Skills and Workforce Transformation Specialist

Department: Strategy

Team: GSMA Intelligence

Location: London (hybrid working)

Position type: Contract until December 2026

What the hiring manager says

Telecoms is at a turning point. AI and automation are not just changing networks and services they are fundamentally reshaping the skills required to run a modern operator.

Weve seen major transitions before from LTE to software-defined networks to the rise of the tech co model but this next shift is broader and faster-moving. At the same time operators are competing for talent with Big Tech and digital-native companies often without a clear shared understanding of what skills they actually need.

This project is about closing that gap.

Its not a theoretical exercise. This is about giving the industry a practical evidence-based foundation to make better decisions about people skills and capability investment at a time of significant disruption.

Were looking for someone who wants to help shape a landmark piece of industry insight: building the baseline defining the framework and helping tell the story of how telecoms workforce transformation unfolds in the AI era.

If you want to work at the intersection of strategy technology and people and contribute to something that will be used at board level across the global telecom industry this is a rare opportunity to do exactly that.Tim Hatt Head of Research and Consulting

About the Team

GSMA Intelligence is the definitive source of mobile industry data insights forecasts and research used globally. Our data products cover every mobile operator network and MVNO worldwide.

Beyond our industry data insights and consulting portfolio GSMA Intelligence is also the home of skills and training. So while this role is assigned to support the specific project on telco skills transformation there may be longer term opportunities as part of our wider delivery.

About the Role

We are seeking a specialist contractor to support a flagship industry research project examining how telecom operators must evolve their workforce capabilities in response to AI automation and broader changes across the demographic and competitive landscape.

The telecoms sector is undergoing a structural shift from connectivity providers to technology-led organisations. This project aims to build a clear data-driven view of what that means for skills roles and organisational design over the next 25 years. You will play a central role in shaping and delivering a global research initiative led by GSMA Intelligence in collaboration with the GSMA Board and industry partners.

Core responsibilities

• Support the design and execution of a mixed-methods research programme (quantitative qualitative)
• Contribute to survey design benchmarking frameworks and interview guides
• Analyse workforce and skills data across telecom operators and comparator tech sectors
• Synthesize findings into clear structured insights for senior industry stakeholders
• Help develop skills taxonomy and segmentation frameworks relevant to telco transformation
• Contribute to interim and final outputs including board-level presentations and a flagship report
• Support workshop design and facilitation with global telecom operators

What success looks like

• A robust credible benchmark of telco workforce skills is established and clearly articulated
• Skills gaps and future capability needs are quantified and well-evidenced
• Insights are clearly translated into actionable recommendations for operators
• Senior stakeholders (including GSMA staff senior management and Board members) find the outputs practical relevant and actionable for their own internal planning and decision making
• The final report is recognised as a leading reference point for telco workforce transformation in the AI era

About You

You are someone who is energised by understanding how industries change and how people and skills must evolve with them. You dont need to come from telecoms specifically but you will be comfortable working with complex fast-moving environments where technology strategy and workforce dynamics intersect. Youll be successful in this role if you enjoy turning messy or incomplete data into structured insight and if you can work with senior stakeholders to shape thinking on what comes next for organisations and their people.

Youll likely thrive here if you:

• Enjoy making sense of workforce organisational or capability-related questions in large complex industries
• Are comfortable engaging with senior stakeholders and translating technical or analytical findings into clear accessible narratives
• Can move between detail (data frameworks analysis) and big-picture storytelling (strategy implications foresight)
• Are motivated by work that has real-world impact at industry level rather than within a single organisation
• See this as an opportunity to deepen your expertise in workforce transformation telecoms and future-of-work strategy

This role will also give you exposure to global operators leading industry voices and cross-sector comparisons offering a strong platform to…