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Senior Specialist Disaster Recovery

 

Sr Specialist Disaster Recovery

 

Date September 8, 2025

Location Mississauga, ON – Hybrid

Requisition ID  20547

Status Regular

Business Unit Information and Technology Services

 

Why join us?

 

The IESO is committed to ensuring Ontario’s electricity system meets the province’s needs today and into the future. We are charged with purpose, delivering reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity for homes, businesses, and communities across the province. We are energized to grow, embracing opportunities to shape the future of a dynamic and evolving energy sector while advancing our careers. We are powered by teamwork, supported by diverse and passionate colleagues who foster respect, celebrate successes, and thrive on shared achievements. At the IESO, it’s not just what we do—it’s who we are! 

 

Who we are

 

Our central role includes managing the provincial power grid in real-time, overseeing and evolving Ontario’s electricity market, engaging with government, municipalities and Indigenous communities, and planning for Ontario’s future electricity needs. Our employees play a key role in driving grid innovation, protecting the system from threats, advancing the province’s energy conservation programs, and forecasting and procuring the electricity resources we’ll need in the decades to come.

 
This role is a part of…

  • The IT Disaster Recovery (DR) role is a critical component of an organization's overall risk management and business continuity strategy. It ensures that essential technology systems and data can be quickly restored following disruptions such as cyberattacks, natural disasters, or system failures. By working closely with infrastructure, cybersecurity, and business operations teams, the IT DR function helps safeguard organizational resilience, protect customer trust, and maintain regulatory compliance. This role supports the broader mission of operational continuity and strategic agility, enabling the organization to recover swiftly and minimize the impact of unexpected events.
  • Information and Technology Services (ITS) - Unionized

 

What makes this role exciting

 

The energy sector is rapidly evolving, offering exciting new opportunities for those who want to make a difference.

  • A successful IT Disaster Recovery candidate will be expected to design, implement, and maintain robust recovery strategies that ensure minimal downtime and data loss during system disruptions, while continuously testing and refining plans to align with evolving business needs and technologies.

 

What you’ll do

 

In this role, you’ll make a meaningful impact by contributing to the IESO team and supporting the electricity needs of the province through:

  • Undertake the role as Disaster Recovery Planner.  Act as principal point of contact for addressing disaster recovery requirements, activities and issues. Provide coordination with all areas of Information & Technology Services (I&TS) and the business areas when disaster recovery exercises are planned and conducted. Provide support and guidance to all business areas and I&TS to ensure that, over time, the Disaster Recovery strategies, plans and documentation are maintained and tested.  
  • Maintains and coordinates the updates to all Disaster Recovery program documentation within I&TS and ensures that the corresponding Disaster Recovery plans are updated and aligned with the overall program.
  • Provide program support for strategizing, overall coordination, and management reporting of the Disaster Recovery Program. This includes monitoring readiness of the backup facilities, equipment and resources involved in emergency response and restoration.
  • Establish and maintain Disaster Recovery Program standards, procedures and plans. Ensure that the program meets all regulatory and audit requirements in areas including policy, testing, documentation, training and awareness.  Develop and maintain the Program at the point of maturity where disaster recovery planning becomes and remains a routine and integrated part of daily business operations.
  • Provide periodic supervision to staff assigned to assist in specific work assignments.  Assign and check work, provide instruction and direction. Refer personnel issues to Supervisor for resolution.
  • Participates in change control meetings and identifies those changes which impact recoverability. 
  • Performs technical impact assessments with I&TS staff  to provide alternative/intermediary technical DR solutions.
  • Conducts business impact analysis (BIA) and assists business units to determine critical business processes and identify acceptable recovery time periods. 
  • Assists in the establishment of business continuity testing methodologies by planning and coordinating the testing of recovery support and business resumption procedures throughout the organization. 
  • Ensures that recovery procedures are effective for the restoration of key corporate resources and for the resumption of critical business processes. 
  • Provides information and collaborates with the Senior Specialist Business Continuity in conducts training on how staff are expected to respond during an emergency as outlined in the Business Continuity program documentation, Disaster Recovery program and associated Disaster Recovery plans documentation. 
  • Assists business continuity teams during disaster in implementing response and alternate operating strategies. 
  • Performs all planning activities for Disaster Recovery exercises including developing appropriate objectives, overseeing configuration reconciliation and all testing logistics. 
  • Lead the execution of all bi-annual and annual disaster recovery exercises and complete all required post-execution documentation and validation. 
  • During actual disaster event be available at any hour and day (24x7) to lead all required disaster recovery activities. 
  • Perform other duties as required.

