United Kingdom · Compliance, quality and safety · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director, Global Resilience

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

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Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
Direct reports25-100+ reports
Reports toChief Operations Officer (or similar C-suite leader)
UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as VP, Enterprise Crisis Management · Head of Business Continuity & Incident Response · Director, Compliance & Operational Resilience

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

ATHE Level 6 Award in Security Risk Management Consultancy ATHE Ltd · Level 6 · covers 3 of 8 standards

SFJ Awards Level 5 Certificate for the Security Risk Management Practitioner (RQF) SFJ Awards · Level 5 · covers 2 of 8 standards

IRM's Level 5 International Certificate in Financial Services Risk Management Institute of Risk Management · Level 5 · covers 2 of 8 standards

Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in Cyber Security Qualifi Ltd · Level 5 · covers 1 of 8 standards

CMI Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Management and Leadership Chartered Management Institute · Level 5 · covers 1 of 8 standards

ProQual Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Management ProQual Awarding Body · Level 4 · covers 4 of 8 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

organisational Resilience ATHE Level 6 Award in Security Risk Management Consultancy

Business continuity and the disaster recovery process SFJ Awards Level 5 Certificate for the Security Risk Management Practitioner (RQF)

Resilience IRM's Level 5 International Certificate in Financial Services Risk Management

Incident Response, Investigations and Forensics Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in Cyber Security

Manage business risk CMI Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Management and Leadership

Implement and maintain business continuity plans and processes ProQual Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Management

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner

AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly

Foresight Fluency seeing round the corner

Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture

Trust Fluency keeping the digital world safe

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Your Plan Illustration

Built for Director, Global Resilience

6 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

organisational Resilience ATHE Ltd · covers 3 of 8 standards Level 6
Business continuity and the disaster recovery process SFJ Awards · covers 2 of 8 standards Level 5
Resilience Institute of Risk Management · covers 2 of 8 standards Level 5
Incident Response, Investigations and Forensics Qualifi Ltd · covers 1 of 8 standards Level 5
Manage business risk Chartered Management Institute · covers 1 of 8 standards Level 5
Implement and maintain business continuity plans and processes ProQual Awarding Body · covers 4 of 8 standards Level 4

These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Director, Global Resilience?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

AI Governance & Ethical Resilience
Geopolitical Risk Intelligence & Strategic Foresight

Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluencyworking with AI as a thinking partner
AI Governance Fluencyusing AI responsibly
Foresight Fluencyseeing round the corner
Systems Fluencyseeing the whole picture
Trust Fluencykeeping the digital world safe

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Director, Global Resilience plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

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3What this role really is

This job sets the strategy for how an organisation prepares for, responds to, and recovers from major disruption. That could be a cyber attack, a natural disaster, or a pandemic. The work involves planning so operations can continue no matter what happens.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Everbridge Suite (or similar Emergency Notification) Strategic

Leading vendor selection/negotiation, defining enterprise-wide communication protocols, and analysing platform effectiveness metrics for board reporting. Ensuring global coverage and integration with other systems.

Intelex, Enablon, Cority (or similar EHS/Incident Mgt.) Architect

Governing the overall data model, championing platform integration with GRC/ERP systems, and using platform data to justify strategic investments in risk mitigation. Defining global incident reporting standards.

ServiceNow GRC, Archer GRC Suite, OneTrust (or similar GRC Platform) Strategic

Owning the GRC module for resilience, defining the enterprise risk appetite framework, and presenting consolidated risk posture to the executive team and auditors. Ensuring regulatory alignment.

MS Teams (with Crisis Comms App), SharePoint, Confluence (or similar Collaboration & Comms) Strategic

Setting the enterprise standard for crisis collaboration tooling, ensuring security, accessibility, and integration with other core systems. Defining information sharing protocols for crisis teams.

Power BI, Tableau (or similar BI & Reporting) Strategic

Defining the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the entire resilience programme and overseeing the creation of executive-level dashboards for the C-suite and Board. Using data to drive strategic decisions.

