Head of Business Continuity ManagementThe Head of Business Continuity Management is responsible for establishing, leading and continuously evolving the company's enterprise-wide Business Continuity Management framework. The position combines strategic leadership with hands-on execution, driving the delivery of key BCM initiatives from assessment and planning through implementation, testing and continuous improvement. The role ensures the organization is prepared to anticipate, withstand, respond to and recover from major disruptions affecting critical business operations, satellite services, infrastructure, technology, suppliers and other strategic dependencies.
As a senior leader, the Head of Business Continuity Management works across the organization to strengthen operational resilience and ensure that business continuity capabilities are aligned with the company's strategic objectives, customer commitments, regulatory requirements and risk appetite.
The position acts as a key advisor to senior leadership and plays a central role in the company's crisis management and resilience governance, particularly in situations that could materially impact SES ability to maintain and restore critical services during business disruptions.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / KEY RESULT AREAS
- Business Continuity Strategy & Governance
- Develop and own the company-wide Business Continuity Management strategy, framework, policies and standards.
- Establish appropriate governance, roles, responsibilities and decision-making structures for business continuity and resilience.
- Ensure BCM is embedded into business planning, risk management, transformation initiatives and operational decision-making.
- Lead the assessment and discovery of existing continuity, crisis management, operational resilience and disaster recovery capabilities across all SES business units and functions.
- Develop a multi-year Business Continuity Management implementation roadmap, including capability priorities, resource requirements, milestones and maturity objectives aligned to SES business strategy.
- Define and prioritize BCM initiatives based on business impact, operational risk, regulatory obligations and strategic importance.
- Drive execution of the BCM roadmap and coordinate cross-functional workstreams required to establish enterprise resilience capabilities.
- Partner with business leaders to translate continuity requirements into practical operational processes, recovery strategies and implementation plans
- Drive visibility and accountability for BCM roadmap delivery by providing integrated executive and operational status reporting on milestones, risks, dependencies, recovery readiness and remediation activities.
- Business and Risk Assessment
- Define appropriate recovery scope and requirements, including Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) and business continuity requirements.
- Facilitate enterprise-wide workshops to identify critical products, services, processes and supporting resources required for business recovery.
- Gather, validate and maintain recovery requirements from business and operational stakeholders to ensure continuity plans reflect actual operational needs.
- Analyze interdependencies between business functions, satellite operations, technology platforms, facilities, suppliers and third-party service providers to establish recovery priorities.
- BCM Program Delivery & Continuous Improvement
- Own end-to-end delivery of the BCM program, from assessment through implementation, validation and operational adoption.
- Maintain a master BCM implementation plan with named owners, milestones, target dates and dependencies.
- Develop and administer a business continuity performance measurement framework to monitor organizational readiness and resilience maturity.
- Define, implement and report on BCM key performance indicators (KPIs), key risk indicators (KRIs) and maturity metrics.
- Track remediation activities, testing results and audit findings to ensure continuous improvement of continuity capabilities.
- Produce regular scorecards and dashboards for executive leadership highlighting readiness levels, compliance status, testing outcomes and risk trends.
- Benchmark SES BCM capabilities against industry standards and leading practices and drive targeted maturity improvements.
- Establish a culture of continuous improvement through lessons learned reviews, corrective actions and periodic capability assessments.
- Operational Resilience
- Drive and align leaders and stakeholders to ensure their function and scope integrates end to end with the overall continuity planning. These functions will cover:
- satellite operations and service availability
- ground stations and teleport infrastructure
- network and IT infrastructure
- operational control systems
- critical facilities and power dependencies
- telecommunications and connectivity dependencies
- key suppliers and technology partners
- workforce and specialist capability dependencies
- cybersecurity-related business disruption scenarios.
- Work closely with Operations, Engineering, Technology, Cybersecurity, Security, Procurement and other functions to strengthen resilience of critical services.
- Crisis Management & Incident Response
- Own and continuously develop the company's enterprise Crisis Management framework.
- Define escalation mechanisms, crisis roles, decision rights and communication protocols.
- Facilitate executive crisis management activities by providing situational awareness, impact assessments, recovery options, and decision support to senior leadership throughout disruption events.
- Lead post-incident reviews and ensure lessons learned are translated into tangible improvements.
- Continuity Planning & Testing
- Ensure that critical functions maintain effective and up-to-date Business Continuity Plans.
- Establish an enterprise-wide exercise and testing program covering business, technology, operational and crisis scenarios.
- Lead simulations and crisis exercises involving senior management and critical operational teams.
- Assess the effectiveness of plans and capabilities and drive corrective actions to closure.
- Ensure continuity plans remain aligned with organizational, technological and operational changes.
- Third-Party & Supply Chain Resilience
- Establish BCM requirements for critical suppliers, partners and service providers.
- Work with Procurement, Operations and business owners to assess third-party continuity capabilities.
- Identify critical supply-chain vulnerabilities and concentration risks.
- Ensure appropriate contractual, assurance and contingency measures are established for strategically important suppliers.
