ITDR Disaster Recovery Consultant (12 months)

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled IT Disaster Recovery (ITDR) Consultant to spearhead the evaluation, design, governance, and ongoing enhancement of enterprise-wide Disaster Recovery capabilities. This role is pivotal in collaborating with business and technology stakeholders to identify disaster recovery risks, formulate comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs), establish a robust Disaster Recovery Incident Management Framework (DRIMF), and design an IT Disaster Recovery Operating Model that aligns with international standards, industry best practices, and Saudi regulatory mandates. This position emphasizes strategic planning, governance, risk assessment, documentation, stakeholder engagement, and advisory services, rather than hands-on infrastructure implementation or operational support.

Key Responsibilities

The ITDR Consultant will be responsible for the following core functions:

1. IT Disaster Recovery Risk Assessment

• Conduct comprehensive, enterprise-wide IT Disaster Recovery risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and potential disruptions.
• Analyze critical IT services, applications, infrastructure, and technology dependencies to determine their resilience and recovery requirements.
• Evaluate existing disaster recovery capabilities and readiness levels to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
• Perform detailed gap assessments against industry standards such as ISO 22301, NIST, and regulatory requirements specific to Saudi Arabia.
• Assess risks associated with availability, recoverability, cyber incidents, and business disruptions to develop mitigation strategies.
• Produce detailed risk assessment reports and actionable remediation recommendations to enhance resilience.
• Facilitate stakeholder workshops to validate findings, assess business impacts, and ensure alignment with organizational objectives.

2. Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP)

• Develop and maintain comprehensive IT Disaster Recovery Plans that address critical applications, platforms, databases, and infrastructure components.
• Define recovery strategies, including Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs), tailored to business needs and regulatory expectations.
• Create critical application recovery mapping and dependency analysis to ensure accurate and efficient recovery processes.
• Establish detailed recovery procedures and end-to-end workflows for disaster scenarios, including escalation and communication protocols.
• Define governance requirements for DR planning, execution, and continuous improvement to ensure compliance and effectiveness.
• Ensure all recovery documentation is complete, regularly updated, and aligned with Business Continuity Management (BCM) objectives.

3. Disaster Recovery Incident Management Framework (DRIMF)

• Design and implement a structured Disaster Recovery Incident Management Framework to streamline incident response and recovery operations.
• Develop incident lifecycle management processes, including classification, severity modeling, and escalation matrices.
• Establish crisis management procedures and stakeholder communication protocols to ensure timely and effective response during disaster events.
• Define governance structures, decision-making authorities, and RACI matrices to clarify roles and responsibilities across teams.
• Create executive and regulatory reporting processes to maintain transparency and compliance with internal and external stakeholders.
• Develop post-incident review methodologies and lessons learned frameworks to drive continuous improvement in disaster recovery operations.
• Support the planning, execution, and reporting of disaster recovery exercises to validate preparedness and identify areas for enhancement.

4. IT Disaster Recovery Operating Model

• Design an enterprise-wide ITDR Operating Model that defines governance structures, committees, and reporting relationships to ensure robust oversight.
• Establish clear roles and responsibilities across business and technology functions to foster accountability and collaboration.
• Develop Steering Committee charters and operating procedures to guide strategic decision-making and alignment with organizational goals.
• Design Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Key Risk Indicators (KRIs), and service metrics to measure and monitor ITDR performance and maturity.
• Establish continuous improvement processes to enhance ITDR maturity and resilience over time.
• Define periodic review mechanisms and compliance monitoring activities to ensure adherence to standards and regulatory requirements.
• Develop ITDR maturity assessment frameworks and transformation roadmaps to guide the organization’s resilience journey.
• Ensure alignment with broader organizational risk management and resilience objectives to create a cohesive and integrated approach.

5. Stakeholder Engagement & Advisory

• Engage with executives, business owners, IT leadership, and risk management teams to foster collaboration and alignment.
• Facilitate workshops, assessments, and governance meetings to drive consensus and informed decision-making.
• Provide expert advisory services on disaster recovery, operational resilience, and best practices to internal stakeholders.
• Present findings, recommendations, and strategic roadmaps to senior management to support informed decision-making.
• Support internal and external audit activities related to disaster recovery to ensure compliance and identify opportunities for improvement.

Required Qualifications

A Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Security, Risk Management, or a related field is required. Candidates must possess a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience in IT Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Risk Management, or a closely related discipline. Strong knowledge of international standards such as ISO 22301, NIST, and regulatory frameworks applicable to Saudi Arabia is essential. Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills are critical to success in this role. Experience in designing and implementing Disaster Recovery Plans, Incident Management Frameworks, and Operating Models will be highly advantageous.