Summary of Position:
The Disaster Recovery Project Manager will lead disaster recovery (DR) initiatives across DIT, working closely with infrastructure, database, application, cybersecurity, and business teams. The Project Manager will develop and maintain DR plans, coordinate recovery testing, track remediation efforts, and report program status to DIT leadership. This role ensures the agency's technology environment is prepared to support the delivery of critical public health services during emergencies and unplanned outages.
Job Duties:
Disaster Recovery Program Management
- Plan, manage, and coordinate disaster recovery projects from initiation through completion, including scope, schedule, resources, risks, and deliverables.
- Develop, maintain, and regularly update IT disaster recovery plans, runbooks, and recovery procedures for critical systems and applications.
- Work with business and technology stakeholders to identify critical systems and define Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).
- Support Business Impact Analyses (BIA) and align DR priorities with agency business continuity and emergency preparedness plans.
- Maintain an inventory of critical applications, infrastructure, dependencies, and recovery tiers.
Testing and Readiness
- Plan, schedule, and coordinate DR tests, failover exercises, and tabletop exercises.
- Document test results, identify gaps, and track corrective actions through completion.
- Ensure lessons learned are incorporated into updated plans and procedures.
- Coordinate with cybersecurity teams to align DR planning with incident response and cyber resilience efforts.
Coordination and Communication
- Serve as the primary point of contact for DR projects across infrastructure, database, application, network, cybersecurity, and vendor teams.
- Coordinate with cloud and data center providers, vendors, and external partners on recovery capabilities and contractual requirements.
- Prepare status reports, dashboards, and executive briefings on DR readiness, risks, and progress.
- Support communication and coordination during actual outages or disaster events.
Governance and Compliance
- Ensure DR plans and practices align with City, agency, and industry standards, including NYC Cyber Command requirements, NIST, and HIPAA, as applicable.
- Support internal and external audits related to disaster recovery and business continuity and track corrective action plans.
- Develop and maintain DR documentation, standards, and project management artifacts.
- Recommend process improvements and technologies to strengthen recovery capabilities and reduce risk.
Qualifications and Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, Public Administration, or a related field.
- Five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in IT project management, including at least three (3) years managing disaster recovery, business continuity, or infrastructure projects.
Preferred Qualifications
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
- Disaster recovery or business continuity certification, such as DRII Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), or equivalent.
- Experience with DR planning for on-premises data centers and cloud environments (AWS, Azure).
- Familiarity with backup and replication technologies, virtualization, and database high-availability solutions (for example, SQL Server Always On).
- Experience in government, healthcare, or other highly regulated environments.
- Knowledge of ITIL, NIST SP 800-34 (Contingency Planning), and related frameworks.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Strong project management skills, including planning, scheduling, risk management, and reporting.
- Knowledge of disaster recovery and business continuity principles and best practices.
- Understanding of IT infrastructure, applications, networks, databases, and cloud services, and how they depend on one another.
- Ability to coordinate multiple technical teams and vendors, and to build consensus without direct authority.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including preparing executive reports and briefings.
- Ability to remain calm, organized, and decisive during high-pressure situations.
- Proficiency with project management and collaboration tools such as MS Project, Jira, ServiceNow, SharePoint, and Visio.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
Organizational Relationships
The Disaster Recovery Project Manager works within DIT and collaborates closely with Infrastructure & Operations, Database Administration, Application Development, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Architecture, Project Management, agency emergency preparedness staff, vendors, and business leadership.