Associate Director, Digital Forensics & Cyber Investigations

Hilco Global•Chicago, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Hilco Global is expanding its Global Investigations & Dispute Resolution practice and is seeking an Associate Director to oversee complex digital forensics and cyber-enabled investigations. This role involves managing technical workstreams, serving as a key leader in execution and practice development, and focusing on digital evidence, cyber-enabled fact development, user and system activity reconstruction, data movement analysis, device and cloud evidence, and investigative findings. This is an opportunity for professionals who want to shape the direction of a growing, market-facing digital forensics and cyber investigations capability within an established platform.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, cybersecurity, digital forensics, accounting, finance, business, or a related discipline required.
Approximately 7-10 years of relevant experience in digital forensics, forensic technology, cyber investigations, insider-risk investigations, incident investigation, or related consulting services.
Significant experience managing complex, multi-workstream digital forensics matters and interacting directly with senior clients and counsel.
Strong technical grounding in forensic preservation, collection, artifact analysis, chain of custody, user-activity reconstruction, log analysis, and defensible reporting.
Experience with leading forensic and investigative technologies such as EnCase, FTK, Cellebrite, Magnet AXIOM, X-Ways, Nuix, Relativity, Microsoft Purview, Google Vault, CrowdStrike, Splunk, or similar platforms.
Demonstrated leadership in engagement oversight, team development, client service, and technical quality control.
Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, including the ability to translate technical findings into clear business, legal, and investigative conclusions.
Strong judgment and ability to operate effectively in sensitive, high-stakes, deadline-driven matters.
Willingness to travel based on client and business needs.

Nice To Haves

Candidates with master's degrees or other advanced technical degrees are strongly encouraged and will be prioritized.
Professional credentials such as EnCE, GCFE, GCFA, GASF, CCE, CFCE, CISA, CISSP, RCA, CEDS, or similar certifications are advantageous.

Responsibilities

Lead large or high-complexity digital forensics and cyber investigations from scoping and preservation through analysis, reporting, and presentation of findings.
Oversee forensic collections and analyses involving endpoints, mobile devices, email, cloud repositories, collaboration tools, enterprise systems, logs, and other digital evidence sources.
Direct user-activity reconstruction, data movement and deletion analysis, access-log analysis, communications analysis, and other digital fact-development workstreams.
Advise clients and counsel on evidence preservation, collection strategy, data scoping, chain of custody, technical limitations, and defensible investigative methodology.
Serve as a primary day-to-day contact for clients, external counsel, IT, security, HR, compliance, and senior stakeholders on digital evidence issues.
Review technical workpapers, forensic reports, timelines, exhibits, declarations, and other client-facing deliverables.
Manage engagement economics, resource planning, technical risk, deadlines, and quality-control considerations.
Coach and develop Managers, Associates, Analysts, and other team members across active matters.
Help drive consistency in methodology, defensibility, tool usage, documentation, and execution across the practice.
Support proposals, pitches, thought leadership, recruiting, training, vendor relationships, and strategic growth initiatives.
Identify opportunities to expand existing client relationships and connect digital forensics work with Hilco's broader investigations, disputes, restructuring, valuation, and advisory capabilities where relevant.