VP, Enterprise Business Continuity

Summary:

The VP, Enterprise Business Continuity will lead the business continuity program for Freedom Mortgage Corporation (FMC), working in the Risk department. The incumbent is responsible to lead the design and execution of Business Continuity Program initiatives to enhance operational resilience, with an emphasis on business-wide and third-party continuity and cybersecurity/breach preparedness.  This role partners with cross functional teams to ensure thorough Business Continuity Plans (BCP) exist throughout the organization, which meet at minimum agency/investor and regulatory requirements and expectations, as well as internal standards.

This role also drives and supports the respective BCP business teams, validating readiness of business and support units through structured assessments and exercises.  In addition, this role provides guidance and support to the Crisis Management Team during incidents, including ensuring proper escalations and coordination of response efforts. Furthermore, this role supports and advises the various group-level BCP exercises, readiness assessments, and any Company communication and improvement plans.

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Oversees and assesses all aspects of the Business Continuity Program
• Manages and updates the Business Continuity Plan and related policies and program documentation
• Ensures the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP), led by appointed Information Technology team, is robust and supports the Business Continuity Program, is tested regularly, and is within stakeholder requirements/expectations
• Coordinates with other department contributors and aids in test plan documentation as needed for both BCP and DRP.
• Administer the software platform for housing business continuity plans and risk assessments.  Coordinate with other Risk leaders to review plans to ensure key operations, systems, and third-party dependencies are included in the plans. 
• Administer the emergency notification software and utilize its threat monitoring tools to detect disruption events and initiate appropriate notifications to employees or management, including weather-related connectivity impacts and other effects on business operations.   Communicate through the software to affected staff and engage Human Resources if employees responded with questions or concerns.
• Develop and deliver training on both the Business Continuity Plan software and emergency notification system.
• Collaborate with the Information Security teams to embed resilience into cyber risk management and incident response planning.
• Participate in the Safety and Security team, responding to internal requests sent to the team, following the Workplace Threat policy and related procedures.
• Coordinate efforts as part of the BCP program to conduct organization wide BCP exercises, validate the effectiveness, and identify opportunities to improve. Track all exercise action items through completion.
• Develop and execute training and awareness activities to maintain knowledge base on BCP procedures and responsibilities for employees 
• Maintain operational readiness to support the Crisis Management Team, including but not limited to developing and executing training and orchestrating regular simulation exercises to validate level of readiness with scenario exercise, obtaining key leadership input regarding risks
• Engage senior leadership to champion the BCP and business resilience awareness, accountability across the organization, with the aim to ensure continuous improvement and that plans remain relevant and up to date with operations, systems, people, and vendors/service providers.  
• Create agenda items and chair the Business Resilience Committee in their meetings.
• Creates various committee updates and reports as requested
• Organize materials and present at various committees and/or councils upon request
• Collaborates with affiliate businesses on respective business resilience matters and best practices
• Partner with risk management teams to identify, assess, mitigate and monitor operational and strategic risks to ensure cohesive resilience and risk mitigation strategies.

Other Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Performs other related duties as assigned.
• Comply with all company policies and procedures.
• Maintain regular and punctual attendance.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• This position is an individual contributor with no direct reports but  provides guidance, leadership, or training to others.

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree from a Four (4) year College or University and Ten (10) to fifteen (15) years in managing business continuity programs; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience with industry pertinent applications and software, including Business Continuity Planning software and emergency notification software.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills.
• Financial Services experience, in particular mortgage experience, a plus.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations:

None Required

Work Complexity:

Problems and issues faced are frequently complex and multi-dimensional, requiring broad-based consideration of variables that impact areas outside of immediate responsibility. Extensively analyzes problems to seek understanding of the underlying issue and root cause of the problem.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Work is normally performed in a typical interior office work environment which does not subject the employee to any hazardous or unpleasant elements. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

The company is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, ethnicity, color, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, religion, national origin, age (40 and over), disability, military status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

Americans with Disabilities Act:

Applicants as well as employees who are or become disabled must be able to satisfactorily perform the essential job functions of the position either with or without reasonable accommodation. Applicants as well as employees are encouraged to meet with Human Resources as the organization shall review reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law.

Job Responsibilities:

The statements reflect the general duties and responsibilities considered necessary to perform the essential functions of the job and should not be considered as an all-inclusive list of all the work requirements of the position. The company may change the specific job duties with or without prior notice based on the needs of the organization.