Location: London, UK (with international travel as required)
Position type: Permanent
What the hiring manager says
The Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) is a key member of the GSMA Leadership Team, responsible for setting the strategic vision and direction of the GSMA. The CSO leads global strategic planning, industry foresight, innovation initiatives, and thought leadership to ensure the GSMA and its members remain at the forefront of a rapidly evolving digital landscape. This role works closely with the strategy leaders from our members, internal teams, GSMA members, and external partners to drive long-term impact across the mobile ecosystem.
Vivek Badrinath, GSMA Director General
About the GSMA
The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive.
Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach.
This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today’s biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world’s largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.
About the role

Strategic Planning & Industry Leadership

• Develop and execute the GSMA’s global strategic plan in alignment with Board objectives and industry trends.
• Lead horizon scanning, scenario planning, and market intelligence to anticipate shifts in technology, regulation, and consumer behaviour.
• Guide strategic priorities across emerging areas including 5G/6G, AI, sustainability, climate action, and digital inclusion.

GSMA Strategy Group & Industry Engagement

• Chair and coordinate the GSMA Strategy Group (a Board advisory body of CSOs from member organisations), working with the Strategy Group Chair to deliver compelling insights and recommendations to the GSMA Board.
• Engage C-level executives across the industry to identify opportunities, risks, and actions in areas such as regulation, network infrastructure, adjacent verticals, and economic models.

Innovation & Growth Initiatives

• Identify and champion new initiatives and partnerships that create value for members and advance the mobile industry.
• Drive programme scoping and strategic direction for key GSMA efforts (e.g., Open Gateway, Digital Inclusion, Climate Initiatives), ensuring measurable outcomes.

Corporate Strategy & Organisational Alignment

• Deliver internal corporate strategy consulting for major GSMA programmes to ensure alignment with Board priorities and strategic objectives.
• Develop a strategic roadmap, monitor progress, and advise the Director General and Leadership Team during business planning cycles.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate strategy into operations.

GSMA Intelligence (GSMAi)

• Oversee the GSMA Intelligence team, fostering continuous innovation to enhance its role as the mobile industry’s “intelligence powerhouse.”
• Embed GSMAi insights into all GSMA initiatives and promote its platform to members and ecosystem stakeholders in partnership with sales and leadership teams.

About You

• Visionary and forward-thinking with a passion for innovation.
• Strong collaborator and influencer with high emotional intelligence.
• Resilient and adaptable in a fast-changing global environment.
• Purpose-driven, aligned with GSMA’s commitment to advancing connectivity and inclusion worldwide.
• Proven experience in a senior strategic leadership role, ideally within telecoms or technology.
• Deep understanding of the mobile ecosystem and key trends shaping its future.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing large-scale strategies with measurable impact.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and scenario planning capabilities.
• Experience engaging with C-level executives, boards, and international stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking and thought leadership.

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
talent@gsma.com
with your request.
Contract type
Regular
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 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.

Please refer the Job description for details