Senior Technical Manager, IT Disaster Recovery

Who are we?

We are the IT Division of HKJC, a vibrant community of over 1,500 dedicated professionals working collaboratively across Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Our team is a diverse mix of individuals from various backgrounds, from all across the world. We embrace our humanity, recognizing that each of us brings unique strengths and perspectives. This diversity not only enriches our work environment but also drives our innovation and creativity as we strive to achieve our collective goals.

What do we do?

We design, build, and operate the technology that powers the Club. Our primary focus is on delivering the service that supports our hospitality, racing and wagering operations, to ensure that our customers and members enjoy exceptional experiences.

We also deliver the changes necessary to drive business growth through new products and services. And, we are committed to safeguarding the Club by protecting it from external threats, providing a secure and resilient technological environment.

The Department

The IT Infrastructure and Platform Operations Department is responsible for the design, implementation, and management of the infrastructure that supports the Club’s IT systems, and leads the Service Management capabilities that ensure the smooth running of these systems.

This department ensures that all technological resources operate efficiently and effectively to support business objectives. Key responsibilities include:

• Design and operate processes and controls that ensure IT service availability, performance, and resilience are aligned with business expectations.
• Manage the 24x7 IT Operations Centre.
• Manage the Club’s exploitation of the public cloud.
• Manage the complete lifecycle of the Club’s IT network and the technology within our data centres.
• Provide the roadmaps, standards, and capabilities that enable our IT infrastructure to remain current (eligible for vendor support) and secure (patched and remediated against CVEs).
• Provide the Club’s colleague collaboration technology suite, including desktop and laptop computers, mobile devices, collaboration tools, carrier contracts, and associated support functions.

The Job

You will:

Develop and Implement Disaster Recovery Plans:

Design comprehensive disaster recovery (DR) strategies covering pre-disaster preparation, disaster response, and post-disaster recovery to maintain business continuity. Identify critical systems and data, set recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs), and establish backup and restoration protocols. Lead plan development, maintenance, and validation, ensuring SOPs remain current across stakeholders. Incorporate lessons learned from incidents to improve resilience. Determine required budgets, personnel, and technologies, addressing remediation and upgrades. Keep detailed documentation of DR plans, procedures, and reviews, updating regularly for IT environment changes and insights from tests and real events.

Conduct Risk Assessments:

Perform risk assessments on IT applications and infrastructure to uncover vulnerabilities and threats. Evaluate disaster scenarios—natural events, cyber-attacks, hardware failures—by analysing probability and impact. Develop risk mitigation and recovery strategies. Collaborate with business system leaders to identify and protect business-critical systems and dependencies. Assist business units in creating and updating Business Impact Analyses (BIAs) to prioritise recovery and assess disruption impacts. Ensure BIAs reflect true business needs.

Coordinate with Internal Stakeholders:

Work across IT, operations, and management departments to ensure DR plans align with business goals. Define Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) integrated into architecture design and build standards, along with operational acceptance testing criteria. Support the development of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) capabilities alongside business units for improved reliability and resilience.

Monitor and Test Recovery Plans:

Regularly test DR plans using simulations, drills, and table-top exercises to validate effectiveness and readiness. Use table-top exercises to walk through disaster scenarios, identify gaps, and enhance response strategies. Update plans after testing and in response to IT environment changes to retain relevance and effectiveness.

Capability, Training, and Awareness:

Create and deliver training programs to educate employees on DR procedures and their roles during recovery. Conduct drills and simulations to maintain staff readiness. Track and maintain IT Operations and Services expertise to sustain skills, business knowledge, and a culture of high performance.

Manage Recovery Operations:

Oversee DR execution during and after events by coordinating recovery teams, enforcing procedures, and managing IT service restoration to minimise downtime and data loss. Lead communications with senior management and stakeholders on recovery progress and facilitate approvals. Develop programs for incident responses involving DR plans, including execution, post-event analysis, tracking, and reviews. Conduct root cause analyses and post-mortems with actionable recommendations and assigned owners for remediation. Lead remediation of critical technical, process, or personnel resilience issues affecting the broader IT environment.

Team Management and DR Maturity:

Manage team performance and optimise resource use to support strategic initiatives and daily operations while ensuring service continuity. Drive enhancements in DR capabilities by advancing ITIL maturity from Model 1 to Model 4 per McKinsey’s framework.

About You

You should have:

• Degree or above qualifications in Computer Science, Engineering or relevant disciplines
• Over 8 years of IT experience managing complex production and testing environments within large organisations
• Extensive background in developing and implementing IT Disaster Recovery (DR) plans, including setting Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs)
• Proven track record delivering mission-critical systems with strong ownership and accountability
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, able to engage effectively with IT teams, business users, and executive management
• Proficient in English (spoken and written), Cantonese, and Putonghua; strong presentation and writing skills
• Good commercial awareness and understanding of contractual issues related to IT services
• Experience in vendor management and coordination with external partners
• Strong problem-solving, troubleshooting, and diagnostic skills to address complex IT issues quickly and effectively
• Solid understanding of ITIL and service management frameworks, covering Incident, Problem, Change, Asset, Configuration, and Service Level Management
• Expertise in various data backup and recovery technologies, including cloud-based, on-premises, and hybrid solutions
• Knowledgeable in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices that emphasise automation, monitoring, and maintaining high availability of IT systems
• Strong understanding of IT infrastructure components, including servers, networks, storage, and databases
• Skilled in developing and maintaining Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) to support critical business functions during and after incidents
• Experience conducting disaster recovery tests, drills, and table-top exercises to evaluate and improve plan effectiveness
• Proven ability to manage DR projects end-to-end: planning, execution, progress monitoring, and stakeholder communication
• Familiarity with compliance requirements and industry standards relevant to disaster recovery and business continuity
• Certified in DR or Business Continuity disciplines (e.g., ABCP, CBCP, DRCS, IT DRP Planner)

Terms of Employment

The level of appointment will be commensurate with qualification and experience.

How to Apply

Please send your resume, complete with expected salary and job reference by clicking the Apply Now button or to:

Fax: 2966-5770

Mail: The Human Resources Department, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, 1 Sports Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
 

We are an equal opportunity employer. Personal data provided by job applicants will be used strictly in accordance with the Club's notice to employees and prospective employees relating to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. A copy of which will be provided immediately upon request.