Business Continuity Manager

East West Railway Company; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

East West Railway Company in Milton Keynes seeks a Business Continuity Manager to lead the company's Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery frameworks. This independent role ensures preparedness for disruptive incidents and compliance with ISO standards.

The ideal candidate will possess strong analytical and interpersonal skills, act as a liaison with senior leadership, and deliver continuous improvement initiatives.

You'll also be responsible for training staff and maintaining best practices across the organization. A career with us promises engagement in a nationally significant project and economic growth.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to operate as a credible, independent SME within complex organisations.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the confidence to influence and challenge at senior levels.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex risk and technical issues into clear, actionable advice.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation and continuous improvement of EWR’s Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery framework in line with ISO 22301.
• Maintain BC/DR policies, processes, plans, command structures and supporting templates.
• Ensure BC/DR arrangements are enterprise-wide, risk-based and proportionate to EWR’s strategic objectives.

Skills

Business Continuity Management

Disaster Recovery Planning

Stakeholder Management

Risk Assessment

Analytical Skills

Communication Skills

Education

Certification from Business Continuity Institute (BCI)

Certification from Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI)

Job description

The Business Continuity Manager is the enterprise-wide Subject Matter Expert (SME) responsible for leading, developing and embedding effective Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) arrangements across East West Rail.

The role provides independent, second-line oversight and leadership of BC/DR, ensuring EWR is prepared to respond to and recover from disruptive incidents while safeguarding safety, reputation, critical services and statutory obligations.

The postholder will design and maintain a coherent BC/DR framework aligned to ISO 22301 and good practice from major rail and infrastructure programmes (e.g. Network Rail, Crossrail, HS2).

This is a standalone role, independent from delivery teams, with authority to challenge, advise and escalation to senior leadership where continuity arrangements are not adequate.

Team dimensions

• Reporting to the Head of Finance
• No Direct Reports

Responsibilities and accountabilities

• Lead the design, implementation and continuous improvement of EWR’s Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery framework in line with ISO 22301.
• Maintain BC/DR policies, processes, plans, command structures and supporting templates, ensuring they are current, coherent and fit for purpose.
• Ensure BC/DR arrangements are enterprise-wide, risk-based and proportionate to EWR’s strategic objectives and operational risks.
• Lead, coordinate and support the business to complete Business Impact Analyses (BIA) and BC risk assessments across the organisation, to identify critical activities, dependencies, recovery priorities and tolerances.
• Ensure Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) are defined and understood for critical processes and systems.
• Provide expert advice and support to Strategic and Tactical Command during live incident as required and able.
• Design and deliver a tiered BC/DR training and awareness programme for staff, managers and senior leaders.
• Develop and maintain a rolling programme of risk-based tabletop exercises and simulations, including physical, cyber and technology-led scenarios.
• Lead post-incident and post-exercise reviews, ensuring lessons learned are captured and embedded.
• Develop and report meaningful BC/DR KPIs and KRIs (e.g. action closure rates, Mean Time To Detect (MTTD), exercise outcomes etc.).
• Provide regular assurance reporting to the CFO, ExCo and ARC on BC/DR maturity, compliance and residual risk.
• Benchmark EWR’s arrangements against good practice from comparable rail and infrastructure organisations.
• Establish and chair a cross-functional BC/DR forum, working closely with Cyber, IT, HR, Communications, Safety, Quality and Governance leads.
• Act as EWR’s lead professional interface on BC/DR matters with regulators, auditors and assurance providers.

Experience and skills

• Proven ability to operate as a credible, independent SME within complex organisations.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the confidence to influence and challenge at senior levels.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex risk and technical issues into clear, actionable advice.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to design and deliver training and to facilitate senior-level exercises.

Education and qualifications

• Demonstrable knowledge and practical application of Business Continuity and resilience management standards and frameworks (including ISO 22301).
• Professional certification or chartered status with a recognised body:
• Business Continuity Institute (BCI)
• Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI)

A little bit about us

East West Rail is a nationally significant railway project which aims to deliver much-needed transport connections for the vibrant communities between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge, which blend beautiful landscapes and a rich cultural heritage with globally renowned centres of education, business, technology and an increasingly dynamic business scene. Together these communities contribute around £111 billion to the national economy each year.

EWR is also one of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects, which the government committed to delivering in full in the Autumn 2024 Budget, and again in the 2025 Spending Review as part of its ambition to unlock the potential of the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor.

EWR is being championed by the Government as a key driver to economic growth leading to a potential £78 Billion boost to the UK economy: supporting new towns, housing, and regeneration.