Role Description

Technical > Disaster Recovery Specialist

Salary National Average

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78040.0000 92630.0000 114350.0000

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Candidate Supply: 3,675 Job Openings: 1,837

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Short Description:

A Disaster Recovery Specialist is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining disaster recovery plans to ensure business continuity in the event of a crisis or disaster. Their duties include conducting risk assessments, identifying potential threats, and creating strategies for data backup and system restoration. Disaster Recovery Specialists also coordinate training and testing of recovery plans with relevant teams to ensure readiness and compliance with industry standards. Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and a solid understanding of IT systems and disaster recovery protocols are essential for success in this role, as they play a critical part in safeguarding organizational assets and minimizing downtime during emergencies.

Duties / Responsibilities:

  • Develop emergency management plans for recovery decision making and communications, continuity of critical departmental processes, or temporary shut-down of non-critical departments to ensure continuity of operation and governance.
  • Develop disaster recovery plans for physical locations with critical assets, such as data centers.
  • Test documented disaster recovery strategies and plans.
  • Analyze impact on, and risk to, essential business functions or information systems to identify acceptable recovery time periods and resource requirements.
  • Write reports to summarize testing activities, including descriptions of goals, planning, scheduling, execution, results, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations.
  • Review existing disaster recovery, crisis management, or business continuity plans.
  • Create scenarios to reestablish operations from various types of business disruptions.
  • Establish, maintain, or test call trees to ensure appropriate communication during disaster.
  • Conduct or oversee contingency plan integration and operation.
  • Identify opportunities for strategic improvement or mitigation of business interruption and other risks caused by business, regulatory, or industry-specific change initiatives.

Skills / Requirements / Qualifications

  • Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
  • Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

Job Zones

  • Title: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
  • Education: Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. 
  • Related Experience: A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
  • Job Training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
  • Job Zone Examples: Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include real estate brokers, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, chemists, art directors, and cost estimators.
  • Specific Vocational Preparation in years: (7.0 to < 8.0)

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