Group Resilience Manager in Bury St Edmunds

Established in 1981 with a single store in the Northwest of England, the JD Group is a leading omni-channel retailer of Sports Fashion, Outdoors and Gyms with our colleagues working in stores across several retail fascias in many markets around the world. JD Sports Fashion Plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 and has been a FTSE100 publicly quoted company since 2019 and continues to grow in the UK and internationally. We want to be the leading global omnichannel retailer in the sports and outdoor industry.

Department: Profit and Asset Protection/ Finance

Reporting To: Group Head of Resilience

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract 12 months

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced Group Resilience Manager to lead the design, implementation, and embedding of our new Group Resilience Program. This is a pivotal role in shaping how we prepare for and respond to disruption across our global operations, ensuring continuity for our customers, colleagues, and stakeholders.

You will be responsible for driving resilience strategy at Group level, working across multiple Fascias and functions—including our US operations—to deliver a robust framework that meets Group requirements. This is an opportunity to influence senior leaders, build resilience culture, and deliver measurable impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive the development and delivery of JD Group’s Resilience Framework, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
• Work with JD UK and NAM Fascias to build their understanding of Resilience and begin to identify critical processes, dependencies, and potential risks through a BIA.
• Planning and facilitating resilience exercises and incident response activities for Group Crisis Management Team and Distribution Centre Incident Response Teams.
• Deliver training programmes to ensure colleagues understand their roles in planning and responding to disruption.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure continuity plans are practical and embedded in day-to-day operations.
• Contribute to other aligned capabilities e.g. Third Party Risk Management, ITDR, Risk and Controls and other improvement initiatives across the Group.
• Act as a trusted partner to key Fascia stakeholders, leveraging your expertise to drive engagement in resilience activities and compliance with Group policy.
• Produce high quality documentation including reports, training materials, and executive presentations articulating practical recommendations and strategic insights.

Skills & Experience Required

• Minimum 3 years’ experience in a resilience discipline including Operational Resilience, Crisis Management, Business Continuity or Incident Response.
• Proven implementation of Resilience Frameworks and their components including conducting BIAs, dependency mapping, and RTO/RPO identification.
• Experience of designing and delivering interactive and engaging desktop and simulation exercises to Strategic and Operational Teams.
• Proven ability to independently lead workshops, interviews and conversations with senior stakeholders.
• Self-assured to be able to confidently request, challenge and amend information as necessary.
• Knowledge of related disciplines including disaster recovery, and third-party risk management.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and proven ability of building positive relationships to effectively influence, advise, and support people throughout the organisation.
• Ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams (including IT, Infosec and Procurement) to achieve aligned goals.
• Analytical and structured thinker with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Ability to travel internationally to deliver in person workshops and exercises.
• Experience in delivering resilience programmes in a retail, distribution or consulting environment.
• Experience in Global Group operations, including US Markets.
• Relevant professional qualifications including MBCI or similar.

What We Offer

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating a workplace where every colleague is valued, respected, and empowered. We celebrate the diversity of our teams and strive to ensure that all colleagues regardless of background, identity, or lived experience can thrive and contribute meaningfully.

As a part of our successful and continually evolving company, you’ll be encouraged to embrace and uphold our strategic priorities: putting people first, at the forefront of digital innovation, staying deeply attuned to our customers, and pursuing operational excellence. We are always exploring new avenues for growth, and we welcome individuals who are passionate about making a positive impact every day.

We know our employees work tirelessly to make JD Sports the success it is today and in turn, we offer them some amazing benefits:

• Staff Discount on qualifying purchases across Group retail stores and online.
• Discounted Gym membership.
• Personal development opportunities to learn and develop at work.
• Access to Apprenticeships and accredited qualifications.