Department: Strategy
Team: Strategic Initiatives
Location: London (Hybrid)
Position type: Permanent, Full time
What the hiring manager says
Strategy only matters if it translates into meaningful impact.
The Head of Strategic Initiatives will ensure that GSMA does not simply observe industry shifts but actively shapes them. This role will identify, champion, and amplify high-impact priorities across the mobile ecosystem - ensuring that when GSMA selects a strategic focus area, we lead with scale, coordination, and visible impact.
This is about making GSMA the centre of gravity for selected industry priorities - leveraging our technical expertise, policy leadership, global convening power, and brand to deliver outsized impact for our members.
Hakan Dursun, Chief Strategy Officer
About the Team
The Strategy team shapes the long-term direction of the GSMA to ensure we provide maximum value to our members and the broader mobile ecosystem.
The team is responsible for:
Sector Strategy & Projects – defining the industry’s 3–5 year outlook and implications for GSMA.
Corporate Strategy & Projects – developing the 3-year strategic roadmap of GSMA, KPIs, business plan, and high-level operating plan.
Strategic Initiatives – leading/ coordinating cross-functional initiatives externally and internally (e.g., 5G monetisation, 6G, AI, Innovation, inorganic growth opportunities, AI-first GSMA etc.).
GSMA Intelligence – the only data and insights source built from inside the telecoms industry, delivering trusted forecasts, real-time insights and deep research across the global telecoms ecosystem
Strategy Group – convening telecom CSOs to align on industry-level priorities.
As a small, high-impact team, we work across functions and regions to drive clarity, alignment, and execution against long-term goals.
About the role
The Head of Strategic Initiatives is responsible for identifying, shaping, and amplifying high-impact strategic priorities for GSMA and the broader mobile ecosystem.
The role brings a top-down, ecosystem-level perspective to selected industry priorities (e.g., 5G monetisation, 6G, AI, innovation, inorganic growth opportunities, AI-first GSMA) and ensures GSMA delivers maximum value and visible leadership in those domains. This is not about taking over operational ownership. It is about:
Setting direction
Mapping the ecosystem
Identifying gaps and opportunities
Coordinating internal capabilities
Elevating impact to industry scale
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Priority Identification & Scoping
Identify and champion high-impact strategic initiatives aligned with sector and corporate strategy
Define clear ambition, scope, and outcomes for selected priority areas
Develop initiative charters and strategic roadmaps
Ecosystem Mapping & Opportunity Identification
Map the industry landscape for each priority:
Key players and competitors
Existing industry initiatives
Potential partners and collaborators
White spaces and gaps
Identify where GSMA can uniquely add value and differentiate
Cross-Functional Orchestration
Coordinate across GSMA functions (policy, technical domains, events, marketing, regional teams, GSMA Intelligence)
Ensure initiatives leverage GSMA’s full capability stack:
Technical expertise
Policy influence
Global events and convening power
Brand and communications
Align stakeholders around shared objectives and measurable outcomes
Execution Oversight & Impact Amplification
Establish governance and progress tracking mechanisms for key initiatives
Ensure initiatives move beyond concept into visible, measurable impact
Identify and resolve execution bottlenecks
Drive storytelling and positioning to reinforce GSMA’s leadership in selected domains
Ensure the “GSMA stamp” is clearly visible in priority areas
Partnership & External Engagement
Develop strategic partnerships that accelerate impact
Represent GSMA in relevant industry forums and working groups
Strengthen GSMA’s position as the industry’s coordination platform for priority domains
About You
Significant experience leading complex, cross-functional strategic initiatives
Strong understanding of the telecom and broader digital ecosystem
Demonstrated ability to orchestrate across multiple stakeholders without direct authority
Strong commercial and strategic acumen
Experience shaping large-scale programmes or ecosystem initiatives
Comfortable operating at executive level and influencing senior leaders
Pragmatic, impact-oriented, and execution-focused
Experience operating in fast-paced or high-growth environments
Results orientated problem-solver with strong resilience and adaptability
About Your Skills
Delivery - driving execution excellence by translating strategy into actionable plans, overcoming bottlenecks, and ensuring initiatives deliver measurable, high-impact outcomes
Leadership - leading with clarity and influence by setting direction, aligning diverse stakeholders, and driving teams to deliver high-impact strategic outcomes
Influence - shaping decisions and driving alignment across complex, multi-stakeholder environments by leveraging credibility, clear communication, and deep industry insight
Stakeholder Management - building strong, trust-based relationships with internal and external stakeholders, navigating diverse interests and priorities to foster collaboration, buy-in, and driving collective action toward strategic objectives
Commercial Awareness - understanding market dynamics and industry trends to identify value-creating opportunities, making informed strategic decisions, and ensuring initiatives deliver tangible business and ecosystem impact
Innovation - driving forward-thinking solutions by identifying emerging trends, exploring new opportunities, and fostering creative approaches that deliver differentiated value and industry impact
We strive to offer a meaningful and inclusive application experience for all candidates. Should you require any accommodations or adjustments due to a disability or for any other reason during the hiring process, please contact [email protected] with your request.
Contract type
RegularWorker 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.