Operational Resilience - Program and Governance Lead (Finance)

Operational Resilience Americas Department

The Americas Operational Resilience Department enable the bank to effectively manage business threats and mitigate risk of disruptions. The department ensures readiness of each entity as well as the ability to respond adequately to disruptive events, minimizing the impact on the services delivery of the bank's critical operations.

The department addresses both Resilience Transformation and Resilience Operations. The transformation aspect encompasses resilience strategy, program execution, and the development of new capabilities across the organization. Meanwhile, resilience operations provide visibility and readiness in daily activities, including new product launches, continuity testing, and event or crisis management.

The functions performed span all lines of business and corporate functions across the Americas region to mitigate risks and disruptions through an efficient and sustainable framework, effectively reducing risk and enabling Mizuho to meet growing business expectations and regulatory requirements.

As part of Mizuho Americas' ongoing efforts to building a more resilient organization, we are seeking a seasoned Operational Resilience Subject Matter Expert to join our team. This individual will play a critical role in enhancing the firm's ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions to business operations.

The successful candidate will lead the Operational Resilience Program, overseeing both strategic initiatives and day-to-day operations and governance. This role will work in close partnership with divisional leadership to ensure the program is comprehensive, effective, and aligned with regulatory expectations and industry best practices. Key areas of focus include business continuity, disaster recovery, technology testing, third-party resilience, and data resilience.

This position offers a unique opportunity to shape the direction of Mizuho Americas' resilience initiatives. The program lead will be responsible for the implementation, and execution of the operational resilience framework, policies, and governance structures. Fostering transparency through the delivery of analytics and insights on risk and control indicators is a core component of the program.

As a trusted liaison across key resilience domains—including cybersecurity, disaster recovery, business continuity management, technology, and third-party risk—the program lead will collaborate closely with stakeholders across the entire organization.

This role is hybrid and based in our New York City Office

Key Responsibilities

Operational Resilience Strategy Leadership:

• Contribute to the development and execution of a comprehensive operational resilience strategy that aligns with the firm's business objectives, regulatory requirements, and enterprise risk management framework.
• Establish and maintain governance structures, policies, and frameworks that underpin the organization's resilience capabilities and ensure consistent application across all business units.
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to embed resilience principles into core processes, systems, and decision-making practices.
• Facilitate the integration of resilience efforts across key domains, including business continuity, IT disaster recovery, third-party risk management, and crisis management, ensuring a cohesive and coordinated approach.

Program Development and Oversight:

• Support the implementation and ongoing execution of the operational resilience framework, ensuring alignment with regulatory expectations, industry best practices, and internal policies and standards.
• Ensure prioritized business services fully adopt the program's methodology, governance structures, and outcome measurement practices.
• Promote awareness and foster a culture of resilience across the organization through targeted training, stakeholder engagement, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Facilitate the identification and mapping of critical business services, including their dependencies on personnel, technology, facilities, third parties, and data.
• Lead efforts to identify, remediate, and monitor resilience vulnerabilities, ensuring timely resolution and continuous improvement.

Performance and Reporting:

• Execute a comprehensive testing program to evaluate the bank's resilience posture, uncover emerging risks, identify structural vulnerabilities, and identify opportunities for enhancement.
• Conduct resilience assessment initiatives—including simulations, tabletop exercises, and scenario analyses—to validate the effectiveness of business continuity, disaster recovery, third-party, and technology resilience capabilities in alignment with defined risk appetites.
• Collaborate with operational resilience pillars to assess compliance with established capability baselines and risk thresholds.
• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and key risk indicators (KRIs) to evaluate the organization's ability to mitigate risk scenarios and provide actionable insights to service owners for informed decision-making.
• Analyze trends across services, resilience pillars, and the broader program to identify areas for continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and serve as a liaison with internal audit and external regulators on matters related to operational resilience.
• Maintain alignment with internal policies and standards, ensuring consistency with evolving market practices and regulatory expectations.
• Support the advancement of resilience tooling, automation, and technology innovation to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of resilience management.

Collaboration and engagement:

• Collaborate with key stakeholders across IT, Risk, Operations, Legal, Compliance, and other functions, serving as a trusted advisor and providing constructive challenge and oversight of resilience-related plans and initiatives.
• Foster a collaborative, results-driven environment that emphasizes continuous improvement and shared accountability.
• Support the Head of Operational Resilience in building and developing a high-performing, enterprise-wide operational resilience team.
• Lead cross-functional teams and drive enterprise-wide initiatives to strengthen the organization's overall resilience posture.

Qualifications

• Master's degree or Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operational Resilience, Cybersecurity, Finance, or Economics; an advanced degree is strongly preferred.
• Minimum of 13 years of relevant experience in risk management within the financial services, insurance, or investment management sectors, with a strong understanding of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) operations.
• Demonstrated experience in crisis management, including the development of preparedness artifacts, execution of testing and exercises, and facilitation of post-incident reviews.
• Proven expertise across the core pillars of Operational Resilience: Business Resilience, Technology Resilience, Third-Party Resilience, Cyber Resilience, Data Resilience, and Crisis Management.
• Familiarity with key components of operational resilience programs, including governance, scenario development and testing, crisis response, and education and awareness initiatives.
• Ability to perform effectively under pressure, managing crises and operational disruptions with a structured, strategic, and composed approach.
• Deep understanding of regulatory requirements and supervisory expectations related to operational resilience, including frameworks such as:
  • Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) Principles for Operational Resilience
  • U.S. Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC guidance
  • UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requirements

The expected base salary ranges from $180,000.00 - $200,000.00. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, and, where applicable, certifications and licenses obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered. In addition to salary and a generous employee benefits package, including but not limited to Medical, Dental and 401k that begin on day one of employment, successful candidates are also eligible to receive a discretionary bonus.

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