Disaster Recovery & Scenario Testing Lead

The role of MUFG Technology Resilience is to ensure that critical business services’ underlying processes, systems and applications are resilient and can, where possible, continue to be provided to service users even in the event of disruption.

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

We are seeking an experienced Disaster Recovery and Scenario Testing Manager with a strong focus on ensuring resilience in line with regulation including Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and Operational Resilience (SS1‑21). This role is critical to strengthening our organisation’s operational resilience by ensuring Disaster Recovery and Scenario Testing Events are systematically managed and risks highlighted and mitigated with lessons learned. The successful candidate will work closely with cross‑functional teams to ensure that IT processes, controls and practices align with regulatory requirements, helping safeguard our digital platform and maintain compliance across all IT operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Disaster Recovery Strategy & Management
  • Develop, implement, and manage the company’s IT disaster recovery strategy and plans, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and regulatory standards.
  • Oversee risk assessments and business impact analyses to define critical business systems and prioritize recovery efforts.
  • Collaborate with IT, business continuity, and other relevant teams to develop comprehensive recovery procedures for all critical IT systems, applications and infrastructure.
  • Monitor and maintain disaster recovery environments, ensuring system reliability and up‑to‑date documentation of all processes and tools.
• Scenario Testing and Validation
  • Lead and manage scenario testing (e.g. tabletop exercises, simulation drills) to validate the effectiveness and readiness of disaster recovery plans and procedures.
  • Ensure that testing exercises are aligned with regulatory requirements and simulate realistic and complex operational disruptions.
  • Coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to design and execute tests that address key risks, vulnerabilities and business continuity challenges.
  • Analyse the results of scenario tests, identify gaps or weaknesses, and work with relevant teams to develop and implement corrective actions.
• Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management
  • Ensure that disaster recovery and related technology business continuity strategies are in full compliance with relevant regulations.
  • Maintain awareness of evolving regulatory guidelines, industry standards and emerging technologies to ensure continuous alignment and resilience.
  • Conduct regular audits and assessments of disaster recovery plans and testing activities to ensure compliance with both internal and external requirements.
• Collaboration & Stakeholder Management
  • Serve as the primary point of contact for disaster recovery planning, incident response and scenario testing across the organisation.
  • Provide guidance and training to key stakeholders on disaster recovery practices, scenario testing and related regulations.
  • Work closely with senior leadership to report on disaster recovery status, test results and areas of improvement.
• Continuous Improvement & Documentation
  • Continually evaluate and improve disaster recovery processes, ensuring they reflect best practices, technological advancements and lessons learned from past incidents or tests.
  • Maintain detailed records of disaster recovery plans, scenario testing, results and compliance assessments.
  • Stay up‑to‑date with new disaster recovery technologies, tools and methodologies that can enhance recovery efforts and testing efficiency.
  • Supporting ad‑hoc out of hours work related to service continuity activities e.g. DR tests, power downs etc.

Work Experience

• Capability to develop and run Scenario Testing in line with regulatory expectations.
• Experience of working in a financial regulated environment.
• Sufficient depth of knowledge of technical infrastructure to be able to interpret and provide feedback to technology domain SME’s.
• Experience and understanding of the principles of what different types of technology do and how they work with each other, such as, but not limited to, networking, virtual servers, data replication, databases and backup technology.
• Ability to make quick and rational decisions (up to authorised level) during DR testing.
• Ability to propose remedial/mitigation options for any issues/risk that enables management decisions.

Skills And Experience

• Functional / Technical Competencies
  • Deep understanding of Business Continuity and Technology Domains.
  • IT project management skills and experience (ideally PRINCE2).
  • ITIL Foundation (or above) preferred.
  • Experience of working with Legal, Compliance and Risk functions and senior stakeholders.
  • Able to demonstrate a broad technical understanding of the infrastructure stack (e.g. networking, voice, storage, virtualization, compute platforms [server and desktop], operating systems, data centre management, capacity planning, event management etc.).
  • Excellent written and verbal skills, and must be able to document and articulate to others any key issues.
  • Able to lead and constructively participate in whiteboard type design and review sessions.
  • Able to rapidly evaluate and understand new products within the department’s scope.
  • A team player, approachable and flexible but also able to work independently.
  • Drive the building of a service excellence culture, always putting the customer, our people and our business at the center of everything undertaken.
  • Experience of ITSM Toolsets including ServiceNow.

Education / Qualifications

• Degree educated (preferably Computer Science or similar and/or similar work experience).
• Business Continuity qualifications.

Personal Requirements

• Excellent communication skills.
• Results driven, with a strong sense of accountability.
• A proactive, motivated approach.
• The ability to operate with urgency and prioritise work accordingly.
• Strong decision‑making skills, the ability to demonstrate sound judgement.
• A structured and logical approach to work.
• Strong problem‑solving skills.
• A creative and innovative approach to work.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• The ability to manage large workloads and tight deadlines.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• A calm approach, with the ability to perform well in a pressurised environment.
• Strong numerical skills.
• Excellent Microsoft Office skills.
• A confident approach, with the ability to provide clear direction to your team.
• Excellent managerial/leadership experience.
• The ability to lead high performing team.
• A strategic approach, with the ability to lead and motivate your team.

We are open to considering flexible working requests in line with organisational requirements. MUFG is committed to embracing diversity and building an inclusive culture where all employees are valued, respected and their opinions count. We support the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in recruitment and employment, and oppose all forms of discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender reassignment, religion or belief and marriage or civil partnership. We make our recruitment decisions in a non‑discriminatory manner in accordance with our commitment to identifying the right skills for the right role and our obligations under the law.