Head of Disaster Recovery, Testing & Preparedness

Wells Fargo & Company•Iselin, NJ

1d•$250,000 - $420,000

About The Position

Role Summary Wells Fargo is seeking a transformational leader to head our Disaster Recovery Testing and preparedness function within the Technology Resiliency, Risk and Regulatory Execution (TREX) team. This is a senior leadership role charged with elevating Wells Fargo’s disaster recovery capabilities commensurate with a world-class, strategic resiliency program. As the Head of Disaster Recovery Testing, you will facilitate the ongoing evolution of Wells Fargo’s disaster recovery testing strategy and capabilities, defining and executing a vision that ensures Wells Fargo’s critical systems and business operations can withstand and rapidly recover from disruptions of any scale. This role offers the opportunity to lead enterprise-wide initiatives that safeguard our customers, shareholders, and team members by strengthening operational resilience across one of the world’s largest financial institutions. Key Responsibilities Strategic Resiliency Leadership: Continuously evolve the firm’s enterprise disaster recovery strategy and capabilities, in alignment with Wells Fargo’s business priorities and risk management framework. Program Development & Governance: Chair governance forum(s) to coordinate technology resiliency testing across all lines of business and technology teams. Oversee the transformation and maintenance of polices, standards, and playbooks for disaster recovery – ensuring clarity in roles, decision-making authority, escalation paths, and communications. Cross-Functional Coordination: Work closely with partners in Technology, Business Operations, Cybersecurity, Risk, and Compliance to integrate disaster recovery capabilities with broader operational resilience efforts. Serve as the primary liaison to senior leadership (CIO, CTO, CRO, etc.) on DR readiness, and regularly report on resilience status, gaps, and improvements. Influence and inspire a wide range of stakeholders (often in a matrixed environment) to foster a culture of preparedness and timely incident response. Innovation & Best Practices: Lead the adoption of industry best practices and next-generation DR solutions. This includes leveraging cloud-based recovery, automation, and active-active architecture to minimize recovery times; implementing advanced monitoring and failover capabilities; and continuously researching emerging technologies to enhance resiliency. You will set the roadmap for investing in new tools and processes that keep Wells Fargo’s DR capabilities on the cutting edge. Testing & Continuous Improvement: Oversee the firm’s disaster recovery testing program, ensuring that lessons learned from tests and real incidents are captured and translated into enhancements of recovery capabilities, plans, procedures, and infrastructure. You will be accountable for key DR metrics (e.g. RTO/RPO adherence, test success rates, issue remediation) and use these metrics to drive continuous improvement. Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management: Ensure Wells Fargo’s DR program meets or exceeds all strategic objectives and relevant regulatory requirements for operational resilience. Maintain up-to-date, auditable documentation of recovery plans, test results, and recovery capabilities. Partner with the Enterprise Risk and Regulatory teams to proactively address evolving regulations and provide transparent reporting on Wells Fargo’s resiliency posture. Act as the lead responder for any regulatory or audit findings related to disaster recovery, swiftly closing gaps and fortifying controls. Team Development and Leadership: Manage and mentor a team of DR and Resiliency specialists. Foster an inclusive, high-performance environment by setting clear objectives, providing professional development, and promoting best practices. Additionally, lead a broader virtual team of subject-matter experts across technology and business units during resiliency planning. You will champion resiliency awareness training and education for all employees, reinforcing accountability and preparedness at every level.

Requirements

10+ years of risk management, business controls, or compliance experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education
6+ years of management experience

Nice To Haves

10+ years of progressive experience in disaster recovery, business continuity, and operational resilience within a large, complex enterprise (financial services experience strongly preferred).
5+ years in an executive or leadership role designing and implementing enterprise-wide resiliency or DR programs.
Demonstrated ability to craft and execute a strategic roadmap for operational resilience or disaster recovery.
Track record of evolving and enhancing resiliency programs in alignment with changes in the threat landscape, strategic priorities and regulatory expectations.
Able to balance big-picture vision with detailed execution plans.
Deep knowledge of modern disaster recovery technologies and methods – including data center architecture, backup/restore solutions, high-availability systems, cloud DR (AWS/Azure/GCP), data replication, and automation/scripting for failover.
Able to interface confidently with internal auditors and regulatory examiners, providing credible assurance of the firm’s recovery capabilities.
Exceptional leadership skills in a matrixed environment – able to lead through influence as well as direct authority.
Experience building cross-functional coalitions and working with technology executives, business unit leaders, and risk/compliance teams to achieve shared resiliency goals.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex DR plans and statuses to senior executives and board-level audiences in clear business terms.
Experience in financial services or other highly regulated industries.
Familiarity with cybersecurity aspects of DR (cyber recovery vaults, ransomware recovery) and emerging trends in resilience
Strong understanding of operational risk management and regulatory expectations for disaster recovery/BCP in the financial industry.
Experience ensuring compliance with standards such as FFIEC IT Handbook, ISO 22301, and regional regulations.

Responsibilities

Continuously evolve the firm’s enterprise disaster recovery strategy and capabilities, in alignment with Wells Fargo’s business priorities and risk management framework.
Chair governance forum(s) to coordinate technology resiliency testing across all lines of business and technology teams.
Oversee the transformation and maintenance of polices, standards, and playbooks for disaster recovery – ensuring clarity in roles, decision-making authority, escalation paths, and communications.
Work closely with partners in Technology, Business Operations, Cybersecurity, Risk, and Compliance to integrate disaster recovery capabilities with broader operational resilience efforts.
Serve as the primary liaison to senior leadership (CIO, CTO, CRO, etc.) on DR readiness, and regularly report on resilience status, gaps, and improvements.
Influence and inspire a wide range of stakeholders (often in a matrixed environment) to foster a culture of preparedness and timely incident response.
Lead the adoption of industry best practices and next-generation DR solutions.
Oversee the firm’s disaster recovery testing program, ensuring that lessons learned from tests and real incidents are captured and translated into enhancements of recovery capabilities, plans, procedures, and infrastructure.
Ensure Wells Fargo’s DR program meets or exceeds all strategic objectives and relevant regulatory requirements for operational resilience.
Maintain up-to-date, auditable documentation of recovery plans, test results, and recovery capabilities.
Partner with the Enterprise Risk and Regulatory teams to proactively address evolving regulations and provide transparent reporting on Wells Fargo’s resiliency posture.
Act as the lead responder for any regulatory or audit findings related to disaster recovery, swiftly closing gaps and fortifying controls.
Manage and mentor a team of DR and Resiliency specialists.
Foster an inclusive, high-performance environment by setting clear objectives, providing professional development, and promoting best practices.
Lead a broader virtual team of subject-matter experts across technology and business units during resiliency planning.
Champion resiliency awareness training and education for all employees, reinforcing accountability and preparedness at every level.