Dataminr, NC4, Esri ArcGIS (or similar Threat Intelligence) Strategic

Integrating threat intelligence into the enterprise risk assessment process, briefing leadership on emerging threats and their potential business impact, and informing strategic investment in protective measures.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choice	Coming in	Where you are now	The step above
Enterprise Resilience Strategy & Framework	N/A	N/A	Owns the development and recommendation of the strategy to the C-suite. Consults with C-suite and Board for final approval.
Crisis Response Activation & Declaration	N/A	N/A	Recommends BCP invocation or crisis declaration to the C-suite. Leads the Executive Crisis Management Team once activated.
Programme Budget Allocation (£2M-£10M+)	N/A	N/A	Full authority within approved budget. Seeks C-suite approval for significant unbudgeted expenditures or major capital investments.
Key Vendor Selection (e.g., Notification Systems, GRC Platforms)	N/A	N/A	Full authority for selection and negotiation, within budget. Informs C-suite of major strategic partnerships.
Team Hiring & Organisational Design	N/A	N/A	Full authority for hiring, promotions, and organisational structure within the global resilience function. Informs HR and C-suite of significant changes.
Regulatory Engagement & Response	N/A	N/A	Leads all regulatory engagements related to resilience, with Legal and C-suite oversight for critical responses.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) for Critical Processes

The average time it takes to restore our most vital business processes and systems after a disruption.

Target · Reduce MTTR for Tier 1 processes by 20% over two years.

After a significant IT outage, we restored our core payment processing system in 4 hours, beating the previous average of 5 hours and our target of 4.5 hours.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP) & Disaster Recovery (DR) Test Completion & Success Rate

Percentage of critical business units and IT systems that have successfully completed their scheduled BCP/DR tests.

Target · Achieve 100% completion and 95%+ success rate for all Tier 1 BCP/DR tests annually.

In Q4, all 12 critical business units successfully executed their BCP tests, identifying only 2 minor findings that were resolved within 30 days.

Enterprise Resilience Maturity Score

Our overall score against an industry-recognised resilience framework (e.g., BCI GPG, ISO 22301).

Target · Improve our resilience maturity score from 'Established' to 'Optimising' within 3 years.

Our latest assessment showed an increase in our 'Incident Response' capability from 3.5 to 4.2 out of 5, reflecting improved documentation and team training.

Regulatory Audit Findings Related to Resilience

The number and severity of findings from external regulators concerning our crisis management, business continuity, or operational resilience programmes.

Target · Zero 'Significant' or 'Critical' findings, and a 50% reduction in 'Minor' findings year-on-year.

The latest FCA review noted only one 'Minor' observation regarding our third-party resilience oversight, down from three 'Minor' findings last year.

Board & Executive Confidence

The level of trust and confidence the Board and C-suite have in the organisation's resilience capabilities.

Regular invitations to present at Board meetings on resilience strategy, proactive consultation on major strategic initiatives (e.g., M&A, new market entry), positive feedback from Board members on preparedness briefings, and increased budget allocation for resilience programmes without significant pushback.

Cross-Functional Integration & Collaboration

How well crisis management and business continuity are embedded into daily operations and strategic planning across departments.

Resilience KPIs integrated into departmental scorecards, active participation from business unit leaders in exercise design and debriefs, positive feedback from key stakeholders (e.g., IT, Legal, HR) on collaboration during incidents and planning, and the successful execution of complex, multi-departmental exercises.

Proactive Risk Identification & Mitigation

The effectiveness of the programme in identifying emerging threats and implementing preventative measures before they impact the business.

Regular, actionable threat intelligence briefings for the C-suite, examples of significant risks mitigated or avoided due to proactive planning, the development and implementation of new resilience controls based on horizon scanning, and a demonstrable reduction in the frequency of 'surprise' incidents.

Team Leadership & Development

Your ability to build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing global resilience team.

