IT BCP & DR Lead

Buckinghamshire Council — Resources; Aylesbury; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Employee discounts

Gym membership

Travel discounts

Costco membership

Job summary

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking an experienced IT BCP & DR Lead to strengthen operational resilience across our technology services. You will design, implement and continuously improve recovery capabilities to keep critical services available during disruptions.

You will work with cyber security, incident management, and business stakeholders to plan and execute recovery exercises, develop playbooks, and define recovery objectives.

Qualifications

• Experience in business continuity, disaster recovery and resilience planning.
• Ability to communicate complex risks to senior leaders.
• Proven project and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and maintenance of IT BCP/DR strategies and plans.
• Coordinate disaster recovery testing and resilience exercises.
• Develop and maintain recovery playbooks and procedures.
• Collaborate with cyber security, incident managers and service owners.

Skills

Business continuity

Disaster recovery

Leadership

Cyber resilience

Stakeholder management

Education

ITIL Foundation

Job description

When critical services are relied upon every day, resilience isn't just important, it's essential.

We're looking for an experienced IT BCP & DR Lead to help ensure our technology services remain robust, responsive, and ready for whatever challenges come their way. This is a fantastic opportunity to play a key role in protecting vital services, leading resilience planning, and shaping how the organisation responds to major incidents and cyber threats. If you're passionate about business continuity, disaster recovery, and making a real impact, we'd love to hear from you.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally.

It’s an exciting time to join our IT Service. With the launch of our new IT Strategy 2025–2030, we are embarking on an ambitious programme to modernise and simplify our technology, strengthen cyber security and governance, and make better use of digital, data and AI. Our people are central to delivering this ambition, and we are building a skilled, collaborative and customer-focused IT Service where colleagues have the opportunity to shape change, develop their capabilities and make a real difference to the Council and the communities it serves.

About the role

As our IT BCP & DR Lead, you'll be at the heart of our approach to operational resilience, ensuring that critical technology services can continue, recover quickly, or safely adapt during periods of disruption. From major cyber incidents and infrastructure outages to supplier failures and disaster recovery exercises, you'll play a pivotal role in helping us prepare for and respond to a wide range of challenges.

This role offers a unique blend of strategic planning, operational delivery, and stakeholder engagement. You'll work closely with cyber security professionals, incident managers, technical teams, service owners, and business stakeholders to develop and continuously improve our resilience capabilities. Whether you're leading recovery exercises, developing playbooks, defining recovery objectives, or supporting major incident responses, your work will directly contribute to keeping critical services available and reliable for those who depend on them.

Some of your key responsibilities will include:

• Leading the development and maintenance of IT business continuity and disaster recovery strategies and plans.
• Coordinating disaster recovery testing, cyber recovery exercises, and resilience assurance activities.
• Managing and improving recovery playbooks, backup and restore strategies, and resilience procedures.
• Working with stakeholders across the organisation to strengthen operational resilience and recovery readiness.

For a full breakdown of duties and responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description.

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need a desk, screen a keyboard to get your job done. You’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

About you

We're looking for someone who combines technical expertise with strong communication and leadership skills. You'll be a proactive problem-solver who thrives in complex environments and can remain calm and focused when dealing with critical incidents. Equally comfortable discussing technical recovery requirements with IT specialists and presenting risks and recovery options to senior leaders, you'll be confident influencing decisions, building relationships, and driving continuous improvement.

You'll bring substantial experience in business continuity, disaster recovery, resilience, or a related IT discipline within a large and complex organisation. A strong understanding of recovery strategies, service prioritisation, resilience frameworks, and cyber recovery planning will be essential. You'll also have experience developing policies, procedures, and playbooks, alongside the ability to manage projects, coordinate testing programmes, and identify opportunities to strengthen resilience across services.

We're particularly interested in individuals who are collaborative, organised, resilient, and passionate about ensuring services remain available when they're needed most. Educated to degree level (or equivalent) and holding an ITIL Foundation qualification, you'll be motivated by the opportunity to make a genuine difference through your work.

For full details of the essential and desirable criteria, please refer to the Job Description.

Why Join Us?

This is an exciting opportunity to take ownership of a highly visible and business-critical function, helping to strengthen organisational resilience while working alongside experienced professionals across technology, security, and business services. You'll have the chance to influence strategy, lead meaningful improvement initiatives, and play a key role in ensuring essential services remain resilient in an ever‑evolving digital landscape.

We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While we welcome innovation, we expect all submissions to reflect your own experience, skills, and achievements accurately. Please ensure your application is truthful and demonstrates your personal capabilities, as this will be assessed during the selection process.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well‑being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like‑minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.