Department: Mobile for Development
Team: MEL
Location: New Delhi (hybrid working)
Position type: Fixed Term Contract until July 2027
What the hiring manager says
“We’re seeking a motivated, impact-driven individual to support monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) across M4D and dive deep into programme-level work with the Digital Inclusion team as a part of M4D’s central MEL team. You’ll help to shape M4D’s impact strategy, develop and apply diverse MEL tools and methodologies, and champion our impact internally and externally.”
Ruth Orbach, MEL Director
About the Team
The Mobile for Development (M4D) team drives innovation in digital technology to reduce inequalities in our world. Singularly positioned at the intersection of the mobile ecosystem and the development sector, we stimulate digital innovation to deliver both sustainable business and large-scale socio-economic impact for the underserved.
Our unique research and insights platform advances digital innovations and implementations that empower underserved populations to build a better future. Our in-market expertise informs partnerships between the mobile industry, tech innovators, governments and the development sector. And our unparalleled convening power motivates conversations and inspires action.
To date, we have reached more than 260 million people.
The central MEL team supports M4D with consistent, meaningful and exciting M&E methodologies and results. Our approach to measuring impact centres on pragmatic and action-orientated MEL to ensure that every initiative we undertake contributes to meaningful and measurable impact. We use rigorous yet pragmatic methodologies to assess our impact and generate evidence that strengthens our programming and guides decision-making. This approach helps us understand and amplify our impact, continuously adapt and refine our programmes for greater relevance and effectiveness and share actionable insights that contribute to real-world change.
We measure impact across three key areas:
Climate: Supporting mobile-enabled solutions that enhance resilience and adaptation to climate change
Gender: Addressing the mobile gender gap and empowering women by increasing access to digital technology and mobile internet
Scale and sustainable innovation: Catalysing investment through innovation funds to de-risk digital innovation for impact
To ensure meaningful impact at the community level, we track changes in mobile internet access and usage, improvements in livelihoods, and enhanced climate resilience.
About the Role
The MEL Manager will play a central role in shaping how we understand, measure, and amplify the impact of digital solutions for underserved communities. In this dynamic role, the MEL Manager will lead the MEL strategy for our Digital Inclusion programme and contribute to M4D’s broader MEL vision. Working closely with the Director of MEL, this role will help drive cross-programme learning, ensuring our evidence and insights inform decision-making and programme design at all levels.
The MEL Manager will collaborate with the Digital Inclusion team to strengthen existing MEL efforts, design innovative approaches to measuring impact, and deliver high-quality evidence that drives results. From overseeing impact assessments and outcome mapping to shaping our learning agenda and extracting actionable insights, this role will be instrumental in enhancing how we demonstrate and grow our impact.
The Manager will work closely with the Digital Inclusion programme team to support existing MEL activities, and to take these to a new level, ensuring the robust evidence and learning. The Manager will also oversee key MEL initiatives, including impact assessments, learning agenda development, outcome mapping, and insights, contributing to M4D’s overall impact and learning goals.
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 technology, and bring many of the following:
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.
An understanding of the mobile industry and the international development sector, including a genuine interest in the commercial and social benefits presented by the adoption of 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 (e.g. French) 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.
Contract type
Fixed Term Contract (Fixed Term)Worker type
EmployeeWorking 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.