High employee engagement and retention within your team, clear succession plans for key roles, positive feedback from direct reports on coaching and career development, and the successful delivery of complex projects by your team with minimal direct intervention from you.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy

Protecting the Organisation's Future

You'll spend your days building robust defences, anticipating threats, and ensuring that no matter what happens, our company can continue to operate, protecting jobs, revenue, and reputation.

Successfully leading the organisation through a major regional outage, ensuring critical services were restored within the agreed RTO, and receiving direct praise from the CEO for safeguarding the business.

Strategic Impact & Influence

You'll be at the forefront of enterprise-level decision-making, influencing the Board and C-suite on critical investments and strategic directions related to risk and resilience.

Presenting a new global resilience framework to the Board and securing multi-million-pound investment for new tooling and headcount, fundamentally changing our risk posture.

Building & Developing High-Performing Teams

You'll be responsible for recruiting, mentoring, and empowering a diverse team of resilience professionals, fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.

Seeing a manager you've coached successfully lead a complex, cross-functional incident response, or celebrating a team member's promotion to a more senior role.

What frustrates people

The constant struggle to justify significant 'cost centre' investments in preparedness when there's no immediate, tangible ROI—until a crisis hits.
Watching the organisation make huge strides in preparedness after a major incident, only for budget and attention to wane a year later as 'post-crisis amnesia' sets in.
The 'Prophet of Doom' stigma: constantly thinking about what could go wrong can be perceived as negative or obstructive by more optimistic operational teams.
Navigating complex organisational politics to get different business units and regions to align on a single, consistent global resilience strategy.
The sheer volume of regulatory requirements and the effort needed to demonstrate compliance across multiple jurisdictions, which can feel like an endless paper chase.

What this role does not give you

A predictable 9-to-5 schedule with no out-of-hours demands; significant incidents don't respect office hours.
A role where you always have direct command and control over every resource needed during a crisis; you'll rely heavily on influence.
A quiet, low-pressure environment; this is a high-stakes, high-visibility role.
A role where your work is always celebrated and immediately visible; much of your success is measured by what doesn't happen.

8Who you work with

This role directly impacts the company's financial stability, regulatory standing, and brand reputation. You'll be the ultimate owner of our ability to maintain critical operations during a crisis, safeguarding revenue streams and ensuring we meet our legal and ethical obligations. Your leadership helps protect hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs and ensures continued service for our customers.

Inside the business

C-Suite (CEO, COO, CFO, CCO)
Board of Directors (especially the Audit & Risk Committee)
Regional Business Unit Heads
Legal & Regulatory Affairs
Head of IT & Cyber Security

Outside the business

Key Regulators (e.g., FCA, HSE)
External Auditors
Industry Bodies & Peer Organisations
Critical Vendors & Supply Chain Partners

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

Demonstrable experience (16+ years) in leading and managing large-scale crisis management, business continuity, or operational resilience programmes within a complex, global organisation.
Proven track record of successfully leading executive-level incident responses and managing high-stakes situations with significant reputational or financial impact.
Extensive experience in managing multi-million-pound budgets and making strategic investment decisions for resilience capabilities.
Deep understanding of global regulatory landscapes related to operational resilience, particularly in the UK and key international markets.
Experience building, developing, and leading diverse, multi-cultural teams, including managers and specialists.
A strong network within the industry and a reputation as a thought leader in resilience, or equivalent.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Data Storytelling for Executives

The Board and C-suite are drowning in data. Your ability to distil complex resilience metrics into compelling, actionable narratives—using advanced visualisation and storytelling techniques—will be crucial for securing continued investment and demonstrating value.

Executive Dashboard Design · Narrative Structure for Data · Benchmarking & Peer Analysis · Impact Quantification

This quarter: Review your current Board presentations. Can they be simplified? Are they telling a clear story?
Next 6 months: Work with your BI team to redesign one key executive resilience dashboard, focusing on clarity and impact.
Next 12 months: Seek feedback from C-suite members on the effectiveness of your data presentations and adapt accordingly.
Ongoing: Explore courses or workshops on advanced data visualisation and storytelling for leaders.

