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IT Disaster Recovery Manager
Business Intelligence & Analytics Modelling Manager
Who We Are
Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance, united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our collaborative international team of 24,000 employees across 56 countries.
People join Howden for many reasons – but they stay for one reason: our unique culture. It’s what sets us apart, and it’s why our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. What matters to you – work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.
Role Overview
The IT Disaster Recovery (DR) Manager is accountable for defining, implementing, testing, and maintaining Howden Group Services’ (HGS) IT Disaster Recovery (DR) within a regulated, global insurance environment. This vital role ensures that critical infrastructure, platforms, and applications are recoverable in line with:
- Agreed recovery objectives (RTOs & RPOs)
- Regulatory expectations
- Operational resilience requirements
Working closely with infrastructure service managers, security, technology risk, compliance, and third-party vendors, the IT DR Manager provides:
- Governance & oversight
- Assurance that DR strategies, plans, testing, and documentation remain effective, current, and auditable
The role is highly vendor-dependent, requiring the IT DR Manager to ensure outsourced providers deliver DR services in perfect alignment with contractual and regulatory obligations.
Additionally, Howden has developed new Technology Resilience Frameworks, DR methods, recovery standards, and a recovery tool. The successful IT DR Manager will collaborate with technology risk, on-net entities, infrastructure, and applications to operationalise these frameworks.
Key Responsibilities
2.1. DR Strategy & Framework
- Ensure Howden Group Services (HGS) IT DR capability aligns with the recovery elements of Group Technology Operational and Resilience Frameworks.
- Contribute to framework updates and improvements.
- Define end-to-end recovery objectives for infrastructure and technology services supporting business-facing services with approved:
- Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)
- Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs)
- Ensure business-facing service owners (including entities, group infrastructure, and applications) are:
- Aware of their DR responsibilities
- Following the Group Technology Resilience Framework and supporting guidance
2.2. DR Service Management & Vendor Oversight
- Provide governance and oversight of outsourced vendors delivering DR capabilities (backup, recovery, replication, failover services).
- Ensure third-party DR solutions meet resilience targets with:
- Proper design and configuration
- Safe and secure maintenance
- Review vendor deliverables including:
- DR plans
- Technical designs
- Test results
- Remediation actions
- Monitor:
- Service performance
- DR-related risks
- Compliance against SLAs, KPIs, and contractual requirements
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2.3. Recovery Capability Development & Maintenance
- Ensure new services requiring DR recovery solutions meet RTO and RPO targets.
- Support M&A activities for migrated applications to:
- Guarantee correct DR capability
- Achieve effective onboarding into the group’s end-to-end technical recovery ecosystem
- Work with divisions/entities, HGS applications, and IT entities to:
- Develop complete recovery sequences for on-net hosted services
- Ensure sequences are maintained effectively in the Howden IT DR tool
- Maintain supporting recovery documentation (e.g., technical work instructions) for:
- Infrastructure and technology services
- Uploading to recovery tools
- Coordinate the update of DR documentation (entities and HGS applications) and tool uploads.
- Keep DR technical recovery capabilities updated alongside changing production environments.
- Maintain inventories of:
- Recoverable systems
- Dependencies
- Recovery tiers
- Criticality classifications (flagged in CMDB)
2.4. DR Testing & Assurance
- Plan, coordinate, and oversee regular DR testing exercises, including:
- Technical recovery tests
- Scenario-based exercises
- Resilience simulations
- Validate test results against recovery objectives and:
- Track remediation actions to completion
- Provide assurance reports to the Head of Service & Compliance and governance forums
2.5. Risk, Compliance & Audit
- Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements relating to:
- Operational resilience
- Outsourcing
- Technology risk (e.g., FCA/PRA or equivalent global regulators)
- Support internal and external audits, regulatory reviews, and assurance activities.
- Identify, assess, and report DR-related risks and control gaps, ensuring:
- Mitigation plans are implemented
2.6. Stakeholder Engagement & Reporting
Act as the primary point of contact for IT DR across:
- Infrastructure & Operations
- Entities/Division
- Enterprise applications
- Business Systems
Work closely with:
- Infrastructure Service Managers
- Architecture teams
- Technology Risk & Security
- Business Continuity
Produce clear, concise reporting on:
- DR posture
- Test outcomes
- Risks
- Improvement plans
2.7. Continuous Improvement
- Drive continuous enhancement of:
- DR capabilities
- Tooling robustness
- Testing maturity
- Documentation quality
- Identify opportunities to improve resilience through:
- Automation
- Modern, cloud-based recovery solutions
- Better vendor practices
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Qualifications & Experience
3.1. Essential Criteria
- Proven experience in IT Disaster Recovery & Technology Resilience within a complex, regulated environment.
- Strong understanding of infrastructure/platform recovery across:
- On-premises
- Hybrid environments
- Cloud environments
- Demonstrable experience managing outsourced DR services and third-party vendors.
- Solid knowledge of:
- DR frameworks (e.g., ITIL, ISO 22301)
- Operational resilience best practices
- BCP (Business Continuity Planning)
- Experience in:
- Planning and executing DR tests and audits
- Managing follow-up remediation actions
- Strong stakeholder management, communication, and documentation skills.
3.2. Desirable Criteria
- Experience in insurance or financial services.
- Knowledge of regulatory expectations (e.g., FCA, PRA, EBA).
- ITIL or ISO 22301 certifications (or operational resilience-related qualifications).
- Familiarity with cloud-native DR solutions, such as:
- Microsoft Azure Resilience patterns
- Orchestration tools like Cutover
What Do We Offer in Return?
A Career You Define
At Howden, we value diversity – there’s no single ‘Howden type’. Instead, we embrace individuals who share our values:
- We take successes by trying something new. Tasting stretched ambitions is how Howden becomes stronger collectively.
- We support each other – from the smallest daily tasks to the biggest challenges.
- We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond.
Reasonable Adjustments
We are fully committed to reasonable work adjustments to ensure all positions suit your unique needs. This includes:
- Flexible software, IT, and office setup changes.
- Flexible working hours or hybrid working solutions (where applicable – let us know if this is a concern).
If you apply for this role and have any doubts as to whether it aligns with your requirements, we encourage you to contact us – we put measures in place to help you if needed.
Not all positions can accommodate hybrid/hour adjustments. Please consult our HR teams for tailored support.
A True Global Difference
Howden began in 1994, shaped by just three people and a dog. Today, we are a global insurance group, managing $37bn in premiums across the world. However, our largest shareholder class is our people – over 23,000 employees – supported by three minority equity partners who share our vision.
Our unique owner-powered mindset is deeply embedded in our culture. Our people:
- Take clear ownership of decisions, actions, and impact.
- Are invested in the long-term success of our business.
- Drive growth in ways only a ** vastu stand-based insurance group** could.
If working together as a team to propel us forward is as inspiring to you as it is to us, you’re the kind of extraordinary difference maker we need!
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