Emerging Tech Innovation Specialist

Location: London, candidates must have existing right to work in the UK

Position type: Fixed Term Contract until March 2028, Full Time

What the hiring manager says

“The ideal candidate is someone who pairs a strong ability to develop and lead impactful research with genuine technical fluency across the AI ecosystem, from infrastructure, compute and data through to models, applications and the distribution layer needed for impact-driven AI innovations to scale sustainably and responsibly. They’re as comfortable articulating global trends as they are looking under the hood of an innovation to spot where frugal, responsible AI can unlock socioeconomic, financial and climate resilience in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).”

~Ibrahim Sajid, Senior Insights Manager, Emerging Tech

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).

The mission of the Emerging Tech programme at GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) is to accelerate impact and climate action by fostering the adoption of AI and emerging technologies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  To achieve our mission, we work with public, private and third sector innovators to develop scalable and sustainable solutions that have at the core inclusive and responsible AI.

About the Role

The Emerging Tech team is looking for a researcher and technical generalist, with demonstrable experience in creating outstanding analytical pieces on AI and emerging technologies for development and the ability to identify gaps, risks and opportunities for impactful AI innovations in resource-constrained settings.

Responsibilities for this role will include:

• Conduct comprehensive global-level research to identify best practices and opportunities for M4D to support innovators (e.g. startups, social enterprises) seeking to leverage AI and other emerging technologies (e.g. mobile tech, IoT, GIS, blockchain) to advance socioeconomic development, financial and climate resilience in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
• Define scope and methodology of research projects that respond to real-world challenges faced by innovators, industry practitioners, and development actors, while aligning with the strategic objectives of funders and GSMA programmes.
• Produce high-quality written outputs including policy reports, research briefs, slide decks, blogs, and case studies, ready for public dissemination and aligned with GSMA’s quality and editorial standards.
• Monitor and analyse trends in emerging technologies for development to identify high-impact opportunities, innovations, and business models suitable for scaling across LMICs.
• Collaborate with internal teams, including other M4D Insights, Innovation Fund, and the AI for Impact team, to ensure coherence across research agendas, messaging, and dissemination strategies.
• Assess the technical and commercial architecture of AI-enabled solutions, spanning infrastructure, data pipelines, models (LLMs/SLMs), local-language capability, compute and inference, and the application and distribution layers, to identify gaps and opportunities for impact-driven innovation in low-resource settings.
• Translate technical understanding into actionable insight by advising where AI investment, capability-building or partnerships can advance socioeconomic impact, financial inclusion and climate resilience across LMICs.
• Provide expertise and guidance to innovators in implementing AI and other emerging technologies as they seek to scale up their solutions.
• Support, as required, the Innovation Fund portfolio of grantees by providing technical assistance, identifying strategic engagements and new growth opportunities.
• Engage and coordinate with stakeholders across the ecosystem, including donors, mobile operators, startups, government agencies, NGOs, and multilateral institutions—to gather insights, validate findings, and amplify research relevance.
• Identify and pursue opportunities to promote research through blogs, events (e.g. MWC Barcelona, M360 APAC, AI for Good), webinars, and thought leadership pieces.
• Contribute to shaping the research agenda, proposing relevant themes, use cases, and strategic focus areas based on trends in digital development.

About You

The right candidate will be able to draw on a solid foundation of research and industry knowledge to produce thought leadership content. You will be excited to join a diverse team that shares a passion for the ways mobile and emerging technologies can empower people. You will have most or all of the following:

• A working understanding of the AI for international development ecosystem is essential, supported by a strong foundation in artificial intelligence, machine learning and related technologies, and how they are applied in development contexts. Broader technical fluency across the AI stack—spanning infrastructure, data, models (including LLMs and SLMs), local-language capability, compute and the application layer—is highly desirable.
• Hands-on experience working on or supporting AI-based innovations that address development challenges across LMICs (advancing socioeconomic impact, financial and/or climate resilience).
• Experience partnering with startups and ecosystem players through innovation funds, accelerators or incubators is highly desirable.
• Awareness of responsible, inclusive and low-resource AI design considerations (e.g. data scarcity, language coverage, affordability, connectivity, compute and financial constraints).
• Excellent analytical skills, such as the ability to define research questions, devise analytical frameworks, analyse data and extract insights. 
• Strong command over qualitative research methodologies. Knowledge and experience of quantitative research methodologies is desirable.
• A genuine interest in the commercial and social benefits presented by the adoption of AI, mobile and emerging technologies in low- and middle-income countries.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and manage research projects, driving them through to completion with minimal guidance from your managers.
• Prior experience of managing externally commissioned research projects from end-to-end is desirable.
• Demonstrated experience establishing and managing productive work relationships, at all levels, including C-level.
• Fluent and compelling written and oral communications skills in English, including an ability to articulate complex issues in plain language. Knowledge of a second language would be a plus.
• A track record of delivering results both through individual contribution and through teams.
• A proactive approach and a willingness to make suggestions and test new ideas.

About your skills

This role is based on the following core capabilities:

Analysis – Analysis is central to this role, enabling the interpretation of evidence, identification of trends and translation of complex information into clear, actionable insights that underpin high-quality research.

Communication – Essential for producing high-quality research outputs and communicating complex technical concepts clearly to audiences across industry, government and the development ecosystem.

Delivery – Strong delivery skills ensure research activities are effectively managed, priorities are balanced and outputs are delivered to a high standard.

Agility – Agility is essential in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, enabling continuous learning, adaptability and responsiveness to emerging developments.

Stakeholder Management – Builds and sustains trusted, senior-level relationships across a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders, balancing competing interests to keep the programme moving forward.

Contract type

Worker type

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.