Quick win: For your next executive update, focus on one single, powerful metric and build your entire narrative around its implications, rather than presenting a dozen disparate data points.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up

Regularly attend and present at industry conferences and forums (e.g., BCI World, DRI Conference) to stay abreast of best practices and emerging threats.
Participate in executive leadership development programmes, focusing on strategic influence, change management, and board-level engagement.
Engage with peer organisations and industry groups to share insights and benchmark our resilience capabilities.
Pursue continuous learning in areas like geopolitical analysis, AI governance, and advanced data analytics to stay ahead of the curve.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI Governance & Ethical Resilience

As AI becomes embedded in everything from operations to decision-making, understanding its risks—and how to build resilience into AI systems—is paramount. Regulators are already looking at this, and ethical considerations are becoming a board-level concern.

AI Risk Frameworks
Resilience by Design for AI
Ethical AI Principles
AI Incident Response

Geopolitical Risk Intelligence & Strategic Foresight

The global landscape is more volatile than ever. Understanding complex geopolitical shifts, their potential impact on our supply chains, market access, and employee safety, is no longer a niche skill—it's a core strategic imperative for resilience leaders.

Scenario Planning
Global Supply Chain Mapping
Political Risk Analysis
Economic Sanctions & Trade Restrictions

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

Incident Command System (ICS) Mastery
Business Continuity Lifecycle Management (Enterprise-wide)
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) & Preventative Strategies
Tabletop Exercise (TTX) Design, Facilitation & Programme Governance
Crisis Communication Strategy (Board & Investor Level)
Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) Framework

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

1
Manager, Crisis & Business Continuity (L5)
3-5 years at L5
Skills to master
- Mastering the management of a global resilience function, including budget oversight, team leadership, and presenting programme status to senior leadership. Proving your ability to lead complex incident responses.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully managed a team of 10+ resilience professionals.
- Owned the P&L for a significant resilience function (e.g., £500K-£2M).
- Led the response to at least one major organisational incident.
- Consistently received positive feedback from C-suite on programme delivery and strategic insights.
2
Director, Enterprise Risk Management (from another organisation)
4-6 years at Director level
Skills to master
- Bringing a broad enterprise risk perspective, you'd need to quickly deepen your expertise in the specific nuances of crisis management and business continuity within our industry. Understanding our regulatory environment is key.
You're ready to move on when
- Demonstrated success in managing enterprise-wide risk frameworks.
- Strong understanding of operational risk and its intersection with resilience.
- Proven ability to influence C-suite and Board on risk-related matters.
- Quickly acquiring specific certifications in BCM/Crisis Management.
3
Head of EHS (Environmental, Health & Safety) (from a large organisation)
5-7 years at Head of EHS level
Skills to master
- You'd bring deep expertise in incident investigation, safety protocols, and regulatory compliance. The focus would be on expanding your scope to include broader business continuity and cyber resilience, and leading multi-disciplinary crisis teams.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully managed large-scale health and safety incident responses.
- Strong track record in regulatory engagement and compliance.
- Demonstrated ability to build and manage EHS programmes across multiple sites.
- A clear understanding of the broader operational resilience landscape beyond traditional EHS.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This role sits within a career focused on protecting organisations from the unexpected. It can lead to positions such as Chief Resilience Officer or VP of EHS and Crisis Management, or to independent advisory work at board level.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Director, Global Resilience is actually changing.

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from organisational Resilience, worked against Director, Global Resilience.

organisational Resilience Level 6

Applied to your work in Director, Global Resilience

This unit aims to provide learners with a comprehensive understanding of Organisational Resilience capability and its key components, including adaptability, agility, and robustness. Learners will explore the principles of criticality management, impact analysis, and the role of human factors in organisational resilience, enabling them to mitigate the effects of disruptions.

