Disaster Recovery Manager

American Electric Power; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 137,000 - 178,000; Full time

Job summary

American Electric Power is seeking a Disaster Recovery Manager to establish, govern, and improve the enterprise DR program. You will set objectives, align recovery readiness with business tolerance, and drive governance across Technology, Cybersecurity, and business units.

The role focuses on policy, standards, testing, assurance, and continuous improvement without executing recovery activities, integrating DR with cloud adoption, architecture reviews, and third-party risk management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Business, Risk Management, Emergency Management, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent combination of education, certifications, and relevant experience.
• Minimum 8-10+ years of progressive experience in Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Technology Resilience, Operational Resilience, Cyber Recovery, Technology Risk, IT Operations, Infrastructure, Cloud, or related disciplines, including demonstrated experience leading enterprise-scale, cross-functional programs, governance initiatives, recovery-readiness activities, or teams across technology, cybersecurity, business, risk, compliance, and third-party stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Establish and govern enterprise DR program with governance framework, standards, and operating model.
• Set standards for RTOs/RPOs and service recovery requirements.
• Collaborate with Technology, Cybersecurity, Business Units, OT, and third-party risk to align recovery with business needs.
• Integrate DR requirements into system design, architecture reviews, and cloud adoption.
• Define governance for cloud services, SaaS providers, MSPs, and third-party vendors.
• Oversee DR testing, validation, and assurance strategy with lessons learned and corrective actions.
• Coordinate with Cybersecurity and Technology on ransomware, cyber recovery, and immutable backups.

Skills

Disaster Recovery

Business Continuity

Technology Resilience

Risk & Compliance

Cloud Resilience

Education

Bachelors degree or equivalent

Tools

ServiceNow/CMDB

Cloud/SaaS resilience

Audit remediation

Job description

Job Posting End Date

08-30-2026

Please note the job posting will close on the day before the posting end date.

Job Summary

The Disaster Recovery Manager is responsible for establishing, implementing, and governing AEP's enterprise Disaster Recovery (DR) program. This role develops and maintains recovery policy, standards, governance processes, training, testing, and assurance activities to ensure technology recovery capabilities align with business continuity requirements and enterprise risk tolerance. This position serves as the enterprise accountability for DR governance and drives implementation of a centralized program across Technology, Cybersecurity, Business Units, Operational Technology, and third-party service providers. The role establishes consistent recovery requirements, oversees program effectiveness, and integrates DR expectations into technology lifecycle management, architecture reviews, application onboarding, cloud adoption, vendor resiliency, dependency mapping, and broader operational resilience activities. The position does not directly execute technology recovery activities; it governs readiness, validation, assurance, and continuous improvement and is part of an enterprise emergency response team.

Job Description

What You'll Do:

Essential Job Functions & Tasks:

• Establish, implement, and maintain AEP's enterprise Disaster Recovery program, including governance framework, policies, standards, procedures, operating model, roles, accountability, control objectives, recovery tiers, and minimum expectations for technology recovery readiness.
• Set and govern standards for technology-related Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs), service recovery requirements, business criticality alignment, and periodic validation of recovery objectives.
• Partner with Technology, Cybersecurity, Business Units, Operational Technology, Enterprise Architecture, Third-Party Risk, Procurement, and operational stakeholders to align recovery capabilities with critical business services, business continuity needs, and enterprise risk tolerance.
• Integrate DR requirements into system design, architecture reviews, application onboarding, cloud adoption, technology lifecycle management, dependency mapping, ServiceNow/CMDB data governance, and change processes.
• Establish governance and minimum resilience requirements for cloud services, SaaS providers, managed service providers, and third-party technology vendors supporting critical business functions.
• Manage integration of crown jewel, critical data, and cyber resilience requirements into enterprise DR standards, testing and assurance activities.
• Develop and oversee the enterprise DR testing, validation, and assurance strategy, including test scope, frequency, success criteria, pass/fail expectations, scenario design, lessons learned, evidence retention, after-action reporting, and corrective action management.
• Coordinate with Cybersecurity and Technology teams to incorporate ransomware, data corruption, cyber recovery, immutable backup, clean-room recovery, and forensic evidence considerations into recovery standards and exercises.
• Manage KPIs, KRIs, executive dashboards, and reporting mechanisms to communicate DR readiness, program maturity, risks, gaps, exceptions, corrective actions, and audit/regulatory commitments.
• Define and govern enterprise DR training standards, role-based readiness expectations, curriculum requirements, and governance controls to ensure training content aligns with DR policy, testing strategy, exercise outcomes, audit findings, and program maturity needs, while partnering with the designated training team for delivery and completion management.

Additional Requirements:

• Physical Demand Level: S - Sedentary Work

What We're Looking for:

Education requirements are listed below:

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Business, Risk Management, Emergency Management, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent combination of education, certifications, and relevant experience.

Work Experience requirement listed below:

• Minimum 8-10+ years of progressive experience in Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Technology Resilience, Operational Resilience, Cyber Recovery, Technology Risk, IT Operations, Infrastructure, Cloud, or related disciplines, including demonstrated experience leading enterprise-scale, cross-functional programs, governance initiatives, recovery-readiness activities, or teams across technology, cybersecurity, business, risk, compliance, and third-party stakeholders.

Preferred Requirements:

• Utility industry and NERC CIP familiarity; ServiceNow/CMDB experience; cloud/SaaS resilience experience; audit remediation or regulatory compliance experience; and certifications such as CBCP, MBCP, MBCI, CDRE, CISM, CISSP, CRISC, PMP, ITIL, or equivalent.

At AEP, we're more than just an energy company - we're a team of dedicated professionals committed to delivering safe, reliable, and innovative energy solutions. Guided by our mission to put the customer first, we strive to exceed expectations by listening, responding, and continuously improving the way we serve our communities. If you're passionate about making a meaningful impact and being part of a forward-thinking organization, this is the company for you!

Compensation Data

Compensation Grade:

SP20-010

Compensation Range:

$136,539.00 - $177,503.00

The Physical Demand Level for this job is: S - Sedentary Work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally (Occasionally: activity or condition exists up to 1/3 of the time) and/or a negligible amount of force frequently. (Frequently: activity or condition exists from 1/3 to 2/3 of the time) to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time but may involve walking or standing for brief periods of time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.

It is hereby reaffirmed that it is the policy of American Electric Power (AEP) to provide Equal Employment Opportunity in all respects of the employer-employee relationship including recruiting, hiring, upgrading and promotion, conditions and privileges of employment, company sponsored training programs, educational assistance, social and recreational programs, compensation, benefits, transfers, discipline, layoffs and termination of employment to all employees and applicants without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, veteran or military status, disability, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. When required by law, we might record certain information or applicants for employment may be invited to voluntarily disclose protected characteristics.