 

Role Requirements

 

Our team consists of experts from diverse backgrounds, each bringing their unique perspectives and skills. 


To succeed in this role, you’ll need: 

 

Education:

  • Requires a thorough knowledge of business principles and processes to acquire an understanding of disaster recovery planning techniques and technologies, along with methodologies used in risk, financial and business analyses; to conduct business assessments, research, and develop quality management program measures and targets, guidelines and recommendations for achieving effective disaster recovery management systems and business processes.
  • Requires excellent written and verbal communication skills in order to provide direction, guidelines and recommendations, and to communicate effectively with all contacts involved in accomplishing work objectives.
  • This knowledge is considered to be normally acquired through the completion of a four-year University education in the appropriate field or by having the equivalent level of education.

 

Experience:

  • Requires extensive background and demonstrated experience in project or program management to understand all aspects of project/program planning, scheduling, executing and tracking, and to provide leadership as coordinator and resource for addressing disaster recovery program issues, requirements and to support activities in the areas of system resumption planning, crisis management and disaster recovery.

  • Requires broad experience within the company and business unit environments to understand the overall business, its operations, processes, information systems technology and structure, rules and guidelines relating to Crisis Management/Emergency Response, Business Resumption/Continuity, and Disaster Recovery.

  • Requires experience in the application of policies, procedures, guidelines and best practices.

  • Requires experience in identifying emerging developments, best practices and methodologies in the business continuity and risk management fields. 

  • Requires experience to become familiar with the industry and international business continuity management standards and familiarity with implementation issues as it relates to regulatory and other requirements.

  • A period of over 8 years and up to and including 10 years is considered necessary to gain this experience.

 

How We Support You

 

From a comprehensive total rewards program to dynamic learning and development opportunities—including job rotations to broaden your expertise—we empower you to define and shape your own success. When you join the IESO, here’s what you can expect:

  • Best-in-class benefits and long-term support in the form of a defined benefit pension plan. 
  • A commitment to flexibility where 95% of our workforce participates in a hybrid model. Employees work in-office a minimum of four days and work remotely up to six days over a two-week period with a goal of maximizing in-office time through the use of established team days. Remote work can be done from anywhere in Ontario.
  • Work in a dynamic and evolving sector that offers exciting opportunities and the chance to explore new career paths.
  • Leadership that values meaningful discussions, welcomes feedback, and prioritizes career development. 
  • A strong, inclusive culture and a collaborative team environment with a shared passion for impactful work.
  • Compensation packages that are regularly reviewed to remain competitive and to best accommodate the diverse needs of our employees. 

 


Deadline: September 22, 2025 at 11:59PM

 

For future reference, please save a copy of the job posting as it will no longer be available once the posting closes.

 

Thank you for your interest in a career at the IESO. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. Please note that the successful candidate must be legally eligible to work in Canada and will be subject to applicable background checks. 

 

We believe in opportunities for everyone. At the IESO, we know that achieving great results depends on embracing diversity by attracting, developing, and retaining people from a wide variety of backgrounds. We do this by ensuring our recruitment and advancement policies are fair and equitable, and by creating an accessible and inclusive environment—one that values every team member’s unique skills and experiences and ensures they have the support they need to achieve their potential. If you require accommodation during the recruitment process, please let us know.  

 

We’re proud to say we’ve been recognized as a supportive, inclusive employer. 

 

    

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