How the thinking builds

1 Remember
2 Understand
3 Apply
4 Analyse
5 Evaluate
6 Create

An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

Start my Director, Global Resilience plan, free

See Your Progress Grow Illustration

Director, Global Resilience

Incident Command System (ICS) Mastery
Business Continuity Lifecycle Management (Enterprise-wide)
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) & Preventative Strategies
Tabletop Exercise (TTX) Design, Facilitation & Programme Governance
Crisis Communication Strategy (Board & Investor Level)
Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) Framework

This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Director, Global Resilience is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) / VP, EHS & Crisis Management
3-5 years

Level 7 (C-Suite)
- Defining enterprise-level risk appetite and tolerance frameworks.
- Leading company-level transformation initiatives driven by resilience needs.
- Managing relationships with top-tier regulators and government bodies at a strategic level.
- Driving industry thought leadership and setting new standards for organisational resilience.

Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be honest, as a Director, your time is precious. You're juggling strategic planning, team leadership, executive briefings, and, of course, the unexpected crisis. What if you could offload some of the heavy lifting to AI, freeing you up for what truly matters: shaping our global resilience strategy and leading your team?

AI isn't here to replace your strategic mind; it's here to supercharge it. For a Director in Global Resilience, that means automating the mundane, synthesising vast amounts of data for quicker insights, and enabling your team to be more efficient, allowing you to focus on high-level decision-making and proactive risk management. Think less time sifting through reports, more time anticipating the next global threat.

AI-Powered Board Report Generation

Imagine feeding AI raw incident data, exercise results, and regulatory updates, and it drafts a concise, executive-ready summary for your Board presentation. You'll spend less time wordsmithing and more time refining the strategic narrative and preparing for tough questions.

Predictive Risk & Vulnerability Analysis

Use AI models to analyse historical incident data, threat intelligence, and external risk factors to predict potential future vulnerabilities. This moves us from reactive to truly proactive resilience, helping you direct resources to where they'll have the biggest preventative impact.

Global Regulatory Compliance Mapping

AI can scan new and updated regulations across multiple jurisdictions, automatically mapping them to our existing resilience controls and identifying gaps. This saves countless hours of manual legal review and ensures our global programme remains compliant without you needing to be a lawyer in every country.

Strategic Communication Drafting Assistant

During a high-profile crisis, use generative AI, trained on our company's tone and legal guidelines, to draft initial holding statements, internal executive updates, or even responses to media inquiries. This provides a critical first draft in minutes, allowing you to focus on legal review and strategic messaging.

Common questions

How do you become a Director, Global Resilience?

Common routes in include Manager, Crisis & Business Continuity (3-5 years at L5), Director, Enterprise Risk Management (from another organisation) (4-6 years at Director level) and Head of EHS (Environmental, Health & Safety) (from a large organisation) (5-7 years at Head of EHS level). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director, Global Resilience progress to?

This role can lead on to Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) / VP, EHS & Crisis Management (3-5 years), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Director, Global Resilience?

Increasingly, AI Governance & Ethical Resilience and Geopolitical Risk Intelligence & Strategic Foresight. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my Director, Global Resilience plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.

Director, Global Resilience

Where should we send it?

Two short quizzes about you

Will AI change your work as a Director, Global Resilience?

What's rising in its place

AI Governance & Ethical Resilience

Geopolitical Risk Intelligence & Strategic Foresight

Skills this role draws on

Technical

How you actually get there, here

Manager, Crisis & Business Continuity (L5)

Director, Enterprise Risk Management (from another organisation)

Head of EHS (Environmental, Health & Safety) (from a large organisation)

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

Roles this leads to

One to one, on the work you already do

Everything else the record holds

The career path, and where it branches

Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) / VP, EHS & Crisis Management

Where AI is starting to help

AI-Powered Board Report Generation

Predictive Risk & Vulnerability Analysis

Global Regulatory Compliance Mapping

Strategic Communication Drafting Assistant

Common questions

Want a read on where you stand?