Main duties and responsibilities

De Montfort University is seeking an experienced professional to strengthen its resilience and preparedness. You will bring together expertise across risk, business continuity and major incident response, working with senior leaders, professional services and academic teams to provide specialist advice, build capability and respond effectively to disruption.

About the role

You will lead the University's risk management framework, working with colleagues to identify, assess and manage strategic and operational risks. This includes maintaining corporate and operational risk registers and providing clear reporting, insight and assurance to senior leaders, committees and governance groups.

You will also lead the University's Business Continuity Management framework, helping the University understand its critical services, dependencies and recovery requirements. You will work with departments to develop, maintain and test Business Continuity Plans and coordinate an annual programme of exercises, ensuring learning is captured and used to strengthen preparedness.

As the University's subject matter expert for major incident management, you will maintain the framework, procedures and governance arrangements supporting an effective response to significant incidents and disruption. You will ensure those involved in incident response understand their roles and have appropriate guidance, training and support.

Following significant incidents, you will lead post-incident reviews, capturing lessons learned, identifying improvement actions and ensuring these are followed through and embedded.

Ideal candidate

We are looking for someone who:

• Has strong knowledge of Business Continuity Management, risk management, organisational resilience and major incident management.
• Can develop and improve risk, business continuity and resilience frameworks, processes and plans.
• Can assess risk, business impact and dependencies, and turn complex information into clear, practical recommendations.
• Has strong analytical, problem-solving and organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and work independently.
• Communicates clearly and confidently, including through reports, briefings and presentations to senior stakeholders and governance groups.
• Can influence and engage people at all levels, build effective relationships and facilitate assessments, planning, exercises and reviews.
• Can remain calm and effective under pressure, including during significant incidents.

To view the job description and person specification, please click here.

Directorate

The Strategic Planning and Insight directorate supports the University through business intelligence, planning, statutory returns, and oversight of risk management and business continuity frameworks. The directorate works closely with colleagues across the University to strengthen organisational resilience and support effective governance.

Contact

For more information about the role, please contact Sarah Al-Sayed at sarah.al-sayed@dmu.ac.uk.

De Montfort University is committed to providing a working and learning environment that enriches lives, supports individuals to reach their full potential, and where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As an educator and shaper of society, the University aims to role model positive behaviours both within the University and to reflect the diversity of the wider community. As such, we welcome applications from all potential candidates.