Assistant Project Manager, Innovation Fund

gsma; City Of London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A global mobile industry organization in the UK is seeking an Assistant Operations Manager to lead critical operational processes for the GSMA Innovation Fund. Candidates should have solid experience in project and operations management, particularly within donor-funded projects. The role requires effective communication, compliance management, and the ability to support cross-functional teams. This position offers a competitive salary and dynamic work environment.

Benefits

Learning & development opportunities

Generous holiday allowances

Flexible working hours

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience with donor-funded projects.
• Ability to manage complex projects efficiently.
• Proficient in Office software, preferably Excel and PowerPoint.

Responsibilities

• Monitor operational elements of funding rounds.
• Support grant management teams operationally.
• Identify and escalate risks related to operations.
• Manage supplier relationships and procurement processes.
• Ensure compliance with GSMA Foundation's rules.

Skills

Operations and project management experience

Experience in complex compliance environments

Managing procurement processes

Strong escalation management skills

Effective communication

Emotional intelligence and influencing skills

Stakeholder management

Cross-cultural experience

Tools

Office Suite

Project management software

Job description

About the Team

The GSMA Innovation Fund (GIF) team was established in March 2020 and have the responsibility of planning and executing all Innovation Fund rounds on behalf of the GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) programme. Leveraging on 10 years of M4D experience running Innovation Funds on a multitude of topics, the team are responsible for setting up the processes and managing all rounds from design to grantee selection to grant completion and post grant follow up. This is done in collaboration with the relevant subject matter experts within GSMA as determined by the thematic focus of the funding round. The GSMA Innovation Fund teams’ mission is to be a centre of excellence that will ensure M4D continues to support local entrepreneurship and digital innovation through grant funding and technical assistance. This is a skilled and diverse team represented in UK, Kenya, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.

About the Role

Within this role you will be empowered to lead on critical processes that enable the Innovation Fund to achieve its objectives. As an operational focal point, you will have the opportunity to liaise directly with senior stakeholders across several Mobile for Development departments, including topic experts, compliance, and operation managers from other programmes, providing you constant opportunities to learn and develop new skills.

This role is critical to the success of the overall operational management of the GSMA Innovation Fund. You are expected to be a partner to the round leads and the GIF managers – from an operational perspective. Be able to support the Innovation Fund team in meeting our donors’ reporting requirements, procurement processes, and support with the set up and implementation of overlapping funding rounds by working in proximity with subject matter experts, compliance / finance, legal, HR and marketing.

As an Assistant Operations Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund team, you will have the following responsibilities :

• Assist monitoring the operational elements of each round – planning, launch, pitch, proposal, panel, contracting and implementation phases
• Support the grant management teams based in Africa & Asia from an operational perspective and ensure efficiency & collaboration for tasks where needed
• Identify, monitor and escalates risks and issues specific to your areas of responsibility, providing input on resolution and mitigation plans
• Support on internal and external reporting in line with donor targets
• Manage relationship with suppliers (procurement), ensure timely delivery, quality and reporting is on track
• Make sure that the Innovation Fund adheres to the compliance rules of the GSMA Foundation, especially, where relevant, compliance rules related to sub-grants
• Support the documentation and standardisation of the Innovation Fund process as it continues to evolve
• Support the configuration, guidelines documentation and team adoption of grant management platform

About You

The ideal candidate will display the following skills and qualifications :

Hard skills

• Demonstrable operations and project management experience with donor-funded projects, innovation funds or an interest in socio-economic development
• Demonstrable experience in managing programmes within a complex compliance environment
• Proven experience in managing procurement processes
• Proven experience of 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) and MS teams is required, experience setting up and managing project management platforms is a bonus

Soft skills

• Demonstrable emotional intelligence skills and influencing skills
• Demonstrable experience in various stakeholder management, strong presentation and speaking skills desirable
• Strong ability to drive collaboration between various departments to drive a common objective
• Ability to manage overlapping activities and prioritise
• Experience of working internationally and cross-cultural environments
• Demonstrable structured and methodical thinking

Must have the existing right to work in the UK.

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 are one of the most diverse companies you will ever come across, we care deeply about equality and inclusivity and aspire to be the best at it. Your well-being and work / life balance is important so if you prefer to work flexi-time or a day from home, just ask. 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. 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.