Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Manager

Position: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Manager

Duration: 9-12 Months Right to hire (Full-time) 

Location: Topeka, KS 

Direct client: Immediate interview 

We are seeking a Professional for a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) role Mid-Senior level BCP experience with exposure to financial service institutions (ideal is annuity company, preferable is insurance, acceptable would be securities firm, bank or other financial service entity) Focus is on BCP (the business reaction and execution in a crisis) but someone with technical DR experience (in terms of testing the technology recovery etc) A candidate with strong Business Continuity experience that could step in and drive a series of our plans to closure. A candidate who could review and critique the existing plans and help analyze the overall DR/BCP approach would be of great value   

Open to candidates seeking a long term contract, contract to hire, or Full Time employment    

Seeking a Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Manager for a growing, well established organization!

• The Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Manager is responsible for the hands on management of the Business Resiliency program. This position requires a proven subject matter expert with demonstrated competency in the planning, development, program execution, maintenance and testing of Enterprise Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Crisis/Incident Management programs. 

• Additional responsibilities include risk, controls and compliance management, supporting BC/DR audit and examination activities, and development & maintenance of policies, standards & procedures that are aligned with the best practices (NIST, FFIEC BCP handbook). Familiarity with fundamental IT concepts, infrastructure & data center technologies is required. This position will require communication and coordination across the organization – the Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Manager must demonstrate strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

Job Requirements

Role and Responsibilities for the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Manager.

Management (25%)

• Perform all departmental administrative activities, including staff meetings, attendance, monthly status reporting, budgeting, strategic planning, expense processing, documentation, and other activities, as assigned, in a timely manner.

Business Continuity Planning (25%)

• Overall - ensure that plans are properly rated for all business process areas, contain all required sections, and reflect current conditions. Ensure that plans and strategies are appropriate, cohesive and viable, and could be used to recover key functions within required time frames.

• Conduct BIA for assigned Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and Shared Service Units (SSUs).

• Train Senior Business Continuity Analyst in the correct implementation of BC & DR processes, standards and impart training to ensure recoverability of business processes and supporting services across SBUs and SSUs.

• Support review and maintenance of business continuity policy, standards and processes.

• Support internal reporting and tracking of business continuity related issues and remediation activities.

• Support assigned oversight areas with the creation, maintenance and testing of their various business continuity plans.

• Support the identification of Business Continuity related risks (internal / external), the assessment of their likelihood, as well as potential impacts and risk mitigation plans.

• Proactively identify and implement BCP program and process improvements.

• Provide ongoing SME guidance and assistance to SBUs and SSUs on business continuity matters.

Disaster Recovery Planning (45%)

Overall -- ensure that IT DR applications have a fully documented, tested, executable plans that contain all the

• Required information, reflect current conditions from an IT infrastructure recovery standpoint, and able to support the recovery objectives of the organization.

• Design, coordinate and execute BCP/DR annual test exercises for critical business processes, and produce test reports including lessons learned. Coordinate follow up on lessons as required.

• Partner with infrastructure and application areas to develop and maintain recovery procedures for Tier 1 business applications.

• Develop recovery priorities, time lines, and strategy for proper sequence of recovery components.

• Educate and train IT members in practices of technology risk disaster recovery planning.

• Review existing and proposed plans for recoverability effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.

• Provide guidance to management in self-assessing their control environment.

• Assist Crisis Management / Incident Management teams during service disruption events, and contribute to process improvement initiatives.

• Develop, review and maintain third party contracts for hardware and telecom services for Disaster Recovery hardware equipment and location resources.

Qualifications and Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration or related field. 

• Minimum of 8 years of hands on Business Continuity and/or IT Disaster Recovery experience, with at least 4 years in a management role.

• Relevant Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Risk or Audit certifications preferred. (One or more certifications MBCP, CBCP, ABCP, CRISC, CISA).

• Experience in 4 or more of the following BCP framework components: 

• Business Resumption Planning,

• Crisis Management Planning,

• Incident Response Planning,

• Disaster Recovery Planning,

• Plan Exercising/Testing,

• Conducting BIAs,

• Experience in performing BC Audits or Experience in managing and coordinating the response to a major, unplanned disruptive event that required activation of the BC/DR/Incident or Crisis Management Plans.

• Financial Services/Banking industry experience required

Preferred Skills

• Ability to understand and apply DR concepts to both mainframe and distributed environments

• Knowledge and experience in performing assessments aligned with the best practices

• Knowledge of the DRII/BCI BCDR frameworks

• Ability to work independently, effectively manage competing demands and priorities 

• Familiarity with Governance, Risk and Compliance as it applies to BCDR planning

• Ability to interact with a variety of internal and external people in a professional manner that creates confidence in his/her knowledge and abilities and helps foster mutually satisfactory resolution to control gaps and issues

• Demonstrate the ability to think strategically and drive tactical execution

• Very good analytical and problem solving skills

• Highly polished public presentation and communication skills required to present to Sr. Management

• Strong documentation skills, including the ability to create detailed and well organized summaries of risk assessment findings that can be easily understood by stakeholders

• Ability to work effectively as a member of a cross-functional team

• Proven leadership skills and a track record of team building; ability to recruit/ hire top talent and inspire others

• Ability to build positive relationships across multiple stakeholders, senior leadership team, and department heads, etc.

• Communicates with positive impact: excellent leadership, business partnership, negotiation, etc.

• Clear and agile thinking and analysis that leads to win-win innovative solutions while delivering on-time and on budget

• Executive-level written and verbal communication skills, interpersonal and collaborative skills, and the ability to communicate BCP/DR related concepts to technical and nontechnical audiences

• Poise and ability to act calmly and competently in high-pressure, high-stress situations.

• Exhibit excellent analytical skills, the ability to manage multiple projects under strict timelines, as well as the ability to work well in a demanding, dynamic environment and meet overall objectives.

• Possess a good understanding of appropriate leading-edge technologies.

• Must be a critical thinker, with strong problem-solving skills