Sr Director - Crisis Management

Maximus; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Maximus in McLean, Virginia, seeks a Senior Director, Crisis Management to build and lead our enterprise crisis program, setting strategy, governance, and response protocols to prepare for and recover from critical incidents and disruptions. The role protects employees, clients, and assets while guiding cross-functional teams.

You will oversee threat monitoring, tabletop exercises, incident triage, and post-incident reviews, delivering measurable improvements and reporting to senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• 12+ years of professional experience required.
• Proven experience building and managing enterprise crisis management programs.
• Experience leading organizations through high-pressure incidents requiring executive decision-making.
• Strong understanding of crisis management frameworks and business continuity.
• Experience designing tabletop exercises and executive crisis training.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance the enterprise crisis management program with governance, strategies, and protocols.
• Direct crisis response for high-severity incidents with executive and cross-functional teams.
• Ensure readiness to identify, respond to, and recover from incidents impacting people and assets.
• Lead threat monitoring and intelligence efforts to inform proactive mitigation.
• Design and conduct tabletop exercises, simulations, and drills to validate plans and identify gaps.
• Oversee post-incident reviews and lessons learned for continuous improvement.
• Define KPIs and maturity metrics, reporting to senior leadership.
• Set innovation strategy for crisis management leveraging new technologies.
• Manage multiple teams and staffing plans to ensure capability coverage.
• Have hiring and personnel authority within the department.

Skills

Crisis management

Executive leadership

Cross-functional coordination

Tabletop exercises

Incident response

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

We are seeking a Senior Director, Crisis Management to build and lead our enterprise crisis management program. This leader will set the strategy, governance, and protocols that prepare the organization to respond to and recover from critical incidents, emerging threats, and business disruptions. The role protects our employees, clients, operations, reputation, and physical and digital assets.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop, implement, and continuously enhance the enterprise crisis management program by establishing governance, response strategies, capabilities, frameworks, and protocols to effectively prepare for, manage, and recover from critical incidents, emerging threats, and business disruptions.
• Direct crisis response activities for high-severity incidents by convening executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to assess impacts, establish priorities, assign actions, and drive coordinated decision-making throughout the incident lifecycle.
• Ensure organizational readiness to identify, assess, respond to, and recover from incidents affecting employees, contractors, visitors, clients, operations, reputation, and physical and digital assets.
• Lead enterprise threat monitoring and intelligence efforts, leveraging internal capabilities and third-party providers to identify emerging risks, assess potential impacts, and inform proactive mitigation strategies.
• Design and lead tabletop exercises, simulations, and crisis drills to validate plans, assess organizational readiness, identify capability gaps, and strengthen cross-functional response effectiveness.
• Direct crisis triage and response calls based on established severity levels, convening executive and cross-functional stakeholders to assess impacts, establish priorities, assign actions, and drive coordinated decision-making throughout the incident lifecycle.
• Oversee post-incident reviews, after-action reporting, and lessons learned processes, translating findings into corrective actions and measurable program improvements.
• Define, monitor, and report key performance indicators, program maturity metrics, and preparedness benchmarks to senior leadership.
• Set and operationalize the enterprise crisis management innovation strategy by evaluating emerging technologies, intelligence capabilities, and external best practices.
• Typically manage multiple department(s) or a mid-sized sub-function(s) for the organization that may include multiple teams led by directors, managers, and/or supervisors. May also lead through influence of other teams/departments.
• Typically responsible for creating workforce and staffing plans for department/unit to ensure availability of human capital necessary to accomplish departmental business results.
• Typically have hiring, firing, promotion and reward authority within own area, in accordance with guidelines.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in relevant field of study.
• 12+ years of relevant professional experience required.
• Demonstrated success developing, implementing, and managing enterprise crisis management programs within a complex, geographically dispersed organization.
• Proven experience leading organizations through high-pressure, rapidly evolving incidents requiring executive-level decision-making and cross-functional coordination.
• Strong understanding of crisis management frameworks, incident management principles, business continuity, emergency response, and organizational resilience practices.
• Experience designing and facilitating tabletop exercises, simulations, and executive crisis training programs.

EEO Statement

Maximus is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information and other legally protected characteristics.

Pay Transparency

Maximus compensation is based on various factors including but not limited to job location, a candidate's education, training, experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value analysis including seniority and merit systems, as well as internal pay alignment. Annual salary is just one component of Maximus's total compensation package. Other rewards may include short- and long-term incentives as well as program-specific awards. Additionally, Maximus provides a variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and paid time off. Compensation ranges may differ based on contract value but will be commensurate with job duties and relevant work experience. An applicant's salary history will not be used in determining compensation. Maximus will comply with regulatory minimum wage rates and exempt salary thresholds in all instances.

Accommodations

Maximus provides reasonable accommodations to individuals requiring assistance during any phase of the employment process due to a disability, medical condition, or physical or mental impairment. If you require assistance at any stage of the employment process—including accessing job postings, completing assessments, or participating in interviews,—please contact People Operations at [e-mail] .