Disaster Recovery & High Availability Program Manager

Senior Program Manager - BCDR 

Guidacent is a boutique consulting firm that helps clients solve complex business and technology challenges through experienced leadership, pragmatic execution, and a hands-on delivery approach. We specialize in large-scale transformation initiatives, technology modernization, program leadership, and operational excellence.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Program Manager to lead a high-profile Disaster Recovery (DR) and High Availability (HA) program for a large enterprise client undergoing a significant data center modernization and resiliency transformation.

Position Overview

Guidacent is seeking a Senior Program Manager to lead a large-scale Disaster Recovery and High Availability program focused on enhancing enterprise resiliency, business continuity, and operational readiness.

This role will oversee the migration and activation of a new colocation facility that will serve as a critical component of the client's disaster recovery strategy. The engagement includes the migration of business-critical applications and infrastructure, establishment of governance and operating standards, and implementation of repeatable DR and HA capabilities across the organization.

The successful candidate will provide end-to-end program leadership across application, infrastructure, network, operations, and business teams while driving planning, execution, governance, risk management, and organizational adoption.

This position requires an accomplished program leader with both strong business acumen and technical depth who can coordinate multiple workstreams, manage complex dependencies, facilitate executive decision-making, and drive successful outcomes in a highly visible environment.

Key Responsibilities

Program Leadership

• Lead the Disaster Recovery and High Availability program from initiation through operational transition.
• Develop and maintain an integrated program roadmap, execution strategy, milestones, and dependencies.
• Drive stakeholder alignment, program kickoff activities, charter development, and governance establishment.
• Establish program operating rhythms, executive communications, and reporting structures.
• Facilitate steering committee meetings and governance forums.
• Provide overall accountability for successful program delivery.

Disaster Recovery & High Availability Strategy

• Develop and promote enterprise-wide DR and HA standards and best practices.
• Establish repeatable approaches for resiliency, failover, recovery validation, and operational readiness.
• Drive alignment on Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs).
• Partner with technical teams to ensure solutions align with business continuity requirements.
• Support the maturation and adoption of disaster recovery capabilities across the organization.

Migration Planning & Execution

• Lead a structured, wave-based migration approach that balances risk, readiness, and business impact.
• Coordinate migration sequencing across application, infrastructure, network, and operational teams.
• Drive readiness assessments, dependency validation, change planning, cutover preparation, and post-migration support.
• Ensure migration activities are supported by documented runbooks, rollback strategies, testing plans, and operational procedures.

Governance & Program Controls

• Establish and maintain a comprehensive governance framework.
• Develop RACI models that clearly define ownership and accountability.
• Implement stage-gate reviews and readiness checkpoints.
• Coordinate with Change Advisory Boards (CABs) and governance bodies to ensure controlled execution.
• Monitor program health through metrics, reporting, and risk management processes.

Stakeholder Management

• Align stakeholders across application, infrastructure, network, engineering, operations, and business organizations.
• Facilitate executive decision-making and resolution of cross-functional issues.
• Drive accountability for commitments, dependencies, and deliverables.
• Ensure leadership teams maintain visibility into program progress, risks, and critical decisions.

Risk & Issue Management

• Establish and manage RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) processes.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate program risks.
• Facilitate timely issue resolution and appropriate escalation.
• Manage critical dependencies impacting schedule, quality, and resiliency objectives.

Expected Deliverables

• Program Charter and Governance Framework
• Integrated Master Plan and Migration Roadmap
• Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Plan
• RACI Matrix
• Disaster Recovery and High Availability Standards
• Readiness Assessment Framework
• Migration Wave Plans
• Risk and Dependency Registers
• Executive Status Reporting
• Cutover and Rollback Plans
• Operational Readiness Assessments
• Post-Migration Validation and Transition Plans

Required Qualifications

Program Management Experience

• Enterprise disaster recovery and high availability program leadership experience.
• 10+ years of experience leading large-scale enterprise programs.
• Demonstrated success managing complex, multi-workstream technology initiatives.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management, and facilitation skills.
• Experience establishing governance structures, operating models, and program controls.
• Proven ability to drive alignment across cross-functional teams and executive leadership.

Technical Experience

• Experience leading data center migrations, infrastructure transformation initiatives, colocation deployments, or technology modernization programs.
• Experience supporting Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, or Resiliency programs.
• Strong understanding of High Availability architectures and operational resiliency practices.
• Ability to engage effectively with infrastructure, network, engineering, and operations teams.

Organizational Change & Process Leadership

• Experience developing organizational standards, governance models, and operational processes.
• Demonstrated ability to drive adoption of new operating models and ways of working.

Why Join Guidacent?

At Guidacent, you will work alongside experienced consultants who help clients solve complex challenges with practical, results-oriented solutions. We offer the opportunity to lead strategic initiatives, partner closely with client leadership, and make a meaningful impact on high-visibility transformation programs.