Director, Operational Resilience Exercising

Mastercard; Harrogate; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 120,000

Job description

Our Purpose

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.

Title and Summary

Director, Operational Resilience Exercising
Vocalink Limited
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the Chief Operating Office in Vocalink Limited, a Mastercard business, which provides Critical National Infrastructure to the UK.

• Vocalink is the UK company that enables the payments of 90% of salaries, 70% of utility bills, most ATM transactions and every cheque cleared in the UK.
• We provide services to over 60 million citizens, and the UK private, public and third sectors.
• In 2024, we processed 14 billion transactions, with a value of more than £10 trillion.
• Vocalink products include Bacs Direct Credits, Bacs Direct Debits, Faster Payments, the LINK ATM network for cash withdrawals, and the Image Clearing Service (ICS) that supports cheque clearing.

Operational Resilience

Vocalink complies with the Bank of England’s requirements on Operational Resilience. The Bank defines operational resilience as ‘the ability of Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) and the sector as a whole to prevent, respond to, recover and learn from operational disruptions’ with a particular focus for Vocalink on protecting financial stability, preventing threats to the transfer of payments, and enabling the safety and efficiency of the Recognised Payment Service Operators.

In Vocalink, the Chief Operating Office has overall accountability for the Operational Resilience Framework including policies and procedures, working closely with the Important Business Services owners in the Product, Strategy and Commercial Services teams, as well as “Pillar” owners across Technology, Security, Data, Facilities, People and Third Parties. The team also work closely with key stakeholders across the financial services industry and particularly the Recognised Payment Service Operators.

Overview of Role

The Director, Operational Resilience Exercising will play a critical role in preparing Vocalink for disruption to its Important Business Services, and ensuring Vocalink can meet its impact tolerances in Extreme but Plausible scenarios. This role will report to the Vice President Operational Resilience, who is responsible for the Operational Resilience Framework, policy and methodologies and embedding the Target Operating Model across Vocalink.

In this role, you will be accountable for:

1. Agreement to the Annual Scenario Test plan, ensuring Vocalink is testing extreme but plausible scenarios, based on the greatest risks to Vocalink.
2. Documenting Scenario Methodology, Risk and Controls, ensuring there is full understanding of the approach to Scenario identification, development, and supporting controls.
3. Ensuring any Operational Resilience Vulnerabilities are incorporated within the Scenario Test plan, leveraging the knowledge and understanding you will build of the critical assets (people, processes, technology, facilities, information and third parties) required to deliver each of Vocalink’s Important Business Services.
4. Development and ongoing management of the Response and Recovery playbooks, including supporting processes and mechanisms that enable recovery following an incident.
5. Lead the development of Scenario Exercises, including key injects, to ensure the Scenarios are “extreme but plausible” in line with the Bank of England’s definition.
6. Working closely with the Major Incident Management Team, Crisis Management Team and Vocalink Executive Committee and Board, to ensure all are adequately involved in the Annual Scenario Test Plan.
7. Working closely with key stakeholders to support relevant industry exercising, ensuring Vocalink provides appropriate input and is adequately represented.
8. Management of Lessons Learnt and associated actions for Vocalink identified through Annual Scenario Test Plan, including updating key governance fora, and working across the business and external stakeholders to ensure timely delivery.
9. Strong and effective reporting in key governance forums across all 3LOD on adequacy of Scenario Exercises and resulting Lessons Learnt.
10. Deputising for the Vice President, Operational Resilience, covering all elements of Operational Resilience activity where required and attendance at key internal and external meetings and governance fora.

You will need to:

• Work very closely with the Major Incident Management Team and Crisis Management Team.
• Work very closely with Operations, Technology and Security to ensure response and recovery mechanisms are fully understood and adequately documented and tested, and any gaps identified and closed.
• Work with the Risk team who provide oversight and check and challenge to Scenario Exercising.
• Build effective and influential relationships with key stakeholders across Vocalink.

About You

You are likely to have the following:

• Education: at least an undergraduate degree.
• Experience: a deep understanding of Operational Resilience in financial services, including how to approach Scenario Exercising to extract the greatest value.
• Passion for payments and an understanding of solutions.
• Process: an eye for detail and an understanding of process.
• People leadership: the ability to influence in a matrix environment.
• Skills and attributes:
• An ability to deal with ambiguity, complexity and competing priorities and to quickly assess, simplify and articulate challenges, solutions and recommendations.
• An ability to get things done, and to see the bigger picture.
• An ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines and react quickly to changing priorities.
• A proven relationship builder with strong influencing skills who can interact effectively with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• A proactive self-starter who has a passion for learning, doing and making a difference.
• A strong team player and collaborator with a team-first ethos and low ego.
• Commercial and business acumen.
• Excellent and engaging oral, written and presentational skills.
• A role model for the Mastercard Way.

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

• Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;
• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
• Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and
• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.