Starlink hiring African telecoms expert and lawyer — with salaries from R2 million – MyBroadband

Elon Musk’s private space company, SpaceX, is currently advertising two jobs for a policy expert and lawyer who must have knowledge of Africa’s telecommunications business, regulations, and legislation.

While Starlink is now available across nearly all of North America, South America, Europe, and Oceania, many African and Asian countries are yet to see the fast and uncapped service launch in their territories.

As of 15 August 2024, it had only officially launched services in 10 of the 54 UN-recognised African countries.

In several of the countries in Africa — including Botswana, Ghana, and Zimbabwe — launch delays have been linked to run-ins with local governments and their telecommunications regulators.

In South Africa, the company has not yet applied for any of the licences it requires to operate legally.

That is largely believed to be down to the Electronic Communications Act requiring telecoms companies to be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups.

In addition, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has gazetted a new regulation that will effectively change this requirement to 30% black-owned.

That regulation has been suspended until an undetermined future date, leaving uncertainty among Internet service providers and the general broadband industry.

Starlink could partner with a local company with the requisite licences to launch legally. However, industry rumours suggest that the regulatory uncertainty has caused SpaceX to deprioritise its launch in South Africa.

While its specific intention in South Africa remains unclear, Starlink seems to be gearing up to address some of the continent’s holdups, including bringing in a Global Satellite Policy Advisor on Africa.

The successful candidate will need to advise the Starlink team on the laws, regulations, and policies that impact its business in Africa.

They will also need to develop and advocate for broadband and spectrum policies to further SpaceX’s business objectives and Starlink’s success.

Furthermore, the candidate will represent and promote the company’s positions before African agencies, regulators, legislatures and regional organisations.

Other tasks include:

• Drafting pleadings, letters, and other advocacy pieces to promote SpaceX’s policy positions.
• Researching and advising the Starlink team regarding other relevant legal issues.
• Advocating to optimise prospective satellite and telecoms regulatory frameworks and policy environments in alignment with SpaceX business objectives.
• Providing strategic regulatory advice and advocacy support to business development efforts, which may include opportunities for regional/national partnerships and global satellite expansion plans.

This position requires a Bachelor’s degree and over three years of experience with African governmental agencies and policies.

The job is based in Washington, DC, but the candidate must be willing to travel 40% of the time, likely spending a lot of time in the African countries where Starlink wishes to launch.

The pay range for this position is $110,000 to $145,000 per year, working out to between R1.98 million and R2.61 million at current exchange rates.

To the letter of the law

Starlink is also seeking a legal expert to serve as its Telecommunications Counsel for Africa, helping the company understand and navigate applicable laws and regulations on the continent.

The position will require the successful candidate to advise Starlink on laws, regulations, and policies that impact business in markets throughout Africa, particularly pertaining to telecommunications and Internet services.

The lawyer must be able to analyse legal and regulatory risks and communicate them to the business and

Applying for this job requires a professional lawyer’s degree from an accredited law school with active bar membership in at least one country and five years of professional experience in the telecoms industry related to broadband and satellite services.

The annual pay range for this position starts at $190,000 (R3.42 million) and goes up to $230,000 (R4.14 million).

The position is based in Washington D.C. and requires the candidate to work on site, with no option for remote or hybrid work.

They must also be available to work extended hours and weekends, as needed.

Other skills and experience that will benefit the candidate include fluency in French, Portuguese, or Arabic, which are commonly spoken in Africa.

Account manager for enterprise resellers

Starlink is also advertising an account manager position to oversee its Middle East and Africa (MEA) enterprise resellers.

This position is based in Redmond, Washington, and requires the candidate to be the primary point of contact for a portfolio of assigned enterprise customers.

That includes onboarding, ongoing account management, long-term retention, and growth of customer relationships and revenue.

The company explained that it had signed contracts with enterprise customers who will deploy high-speed Internet at a pace and for use cases previously impossible.

“The team has designed the product to be self-service, and we need to similarly evolve our team and systems to enable large enterprises to manage Starlink themselves, minimising humans-in-the-loop,” SpaceX explained.

“Our ideal candidate is a self-starter who has a passion for making customers deliriously happy, building excellent teams, and managing complex cross-functional projects.”

The role requires a Bachelor’s degree in engineering or business or a high school diploma or certificate, and more than six years of professional business development, operations, engineering, or account management experience.

In addition, the following experience is necessary:

• Three years or more of consulting or project management
• Three years or more working with customers to support a technical product/service
• One year or more working with resellers or commercial customers doing business in MEA