitioners.
• Convene and guide diverse groups of stakeholders to shape and steer research projects.
• Identify, commission, and manage external researchers and suppliers to deliver robust, timely research products.
• Work across M4D teams to draw on thematic expertise from across the programme portfolio.
• Conduct rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis to generate clear, insight driven narratives.
• Produce high quality written outputs, including reports, blogs and briefs.
• Present and disseminate research findings at events, webinars and other forums.

About You

You will bring a strong foundation in research and a passion for using digital technologies to advance development outcomes. You will thrive in a diverse team dedicated to empowering people via mobile and emerging tech

Must-have experience and capabilities for this role are: 

• Excellent analytical skills, including a demonstrated ability to design and frame research questions, design analytical frameworks, interrogate data and extract actionable insights.
• Proven experience designing and conducting mixed-methods research, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches (e.g. key informant interviews, surveys, case studies, landscape analysis, and secondary data analysis) to generate actionable insights for programme, policy, and industry audiences. This includes selecting fit-for-purpose methodologies.
• Demonstrated expertise in how AI is a transformative power, including limitations and risks, for gender and digital inclusion, digital public infrastructure, digital health, climate resilience, or financial inclusion, with experience analysing how digital technologies shape sector outcomes, market dynamics, and access to services for underserved populations.
• Strong understanding and proven experience of conducting research related to the mobile and digital ecosystem in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including the role of mobile network operators, digital platforms, policymakers, and technology innovators in enabling digital inclusion, innovation, and development outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience applying analytical and systems-based frameworks in research and programme analysis, such as GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion) or market systems approaches (e.g. BEAM), and the ability to integrate these frameworks into research design, evidence generation, and interpretation of findings to inform policy and programme decision-making.
• Strong ecosystem and stakeholder analysis skills, with the ability to map market systems, identify key actors and incentives (e.g. MNOs, startups, regulators, investors), and analyse how relationships, capabilities, and constraints influence the adoption and scale of digital solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and manage research projects end‑to‑end, including managing external partners and delivering on time and on budget.
• Fluent and compelling written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to explain complex issues in clear, accessible language, with a demonstrated portfolio of work

Additional desirable experience and capabilities for this role include:

• A track record of delivering results both independently and as part of a team.
• A proactive, solutions‑oriented approach and willingness to propose and test new ideas
• Experience supervising or mentoring junior researchers and analysts.
• Experience presenting research findings at high‑level or global events.
• Working proficiency in another language (e.g. French, Arabic).

About Your Skills

• Analysis – It’s essential to have excellent data analysis skills, primarily qualitative with some quantitative, including the ability to select fit‑for‑purpose analytical frameworks and methods. The Manager must be able to conduct nuanced analysis and interpretation to produce accurate, compelling narratives.
• Communication – The Manager must be an excellent communicator, with a particularly strong ability to translate complex, technical or commercial issues into plain language without losing important points of the message. Fluent and compelling written and oral communication skills in English are essential, and knowledge of another language would be a plus.   
• Delivery – The Manager will need to have strong delivery skills in order to manage multiple research projects in an organised and timely manner. The ideal candidate is a self-starter, motivated to develop initiatives and drive them through to completion, and is conscientious, with high personal standards and a strong attention to detail.
• Project management – The Manager must have proven ability to plan and oversee end‑to‑end research projects, including commissioning and managing suppliers, managing feedback loops with key stakeholders, and assuring projects are completed on time and on budget.
• Stakeholder management -- The Manager must be skilled at building and maintaining productive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders (e.g., donors, partners, grantees, internal teams), balancing competing priorities and securing alignment around shared goals.
• Teamwork – The Manager must be a team player, happy to work in a matrixed environment or large multi-disciplinary group. Cultural awareness and an ability and desire to work with teams from across the world is important.  

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

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.