Business Continuity Planners

What this job is

Develop, maintain, or implement business continuity and disaster recovery strategies and solutions, including risk assessments, business impact analyses, strategy selection, and documentation of business continuity and disaster recovery procedures. Plan, conduct, and debrief regular mock-disaster exercises to test the adequacy of existing plans and strategies, updating procedures and plans regularly. Act as a coordinator for continuity efforts after a disruption event.

What they do day to day

• Develop emergency management plans for recovery decision making and communications, continuity of critical departmental processes, or temporary shut-down of non-critical departments to ensure continuity of operation and governance.
• Test documented disaster recovery strategies and plans.
• Develop disaster recovery plans for physical locations with critical assets, such as data centers.
• Establish, maintain, or test call trees to ensure appropriate communication during disaster.
• Identify opportunities for strategic improvement or mitigation of business interruption and other risks caused by business, regulatory, or industry-specific change initiatives.
• Maintain and update organization information technology applications and network systems blueprints.
• Review existing disaster recovery, crisis management, or business continuity plans.
• Analyze impact on, and risk to, essential business functions or information systems to identify acceptable recovery time periods and resource requirements.
• Write reports to summarize testing activities, including descriptions of goals, planning, scheduling, execution, results, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations.
• Create or administer training and awareness presentations or materials.

Skills and knowledge that matter most

Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).

Education and preparation

Preparation level 4 of 5 — Considerable preparation. Usually a bachelor's degree and several years of related experience.

Typical entry education (BLS): Bachelor's degree.

Who this job suits

Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.

Job titles you'll see in postings

Related careers

• Emergency Management Directors$93,330
• Project Management Specialists$102,320
• Information Technology Project Managers$116,580
• Financial Risk Specialists$117,330
• Compliance Managers$141,900
• Security Management Specialists$83,050
• Security Managers$106,660
• Information Security Analysts$129,180