Senior Manager, Innovation Fund

Job description

Department : Mobile for Development (M4D) Team : GSMA Innovation Fund Location : London (hybrid working) Position type: Fixed Term Contract until March 2028 What the hiring manager says The GSMA Innovation Fund supports organisations using mobile and digital technology to create meaningful impact in low- and middle-income countries. This role will help us make far better use of what we learn across our growing portfolio. You will turn detailed evidence from individual grantees into clear, credible insights for the public domain, while building the intelligence and knowledge systems that allow us to understand portfolio performance, spot emerging trends and respond confidently to donors and other stakeholders. It is an opportunity to shape how the Innovation Fund understands, communicates and applies its collective experience. About the Team The GSMA Innovation Fund team designs and delivers grant programmes that support innovative, mobile-enabled solutions across themes including digital inclusion, climate action, energy access, circularity and emerging technologies. We work with grantees, donors, technical specialists and partners across multiple markets. As the portfolio grows, we need a more systematic way to connect information generated through grant delivery, market engagement, monitoring and learning, and stakeholder relationships. You will work across these groups, creating a shared view of the portfolio and ensuring that strong evidence and useful learning do not remain confined to individual projects or teams. About the Role You will lead three closely connected areas of work: portfolio insights and public-facing knowledge; business and market intelligence; and knowledge management. The role is not simply about collecting information or producing reports. It is about applying strong judgement to identify what matters, testing the quality of evidence, drawing out patterns across projects and cohorts, and translating complex material into outputs that are relevant to the Innovation Fund’s audiences. Portfolio insights and public-facing knowledge. You will develop a deep understanding of the work, progress and learning of our grantees. Working with Innovation Fund managers, monitoring and learning colleagues, and marketing specialists, you will identify credible stories, findings and lessons that can be communicated externally. You will develop cohort- and portfolio-level analysis particularly for scale and sustainability, ensuring that published content presents an Innovation Fund perspective rather than simply restating grantee reporting. Outputs may include insight briefs, portfolio narratives, case studies, thematic analyses, presentations, web content and contributions to wider GSMA thought leadership. Business and market intelligence. You will establish and maintain a reliable intelligence base on current and former grantees, including their organisational and commercial progress, fundraising, partnerships, geographic expansion, product development, user reach and pathways to scale. You will combine internal information with relevant external market intelligence to identify developments that may affect our portfolio and to sense wider trends across the geographies, sectors and technologies in which the Innovation Fund operates. You will turn this intelligence into practical portfolio views, dashboards, briefings and decision-ready analysis for colleagues and leadership. Knowledge management. You will design and maintain a practical knowledge-management approach that captures, organises and scrutinises information about our grantees, cohorts, teams, partners and priority topics. You will define common structures, metadata, ownership and quality standards so that information can be found, understood and reused. You will make it easier to respond to donor and stakeholder queries with accurate, traceable and current evidence, while applying appropriate controls for confidential, sensitive or personal information. During your first year, you will map existing sources and gaps, agree a proportionate data and knowledge framework, establish a prioritised portfolio intelligence view, and produce an initial pipeline of strong public-facing insights. Success will mean that colleagues can retrieve trusted information more quickly, leadership has a clearer view of grantee and market progress, and external outputs demonstrate distinctive learning from across the Innovation Fund portfolio. Key responsibilities Own an annual and rolling insights agenda that connects donor learning priorities, portfolio questions, market developments and publication opportunities. Synthesise qualitative and quantitative information from grantee reports, portfolio reviews, monitoring and evaluation, financial and operational data, and direct engagement with grantees. Test evidence, challenge unsupported conclusions and distinguish observed results from emerging findings or hypotheses before information is used externally. Produce and commission concise, accessible and evidence-based outputs for external and internal audiences, working with communications and subject-matter colleagues on editorial quality and dissemination. Create cohort, thematic and portfolio-level analysis that identifies patterns, differences, enabling factors, risks and practical lessons across multiple grantees. Develop and maintain a structured record of grantee organisational and commercial progress, including fundraising, partnerships, expansion and scaling trajectories. Monitor relevant markets, sectors, technologies, policy developments and funding ecosystems