Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Program Consultant - 1590

Duration: 6 months (Possible extension or conversion to FTE)

Location: Downtown Toronto (Preferred); Alternate Locations: Montreal or Waterloo

Work Arrangement: Hybrid - 2 days per week in office (subject to change)

This is a Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Program Consultant position within the Enterprise Continuity Management team, reporting to the Director of Enterprise Continuity Management. Enterprise Continuity has global governance and oversight of the Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery management programs, in support of the organization’s Operational Resilience framework.

What will you do?

• Act as a second line risk subject matter expert in Business Continuity Management, Disaster Recovery Management, and Operational Resilience.
• Utilizing Risk Management three lines of defence model, conduct second line quality assurance review and challenge of each business areas' completion of Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Operational Resilience documentation including but not limited to Technology teams related BC plans, Business impact assessments, Enterprise Disaster recovery plans, Technology/application recovery plans and the respective testing results and exercising of those plans, solutions, and test/exercise results
• Based on quality assessments develop and communicate recommendations for improvement to our first line Business partners
• Ensure recovery strategies and operationally resilient recovery and resolution plans that support the business are maintained, viable, and capable of ensuring recoverability and service continuity
• Work with business groups to ensure that cross-functional dependencies have been addressed in all plans including internal and external requirements
• Support the development and improvement of Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Operational Resilience operating procedures, guidelines, and templates that support the Business Continuity Policy, Enterprise Operating Guideline, and Operational Resilience Framework, while adhering to regulatory expectations and industry best practices
• Collaborate with the Disaster Recovery Team, Crisis Management, Business Continuity teams, and operational resilience stakeholders to ensure streamlined processes and information exist across all continuity and resilience initiatives
• Support Business Continuity and operational resilience scenario testing to ensure the business can withstand and recover from operational disruptions within the defined impact tolerances and recovery time objectives for critical business operations and functions
• Monitor compliance with Disaster Recovery and Operational Resilience regulatory requirements and provide reporting to management and regulatory bodies
• Provide governance and oversight of Technology related third party Exit and Contingency Plans within business groups/units to ensure policy compliance and appropriate evidence is delivered
• Utilize Risk Management three lines of defence model to complete second line review and challenge of first line supplier responses to annual Business Continuity Questionnaires and assess critical and significant Technology related suppliers to ensure state of readiness
• Manage and report Policy Non-Compliances related to Business Continuity Policy third party requirements
• Work with Risk Officers, Business Continuity Contacts, and Relationship Managers in conducting reviews, training, reporting, and Business Continuity Due Diligence activities
• Track business unit deliverables to ensure timely completion and thoroughness, and work with business groups/units and reporting teams to ensure accurate reporting
• Support risk dashboards and provide key performance indicator (KPI) and key risk indicator (KRI) reporting to policy contacts on key initiatives, risks to the program including gaps, and ensure compliance to the internal policy and regulatory requirements
• Establish self as a Fusion Risk Management Business Continuity and Operational Resilience Management expert and support the Enterprise Continuity Management team and business areas in the development and enhancement of Fusion RM (force.com) tool, the Business Continuity and Operational Resilience software platform
• Collaborate with First Line Disaster Recovery Team to embed the requirements of the policy into their operational directives. Collaborate with them to develop new policy requirements in alignment to industry guidelines
• Develop and conduct training for BIA, BC Plan, BC Test, and Risk Assessment to enhance business knowledge and understanding of how to complete each component of the Business Continuity and Risk Assessment Program
• One on One Training on the BCM Tools and/or BCM activities
• Produce quarterly KPI and Compliance reports

Must have Skills

1. Business Continuity and/or Disaster Recovery Designation
2. 3+ experience in Business Continuity/Crisis Management/Disaster Recovery program management
3. Experience in Operational Resilience governance and risk management.
4. Several years' experience in the management, development and execution of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity testing and exercising
5. 2+ years' experience with financial institutions and/or insurance industries
6. Experience on the Fusion RM Platform

Soft Skills

• Strong Presentation, Communication (both written and oral), Negotiation and conflict management
• Strong Analytical and Reporting skills, Process Management skills, Technical competencies
• Strong interpersonal customer/client focus skills
• Familiarity with industry best practices in Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Operational Resilience
• Skilled at working collaboratively in a team environment
• Demonstrated problem-solving abilities with crisp problem identification, cross-team coordination, remediation action development and resolution impact validation

Preferred Qualifications

1. 5+ years' experience with life insurance company
2. 2+ years of management experience
3. Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Management Information Systems or related field; or 5-10 years equivalent IT Experience
4. Experienced with making presentations to large groups
5. Experience with Quality Assurance
6. Large scale data centre recovery and test execution experience across multiple technology sets
7. Experience working with risk management frameworks and three lines of defence model
8. In depth understanding and experience with Disaster recovery in hybrid on-prem and cloud-based environments

Education: University Degree

Certifications: Must have PMP/PMI Certification or equivalent

Interview Process

· 1 interview - Virtual