The IT DR Manager is accountable for defining, implementing,testingandmaintainingthe organisation’s IT Disaster Recovery (DR) across a regulated, global insurance environment.

The role ensures that critical infrastructure, platforms, and applications are recoverable in line with agreed recoveryobjectives, regulatory expectations, and operational resilience requirements.

Working closely with infrastructure service managers, security,technologyrisk, compliance, and third‑party vendors, the IT DR Manager provides governance, oversight, and assurance that DR strategies, plans, testing, and documentation remain effective, current, and auditable.

The role is heavily vendor‑dependent, with responsibility for ensuring outsourced providers deliver DR services in line with contractual and regulatory obligations.

Finally,Howden has developed new Technology resilience frameworks, DRmethods, technical recovery standards and implemented a recovery tool.The successful candidate will work closely with technology risk, on-net entities,infrastructureand applications tooperationalisethem.

Key Responsibilities:

DR Strategy & Framework

• Ensure thatHowden Group Services(HGS)ITDRcapabilitycomply withtherecovery elements of the Group Technology Operational andResilienceFrameworks

• Input intoFramework updates and improvements.

• Define end to end recoveryobjectivesfor infrastructureand technology services based that supportbusiness facing servicesRTO’s and RPO’s

• Ensurethatbusiness facing services owners (entity,Groupinfrastructureand applications) are aware of their responsibilities andfollow the recovery elements of Group Technology Resilienceframework and supporting guidance

DR Service Management & Vendor Oversight

• Provide governance and oversight of outsourced vendors delivering DR capabilities, including backup, recovery, replication, and failover services.

• Ensurethird partyDR solutions are designed, configured, andmaintainedto meet agreed resilience targets.

• Review vendor deliverables including DR plans, technical designs, test results, and remediation actions.

• Monitor service performance, risks, and compliance against SLAs, KPIs, and contractual requirements.

Recovery capability development and maintenance

• Ensure that new servicesthat require DRrecovery solutionscan meettheirendtoendRTO and RPO

• SupportM&Aactivities to ensure migrated applicationshave the correct level of DR capability andare on-boardedeffectivelyinto the widergroup recovery end to end technical recovery capability.

• Working withdivisions/entities,HGS applications and entitiesdeveloptheendtoendrecovery sequences forOn-net hosted services. Ensure that these sequences aremaintainedeffectivelyin the Howden ITDR tool

• Ensuresupporting recovery documentation(e.g. technical work instructions)ismaintainedeffectively forinfrastructure and technology servicesand loaded into the recovery tool.

• Coordinateand track the update of entity andHGS applicationsDR documentation and their upload into the recovery tools.

• Ensure that DR technicalend to end recoverycapabilities aremaintainedas the production environments change.

• Maintain inventories of recoverable systems, dependencies, recovery tiers, and criticality classifications.This will involve ensure that these are effectively flagged within the CMDB.

DR Testing & Assurance

• Plan, coordinate, and oversee regular DR testing exercises, including technical recovery tests,scenario‑basedexercises, and resilience simulations.

• Validate test results against recoveryobjectivesand track remediation actions to closure.

• Provide assurance reporting to the Head of Service and Compliance and relevant governance forums.

Risk, Compliance & Audit

• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements relating to operational resilience, outsourcing, and technology risk (e.g. FCA/PRA or equivalent global regulators).

• Support internal and external audits, regulatory reviews, and assurance activities.

• Identify, assess, and reportDR‑relatedrisks and control gaps, ensuring mitigation plans are in place.

Stakeholder Engagement & Reporting

• Act as the primary point of contact for IT DR across Infrastructure & Operations, Entities/Division, Enterpriseapplicationsand Business Systems

• Work closely with Infrastructure Service Managers, Architecture,Technology RiskSecurity, and Business Continuity teams.

• Produce clear, concise reporting on DR posture, test outcomes, risks, and improvement plans.

Continuous Improvement

• Drive continuous improvement of DR capabilities, tooling, testing maturity, and documentation quality.

• Identifyopportunities to enhance resilience through automation, moderncloud‑basedrecovery solutions, and improved vendor practices.

Qualifications and Experience:

Essential

• Proven experience in an IT Disaster RecoveryandTechnology Resilience, within a complex, regulated environment.

• Strong understanding of infrastructure and platform recovery across on‑prem, hybrid, and cloud environments.

• Demonstrable experience managing outsourced DR services and third‑party providers.

• Solid knowledge of DR, BCP, and operational resilience frameworks and best practices.

• Experience planning and executing DR tests and audits, including managing follow‑up actions.

• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and documentation skills.

Desirable

• Experience within insurance or financial services.

• Knowledge of regulatory expectations (e.g. FCA, PRA, EBA, or equivalent).

• ITIL, ISO 22301, or operationalresilience‑relatedcertifications.

• Familiarity withcloud‑nativeDR solutions (e.g. Azure resilience patterns).

• Experience with orchestration tools (e.g. Cutover).