Public Policy & Advocacy Director, Mobile Money

Full Job Description

Department: Mobile for Development
Department detail: Mobile Money Programme
Location: London/Nairobi
Position type: Permanent
Reporting to: Head of Financial Inclusion & AgriTech

About the Team

The GSMA Mobile Money Programme works with mobile money providers to accelerate the availability of digital payment services to the people of developing countries. Through its work, the GSMA has supported the development of an industry that reaches 1.35 billion registered mobile money accounts and, in 2021, processed more than $1 trillion in transactions, providing much-needed digital financial services to underserved and marginalised communities where before there were none, underpinning poverty reduction, job creation, gender equality and the attainment of broader development goals.

What the hiring manager says

“This is an exciting role for someone who is passionate about the role that enabling environments play in driving financial inclusion and has a drive to work with a wide range of stakeholders to create such environments.  The successful candidate will have a strong network across Asia and Africa of regulatory and policy decision makers and ideally, mobile money operators; he/she will enjoy developing and maintaining relationships with a wide stakeholder base.”

Ashley Olson Onyango, Head of Financial Inclusion & AgriTech

About the Role

The Public Policy & Advocacy Director, Mobile Money is responsible for managing a team of regulatory, policy and advocacy professionals to deliver necessary support to GSMA members and reshape the financial services landscape globally. You will work alongside a global, high-performing, and multi-cultural team.

The Director will be at the forefront of debates about how to regulate new technologies, stimulate innovation, and extend financial services to people in low- and middle-income countries. He/she will need to be agile, responding to policy and regulatory threats swiftly and urgently. The role requires someone comfortable engaging in dialog with high-level professionals and speaking publicly to a broad network of public and private sector actors, including international aid organisations, mobile operators, policy makers, regulators, and fintech companies.

Responsibilities for this role will span the entire breadth of the programme's policy, regulatory and advocacy activities, including, but not limited to:

• Define the team’s strategic approach towards its objectives and lead the annual business planning exercise to define team objectives and KPIs
• Oversee the maintenance, upkeep, and adoption of key assets including the Mobile Money Regulatory Index and Mobile Money Certification
• Drive a targeted engagement strategy to advance GSMA’s position in the industry with a wide stakeholder base, including regulatory and policy decision makers, mobile money provider executives, bi- and multi-lateral organisations (e.g. AFI and MEFMI), etc.
• Build and manage relationships with operators and other key stakeholders across the industry in order to identify strategic opportunities to provide support and develop initiatives that align with the programme’s core objectives
• Lead regular policy working groups with key members
• Work together with the programme’s MEL Manager to instil a culture of engagement tracking and monitoring to easily identify historical and on-going engagements while monitoring long-term impact
• Identify new regulatory trends, policy innovations and developments to inform a strong research agenda within the team, overseeing market research and analysis, evaluation of regulatory trends, policy innovations and carrying out high level regulatory impact assessments
• Shape global policy issues through written submissions and sustained engagement with global standards setting groups and/or policy and regulatory institutions
• Synthesise key policy and regulatory messages, supporting the industry position and driving financial inclusion, for the M4D leadership and wider team to ensure aligned messaging
• Disseminate industry positions and resources at relevant GSMA events as well as external regional or global events, positioning the Mobile Money programme as a thought-leader within the industry
• Coordinate closely with other GSMA M4D teams and GSMA Regional teams to ensure a coordinated approach to all our work

About You

You will have a strong foundation of the mobile money industry and a clear understanding of the policy and regulatory landscape across low- and middle-income countries as it relates to this sector.  You actively stay up to date on current trends and decisions that affect the mobile money industry, with a proactive and solutions-oriented attitude to support industry players in addressing key challenges in their markets.  You are comfortable engaging stakeholders, communicate effectively, and rapidly adapt to different cultures.

We welcome applications from individuals who have the following demonstrated qualifications and skills:

• You are a strategic thinker with the ability to define a strategy to deliver on key objectives and have the capacity to disseminate and implement this strategy through a team
• You have a good understanding of mobile money and the existing financial services landscape for the underserved across low- and middle-income countries and familiarity with the relevant policy and regulatory context in key markets
• You have demonstratable experience in a regulatory function in the telecom or financial sector with additional advocacy experience a plus
• You have experience analysing the business impact of policy and regulatory decisions on the mobile money sector and in designing advocacy campaigns to affect that impact
• You have proven market research and analytical skills, especially the ability to predict and/or assess commercial and economic implications of public policy decisions
• You are able to express complex technical, commercial and policy and regulatory issues in plain language
• You have excellent relationship management skills, are comfortable engaging at the executive and ministerial level, and can manage a diverse set of stakeholders effectively
• You understand the need for, and value of tracking long-term engagements and have experience in doing so
• You are comfortable working in a matrixed structure, with the need to positively influence peers and support cross functional collaboration across the GSMA
• You have the ability to handle pressing deadlines, ambiguity and competing priorities
• You have excellent cultural awareness and the capability to work with globally dispersed teams
• You have experience managing a team, proving the ability to deliver on priority activities through a high-performing team
• English language fluency required; French language fluency desired

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.

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.

Here at the GSMA, we are committed to being an inclusive employer and are happy to consider flexible working arrangements supported by our BeWell programme. Our BeWell programme provides comprehensive benefits, tools and initiatives to encourage a happy and healthy working environment.