Operational Resilience and Business Continuity Manager

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Location: Hybrid working with 5 days per fortnight in our Head Office (Leek, Staffordshire) and the remaining time remotely.

Employment type: Full-time, permanent position.

Salary: Up to £35,000 dependent on experience.

Working hours: 35 hours per week, worked flexibly.

Reports to: Head of IT, Change, and Mortgage Servicing.

Direct Reports: None

Participation in an on-call rota for high priority incidents. Occasions may arise where you are required to work outside of these hours, or travel to branch locations, to meet operational needs or respond to high priority incidents.

The Organisation

Leek Building Society is an award winning, highly admired, local mutual building society that is owned and trusted by its members. We were ranked in the top 10 of UK employers in the Inspiring Workplaces Awards 2024, and we're on a mission to become even stronger.

We're a great place to work, with an exceptional culture - in a recent staff survey, 97% of colleagues said that they were proud to work for Leek Building Society. We've been crowned as Staffordshire's Employer of the Year for 2023, and have been recognised as having the best approach to health & wellbeing in the UK in the 2023 CIPD awards. We're also a socially responsible, inclusive employer, deeply committed to ensuring that everyone is supported to perform at their best.

You'll be joining the business at a fantastic time of growth, with a transformational investment in our systems, people and processes to put our customers at the heart of everything we do.

Job Purpose & Scope

The Operational Resilience and Business Continuity Manager is responsible for supporting the Society's ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive events, ensuring compliance with regulatory expectations. This role oversees the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of operational resilience strategies and business continuity plans across the Society.

The manager collaborates with cross-functional teams to proactively identify risks, mitigate operational disruptions, and ensure the continuity of critical business functions during times of crisis. This role involves a broad range of responsibilities, including scenario testing, process mapping, and ensuring that contingency plans are up-to-date, tested, and effective.

In addition, the manager works to identify and remediate vulnerabilities, manage risk events and incidents, provide comprehensive management reporting, and support the business in managing third-party relationships. This role also entails training staff and embedding resilience strategies within the first line of defence to effectively manage risk and maintain operational stability across the Society.

Duties and Key Responsibilities

Develop and Implement Resilience Strategies:

• Support the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of operational resilience strategies and business continuity plans across the Society.

Scenario Testing and Process Mapping:

• Design and execute scenario testing exercises to assess the Society's preparedness for disruptive events.
• Supporting business process owners with process mapping activities to ensure critical business processes are identified and protected.

Contingency Planning:

• Ensure that contingency plans are maintained, regularly tested, and updated based on evolving risks and business needs.

Risk Identification and Mitigation:

• Work with cross-functional teams to identify vulnerabilities and potential risks to business operations and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Crisis Management and Incident Response:

• Support with managing risk events and incidents, coordinating response efforts to minimise operational disruption.

Regulatory Compliance:

• Ensure all operational resilience and business continuity efforts align with regulatory requirements and industry standards.
• Maintain awareness of evolving regulatory expectations and adjust plans accordingly.

Third-Party Risk Management:

• Support the business in managing third-party relationships, ensuring vendors and service providers have appropriate resilience and continuity plans in place.

Management Reporting:

• Provide regular reports to senior management on the state of operational resilience, risks, incidents, third party supplier assurance and the effectiveness of continuity plans.

Training and Awareness:

• Support with staff training to ensure they fully understand their roles and responsibilities during disruptions.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Work closely with business areas and other internal teams to integrate resilience strategies across the Society.
• Liaise with external partners, regulators, and auditors as needed.

Continuous Improvement:

• Identify areas for improvement in operational resilience practices, leveraging lessons learned from testing, incidents, and risk assessments to enhance the Society's preparedness.

Documentation and Communication:

• Ensure all documentation related to resilience and continuity, including annual self-assessment, policies, procedures, and plans, is current, accurate, and effectively communicated to relevant stakeholders.

To carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required

Person Specification

Qualifications & Knowledge

Essential

• Knowledge of all parts of the Microsoft Office suite.
• Understanding of Operational Resilience and Business Continuity activities
• Good understanding of Risk Management within a regulated business.

Experience

• Experience of managing operational risks within a regulated organisation

Skills & Abilities

• Ability to work effectively as part of a team or on own initiative
• Possess excellent time management skills and organisational expertise in order to prioritise workloads to meet deadlines

Other Requirements

• Travel to other business locations when required
• Flexibility around working hours and Saturday mornings may be required on occasions
• A Basic DBS check will be undertaken upon an offer of employment.

What benefits are on offer:

• Competitive salary rates
• 35 hour working week (full-time)
• Contributory Stakeholder Pension Scheme
• Free health screening
• Minimum of 23 days paid holiday per annum plus bank and public holidays
• Parental Schemes
• Sick Pay guaranteed for 6 months for major illnesses
• Holiday purchase/sale scheme
• Life assurance of 4 times your annual salary
• Employee assistance programme
• Continuous development opportunities
• We're open to discussing working flexibly
• Onsite gym available to employees

If the above sounds like something you'd thrive at, we'd love to hear from you