- Regulatory & Customer Requirements
- Ensure compliance with applicable legal, regulatory, contractual and industry requirements relating to business continuity and operational resilience.
- Support customer assurance activities, audits and assessments related to business continuity and resilience.
- Maintain awareness of evolving European regulatory and resilience requirements and translate them into practical business requirements.
- Leadership & Stakeholder Management
- Serve as the enterprise leader and trusted advisor for Business Continuity Management, guiding business leaders on resilience risks, recovery priorities and continuity strategies.
- Build strong, trusted relationships across SES to establish credibility, influence decision-making and drive adoption of resilience practices.
- Influence and align stakeholders to deliver continuity objectives in a highly matrixed environment.
- Foster a culture of resilience by embedding accountability, preparedness and continuous improvement into everyday business operations.
- Manage external consultants, contractors and implementation partners engaged in the design, development and rollout of BCM capabilities.
- Direct vendor performance and delivery against agreed program objectives, budgets, timelines and quality expectations.
- Manage third-party service providers supporting continuity planning, exercising, crisis management platforms and resilience assessments.
- Develop and oversee BCM program budgets, statements of work and vendor contracts.
- Lead a matrixed team of business continuity functional owners, subject matter experts and cross-functional stakeholders responsible for continuity plan development and maintenance.
COMPETENCIES
- Execution-focused leader with a proven ability to translate resilience strategy into measurable outcomes and business improvements.
- Strong ownership mindset, taking accountability for delivery, risk reduction and closure of remediation actions.
- Results-driven, with the ability to establish clear priorities, maintain momentum and deliver against committed timelines.
- Data-driven decision maker who uses metrics, testing results and risk assessments to drive action and executive decisions.
- Strong program leadership skills, capable of managing complex cross-functional initiatives, dependencies and competing priorities.
- Effective influencer and communicator, able to drive accountability and alignment across a highly matrixed organization.
- Decisive under pressure, able to assess risks, recommend actions and support executive decision-making during major incidents and crises.
- Continuous improvement mindset, challenging the status quo and driving maturity improvements across resilience capabilities.
- Pragmatic and operationally focused, balancing strategic objectives with practical implementation and measurable outcomes.
- High integrity and accountability, with a strong focus on transparency, escalation and follow-through.
- Experienced in governance and stakeholder management, with the confidence to challenge, escalate and resolve issues when commitments are not met.
- Customer-focused, understanding the operational, commercial and reputational impact of service disruptions and recovery readiness.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
- Experience
- 10+ years of experience in Business Continuity Management, Operational Resilience, Enterprise Risk, Crisis Management or a closely related discipline, with a demonstrated progression of responsibility and scope.
- Experience operating in a complex, international and highly regulated environment.
- Experience developing and implementing enterprise-wide BCM frameworks.
- Strong experience with crisis management, business impact analysis, continuity planning and exercising.
- Comfortable engaging and influencing senior leaders and executives, presenting recommendations, influencing decisions and driving accountability across diverse stakeholder groups.
- Proven ability to develop, implement or enhance BCM frameworks, continuity plans and resilience capabilities across multiple business functions.
- Hands-on experience defining BCM scope, roadmaps, risk assessments, continuity planning, testing plans and crisis management plans.
- Hands-on experience of Business Impact Assessments (BIAs), defining recovery strategies, and establishing Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs).
- Experience with crisis response, executive incident management, and post-incident remediation activities.
- Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Risk Management, Information Technology, Security, Operations Management, or a related discipline.
- Master's degree in Business Administration, Risk Management, Engineering, or a related field preferred.
- Strong understanding of operational resilience, BCM, disaster recovery, crisis management, and risk management frameworks.
- Working knowledge of regulatory and operational resilience requirements applicable to critical infrastructure and global service providers.
- Ability to translate resilience requirements into operational plans, measurable deliverables, and business outcomes.
- Strong analytical, program management, and executive communication skills.
- Excellent command of English; additional European languages are an advantage.
- Relevant professional certification such as CBCI, MBCI, ISO 22301, CISM, CISSP, CRISC or equivalent is advantageous.
KEY DELIVERABLES- Establish and maintain an enterprise BCM framework covering business units, technology, critical suppliers, and customer-facing services.
- Define and execute the enterprise resilience roadmap, including maturity assessments and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Ensure recovery readiness for critical services through documented recovery strategies.
- Define and maintain approved and tested continuity plans for all critical business services.
- Design and deliver an ongoing enterprise testing practice, including executive-level crisis simulations and recovery validation.
- Drive stakeholders to remediate resilience gaps and risks identified
- Implement and maintain the enterprise crisis management framework, including communication, escalation, and decision-making processes.
- Provide executive visibility of resilience readiness through reporting, dashboards, and governance reviews.
- Identified and mitigated critical supply-chain vulnerabilities and concentration risks.
The salary range for this full-time position is $135,000 - $198,000.
Salary ranges are determined by role, level, and geographic location. Individual compensation within the range is determined based on work location and a variety of factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and relevant education or training.
Additional compensation and benefits may apply depending on the location and terms of employment.
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