to identify trends, opportunities and risks for the Innovation Fund and its portfolio. Develop dashboards and briefing products that allow teams and leaders to explore portfolio information and make informed decisions. Lead the design of an accessible knowledge architecture across approved systems, with clear taxonomies, naming conventions, version control, ownership, retention and quality-assurance arrangements. Establish repeatable processes for capturing knowledge from grant implementation, portfolio meetings, field engagement, events and team transitions, reducing reliance on informal or individual-held knowledge. Coordinate timely, evidence-based responses to donor and stakeholder information requests, maintaining source traceability and appropriate review and approval routes. Build capability across the team through practical guidance, templates and coaching on knowledge capture, data quality, insight generation and use of intelligence tools. Manage relevant suppliers or short-term specialists where required and ensure their outputs are integrated into the wider portfolio knowledge base. About You You are an analytical and curious professional who can move confidently between detailed evidence, strategic questions and clear communication. You will be comfortable working across disciplines and geographies, and able to build the trust needed to obtain, challenge and interpret information from busy teams and grantees. Demonstrable experience generating actionable insights from complex programme, portfolio, organisational or market information, with the ability to move from individual cases to cohort- and portfolio-level conclusions. A strong track record of producing high-quality public-facing research, insight or thought-leadership content for non-specialist audiences while maintaining accuracy and evidential discipline. Substantial experience in business intelligence, market intelligence, portfolio intelligence, research or an equivalent field, including the use of internal and external sources to monitor organisations and wider market trends. Experience designing or improving knowledge-management systems and practices, including taxonomy, metadata, information governance, searchability, quality assurance and adoption by users. Ability to work with both quantitative and qualitative information, identify limitations and inconsistencies, and communicate what the evidence does and does not support. Confidence using business-intelligence and data-visualisation tools, CRM or grant-management systems, and collaborative knowledge platforms. Experience with tools such as Power BI, Salesforce or equivalent systems, Microsoft 365 and SharePoint would be valuable. Excellent writing, editing and presentation skills, with the ability to tailor content for donors, senior leaders, partners, practitioners and public audiences. Strong stakeholder-management and facilitation skills, including the judgement to challenge constructively, reconcile different perspectives and agree practical standards across teams. Commercial awareness and an understanding of how early-stage or growth organisations develop, fundraise, build partnerships and scale, ideally in markets relevant to international development and technology-enabled innovation. A practical approach to delivery: able to prioritise, establish light but reliable processes, and balance analytical ambition with the information, time and resources available. About your Skills The core GSMA skills for this role are: Analysis – Central to turning diverse portfolio evidence into credible insight. This role requires the ability to interrogate qualitative and quantitative information, identify patterns and limitations, test assumptions, and draw proportionate conclusions across individual grantees, cohorts and the wider portfolio. Strong analysis will ensure that public outputs, leadership briefings and donor responses are evidence-based, appropriately qualified and useful for decision-making. Communication – Critical for translating complex programme, market and organisational information into clear and compelling narratives. This role requires excellent written, verbal and visual communication, with the ability to tailor insight products, briefings and thought leadership for donors, senior leaders, partners, practitioners and public audiences without overstating the evidence. Stakeholder Management – Fundamental to obtaining, validating and applying knowledge held across grantees, Innovation Fund colleagues, technical specialists, communications teams, donors and external partners. This role requires the ability to build trusted relationships, clarify information needs, reconcile different perspectives and establish shared standards for the timely, accurate and responsible use of portfolio knowledge. Commercial Awareness – Essential for understanding how grantees develop, fundraise, form partnerships, enter markets and scale. This role requires the ability to interpret business models, organisational progress, funding ecosystems and changing market dynamics, and to connect these developments to the Innovation Fund’s portfolio strategy, support offer and external narrative. Delivery – Important for converting an ambitious insights and knowledge agenda into practical, high-quality outputs and systems. This role requires strong prioritisation and project management across research, intelligence, publication and knowledge-management workstreams, ensuring that dashboards, insight products and stakeholder responses are delivered on time, to an agreed standard and with clear ownership. 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.