Disaster Recovery Manager - IT

Job Title: Disaster Recovery Manager

Salary: £46,000 - £61,450

Location: Cambridge/Hybrid with 40-60% time in the office

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week

Ready to help protect critical services that support learners around the world?
As our Disaster Recovery Manager, you'll play a pivotal role in ensuring Cambridge University Press & Assessment is fully prepared to respond to IT disasters, safeguarding our technology estate and minimising business impact when it matters most.

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.

About the role

Reporting to the Head of ETO Service Delivery Management, you'll be responsible for the planning, design, implementation, validation and ongoing improvement of IT Disaster Recovery (DR) across our complex and business-critical technology environment.

You'll ensure the organisation is as prepared as practicable for disruptive events, working closely with senior IT leadership, infrastructure and platform teams, and third-party suppliers. In the event of a major incident, you'll provide expert guidance to enable a successful recovery that meets agreed recovery time and recovery point objectives, with minimal impact on business operations.

Key responsibilities include:

• Owning and maintaining the organisation's Disaster Recovery Plan, ensuring it remains fit for purpose and reflects changes across the IT estate
• Defining and maintaining DR standards and ensuring consistent application across services and suppliers
• Identifying, documenting and supporting the mitigation of DR risks and single points of failure, working with risk owners to implement effective controls
• Designing and delivering a comprehensive DR testing and validation programme covering people, processes, plans and technology
• Coordinating DR exercises and tests, defining scope and success criteria, and producing post-test reports and lessons learned
• Maintaining the IT recovery checklist and associated documentation, including critical contact lists
• Providing assurance over third-party and outsourced DR capabilities through regular review and challenge
• Aligning DR activity with wider Business Continuity (BC) policies and programmes

This is a highly visible role with responsibility for helping protect around 150 critical IT services that support exams, assessment delivery and regulatory deadlines.

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.

About You

You'll bring strong experience across IT service, delivery or assurance environments, along with the credibility and confidence to work with senior stakeholders in high-impact situations.

Essential experience and skills:

• Relevant experience in one or more IT career paths such as:
• Project Management
• Infrastructure Management
• IT Audit or Assurance
• PMO development and management
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Strong planning, coordination and delivery skills across technical and business teams
• Proven stakeholder management skills, including working with third-party suppliers
• Confidence managing expectations and influencing senior leaders
• High standards of accuracy and attention to detail, particularly in documentation and assurance activity

Desirable:

• Experience specifically in Disaster Recovery management
• Understanding of fault-tolerant or mission-critical application and infrastructure design

You'll be someone who works well independently while also collaborating effectively across teams, demonstrating resilience, integrity and a commitment to continuous improvement.

For a detailed job description, please refer to the link at the bottom of the advert on our careers site.

We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and who best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable and/or appropriate, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the gov.uk website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.

Rewards and benefits

We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world-class, flexible rewards package , featuring family-friendly and planet-friendly benefits including:

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Group personal pension scheme
• Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary
• Green travel schemes

Ready to pursue your potential? Apply now.

We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent. The closing date for all applications will be 25th May. We will review applications on an ongoing basis and interview will take place shortly after it close.

If you are shortlisted and progressed through the stages, you can expect:

• A 15-minute screening call with the Hiring Manager.
• First stage virtual interview via MS Teams. You will be provided with a brief to complete a role related task which will need to be returned by email in advance of your interview.
• Final stage interview: in-person at our offices in Cambridge.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process due to a disability or a long-term health condition, there will be an opportunity for you to inform us via the online application form. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Please note that successful applicants will be subject to satisfactory background checks including DBS due to working in a regulated industry.

We are committed to an equitable recruitment process. As such, applications must be submitted via our official online application procedure. Please refrain from sending your CV directly to our recruiters. If you experience technical difficulties or require additional support with submitting your online application, contact the Recruiter.

Why join us

Joining us is your opportunity to pursue potential. You will belong to a collaborative team that is exploring new and better ways to serve students, teachers and researchers across the globe - for the benefit of individuals, society and the world. Sharing our mission will inspire your own growth, development and progress, in an environment which embraces difference, change and aspiration.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together. We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics (age, disability, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, marital status, neurodiversity, religion, sex, gender identity and sexual identity), cultural, or social class/background.

Documents

• Role Profile Disaster Recovery Manager - 2026 (1).pdf (38.93 KB)