Lead Specialist, Business Continuity
University of Ottawa
- Canada
- $95,745-116,554 per year
- Contract
- Full-time
The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) oversees University-wide emergency management, business continuity, and fire safety to ensure compliance with regulations, standards, and best practices. The OEM also supports University activities by providing professional advice and by nurturing productive and cooperative relationships with all stakeholders. The OEM is committed to promoting a prepared and resilient place of study and work for University students, faculty, staff, and visitors, while supporting the institution's teaching and research missions.Position PurposeReporting to the Senior Manager, Office of Emergency Management the incumbent is responsible for the strategic and operational aspects of the program, including leading and being responsible for the development, evolution, maintenance, and day-to-day planning, coordination, and administration of the Business. Continuity Program and its activities in accordance with policies, standards, and best practices. Act as the subject matter expert in business continuity and advise heads of units, other programs, and entities. Manage program processes, including unit business impact analysis, business continuity planning, training and exercises, and program expenditures/transactions. Participate in providing administrative, logistical, operational, and expertise support to the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) when activated.In this role, your responsibilities will be:Planning and Operational Strategy: Define the Business Continuity Program’s operational direction, objectives, and priorities, ensuring alignment with those of the OEM. Develop responsible, sustainable, and proactive risk-based continuity planning aligned with emergency management and fire safety partners to enable optimal continuity and recovery from adverse situations.Initiate, develop, implement, and continually improve policies, plans, procedures, standards, and tools related to business continuity and operational continuity and the recovery of activities. Design and coordinate project plans to support the successful implementation of program initiatives.Monitor current and emerging disruptive risks, stay abreast of evolving issues elsewhere that may impact the University campus and make the necessary changes to program direction and priorities. Provide expert strategic and operational business continuity advice to the Senior Manager, OEM, and faculties and services’ leadership. Report on planning status, preparedness efforts and readiness level.Operations Management: Ensure program effectiveness and the appropriate level of organizational and unit continuity and recovery readiness through the development of comprehensive preparedness and planning activities in accordance with University’s policies.Lead and facilitate unit identification of functions/processes critical to the academic and research mission, including enabling resources, recovery time objectives, and data recovery point objectives. Coordinate the analysis of how internal or external unplanned events could result in the total or partial disruption of critical functions/processes, including their effectiveness or capacity, due to damage to physical assets, system failure, supply chain disruption, and loss of resources, services, or personnel. Generate the required operational continuity and recovery capabilities and capacity by developing the institutional business continuity plan and supporting the development of unit business continuity plans and their periodic maintenance. Develop and manage a continuity toolkit to coordinate multiple decentralized plans with reporting capabilities at the unit and institutional levels. Provide guidance and tools and conduct reviews and exercises.Participate in the OEM’s continuous improvement process, including conducting training and exercise evaluations, post-incident operational reviews, and program audits.Provide administrative, logistical, operational, and expert support to the EOC during active crises, emergencies, and significant disruptions to campus operations.What you will bring:Post-secondary degree or diploma in business continuity or other specialization relevant to the position or a combination of education, training and/or work experience.Professional certification from either the Disaster Recovery Institute, the Business Continuity Institute, or other similarly reputable organizations is an asset.Minimum of seven (7) years of related experience in business continuity and its implementation in a complex environment.Demonstrated extensive knowledge of BCI, DRI, CSA, ISO standards, principles, and best practices related to business continuity planning.Understanding privacy breach, cybersecurity, and IT disaster recovery requirements.Demonstrated knowledge of organizational response models and best practices for significant emergencies and disruptions such as natural disasters, CBRNE incidents, violent threats, technological disruptions, labour disruptions (strikes/lockouts), etc.Understanding emergency management standards, principles, and processes.Understanding federal, provincial, and municipal laws and regulations and IMS, ICS, CSA, NFPA, Occupational Health & Safety standards, guidelines and best practices related to business continuity planning, fire safety and emergency management and response in a post-secondary environment.Understanding risk management standards, principles, and processes.Excellence in customer service and project management.Experience in preparing reports for senior management.Excellence in strategic thinking and analysis, leadership, and team building.Strong attention to detail, judgment, and decision-making skills.Ability to work with and communicate with all levels of the organization, both verbally and in writing.Experience in training, leadership, and presentation skills.Ability to work in a team or independently to deliver quality results.Demonstrates tact, diplomacy, and professionalism in dealing with a multicultural and pluralistic community. Demonstrates awareness and sensitivity to equity, diversity, and inclusion of the University community.Experience with MS Office 365 and ability to learn new software as needed.The candidate must have no convictions for which a pardon has not been granted and must not have a criminal record for the position.Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click to find out more.If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.