Business Continuity Manager

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Business Continuity Manager to develop, implement, and maintain the organization’s Business Continuity (BC), Continuity of Operations (COOP), and Disaster Recovery (DR) programs.

This role will ensure organizational resilience by leading enterprise-wide continuity planning, disaster recovery strategies, risk assessments, testing, and coordinated response activities. The manager will work closely with internal teams, IT/MES partners, contractors, and multiple third-party vendors to ensure critical business functions can continue during and after disruptive events.

The Business Continuity Manager will also coordinate the transition of updated and new systems, applications, and services from development into production across a complex, multi-vendor environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development, implementation, execution, and maintenance of the organization’s Business Continuity, COOP, and Disaster Recovery programs.

• Conduct Business Impact Analyses (BIAs) to identify critical business functions, dependencies, recovery objectives, and areas of risk.

• Develop and maintain COOP plans, DR plans, crisis management protocols, recovery procedures, and DR playbooks.

• Define and maintain Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) across critical systems.

• Conduct annual and periodic DR/COOP exercises, including tabletop exercises, simulations, failover testing, and after-action reviews.

• Partner with IT, MES teams, contractors, and technology vendors to maintain DR infrastructure and recovery capabilities.

• Ensure contractor and third-party recovery plans meet applicable regulatory, industry, and internal compliance requirements.

• Establish and maintain a coordinated business continuity governance structure across departments and organizations.

• Provide training, awareness, and guidance to business units on BC, COOP, and DR best practices.

• Serve as the primary coordinator during incidents, facilitating continuity, communication, and recovery activities.

• Prepare metrics, reports, risk assessments, and continuity-readiness updates for leadership.

• Coordinate the transition of new and updated systems, applications, and services from development to production across multiple vendors.

Disaster Recovery Strategy

• Develop and continuously update disaster recovery strategies to ensure critical systems can be restored following:

  • Cyberattacks

  • Natural disasters

  • Hardware or infrastructure failures

  • Human error

  • Supplier or third-party outages

• Align disaster recovery standards, processes, and recovery objectives across multiple organizations and vendors.

• Identify vulnerabilities within current information systems and implement appropriate protection and recovery measures.

COOP Coordination Across Multiple Organizations

• Coordinate with IT teams across multiple vendors and organizations.

• Ensure participating entities follow consistent recovery policies, procedures, and standards.

• Manage different systems, vendors, contracts, technologies, and recovery requirements.

• Establish shared communication channels and escalation procedures for emergencies.

• Serve as the central point of coordination to keep all organizations synchronized during continuity and recovery activities.

• Provide organization-wide leadership for COOP implementation in accordance with regulatory guidelines.

• Ensure the Medicaid agency can continue critical operations regardless of the event or incident type.

Backup and Replication

• Ensure contractor and third-party partners perform regular backups in accordance with established requirements.

• Verify that data maintained at contractor sites is secure and available through appropriate recovery or hot-site capabilities.

• Monitor compliance with established RTO and RPO requirements across critical systems.

• Coordinate cross-company backup and replication solutions, including cloud-based replication technologies.

Disaster Recovery Testing

• Coordinate periodic disaster recovery exercises and drills to validate:

  • Recovery procedures and playbooks

  • Cross-company communication and escalation processes

  • System restoration capabilities

  • RTO/RPO compliance

• Conduct simulated cyberattack scenarios, tabletop exercises, and full or partial failover tests.

• Document test results, identify gaps, and implement corrective actions.

Compliance and Documentation

• Ensure business continuity and disaster recovery programs align with applicable standards and regulatory requirements, including:

  • SOC 2

  • HIPAA

  • ISO 27001

  • ISO 22301

  • NIST

  • Internal audit requirements

• Maintain required DR/COOP documentation, policies, procedures, plans, and evidence for audits.

• Coordinate audit activities and address identified compliance gaps.

Incident Response and Crisis Management

During an actual disruption or disaster, the Business Continuity Manager will:

• Serve as the central coordinator and communicator for recovery activities.

• Facilitate decisions and prioritize recovery efforts.

• Coordinate IT and business teams across multiple organizations and vendors.

• Assess the impact of an incident and determine appropriate recovery actions.

• Manage restoration efforts and ensure critical business functions are restored within established objectives.

• Maintain clear communication with leadership, stakeholders, vendors, and response teams.

Third-Party Vendor Management

Manage and coordinate disaster recovery requirements for third-party providers, including:

• Cloud service providers

• Data centers

• Software and application vendors

• Cybersecurity providers

• Backup and replication service providers

• Other critical technology partners

Ensure vendor SLAs, contracts, recovery plans, and service commitments support the organization's overall disaster recovery strategy.

Required Skills

• Strong understanding of IT infrastructure, including servers, networks, storage, and virtualization.

• Knowledge of cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.

• Understanding of cloud service models including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.

• Experience with backup and replication technologies such as Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, and Zerto.

• Experience with disaster recovery tools, failover technologies, and recovery solutions.

• Understanding of cybersecurity threats, incident response, and recovery requirements.

• Knowledge of business continuity and disaster recovery frameworks, including ISO 22301, NIST, and ITIL.

• Ability to define and manage RTO/RPO requirements.

• Familiarity with compliance standards such as SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI, and ISO 27001.

Preferred Skills

• Experience managing cross-vendor and multi-organization projects.

• Strong prioritization and time-management skills.

• Experience developing and maintaining DR playbooks.

• Experience leading DR drills and tabletop exercises.

• Strong risk assessment and business impact analysis skills.

• Vendor and contract management experience.

• Ability to remain calm and effective during high-pressure situations.

• Strong root-cause analysis and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to identify process, technology, and operational weaknesses.

• Experience with scenario planning and threat modeling.

• Data-driven decision-making capabilities.

• Excellent communication skills, particularly during crisis situations.

Required Experience

• 5+ years of experience in business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management, or a related field.

• Strong knowledge of COOP methodologies, DR frameworks, and industry standards, including ISO 22301, NIST, and FEMA.

• Experience conducting Business Impact Analyses, risk assessments, and continuity planning for mid-to-large organizations.

• Demonstrated ability to facilitate and lead cross-functional teams during planning, testing, and incident response.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with ServiceNow.

• Experience working in a multi-vendor or multi-organization environment.

Education

Required/Desired:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Emergency Management, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems or an IT-related field.