Consulting Director, DFIR, Reactive Services (Unit 42)

Palo Alto Networks • Santa Clara, CA

22h

About The Position

The Consulting Director, Reactive Services is a senior-level consulting position providing expert-level guidance on all areas of cybersecurity and data breach response to Unit 42 clients. As a strategic and technical leader, you will act as the client’s advocate for cybersecurity across a wide array of industries, geographies, and organizational structures. You will be instrumental in leading technical teams and providing solutions to complex security challenges.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree with 12 years of experience, or Master's degree with 8 years of experience, or PhD with 5 years of experience in a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of hands-on consulting experience in digital forensics and incident response (DFIR).
• Proven experience leading technical breach response teams in high-pressure, fast-paced environments.
• Expert-level knowledge of forensic processes and procedures, including chain of custody and memory/disk acquisition techniques.
• Demonstrated proficiency with industry-standard forensics tools such as EnCase, FTK, SleuthKit, or Volatility.
• Deep operational understanding of one or more major operating systems (Microsoft Windows, Linux, or Mac).

Nice To Haves

• Industry recognition as an inspiring leader, evidenced by media presence or public speaking engagements.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain rapport with clients and manage complex budgets.
• Experience identifying and triaging novel malware strains.
• Willingness to travel up to 20% as required for client support and team leadership activities.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical breach response teams in fast-paced environments, providing strategic direction and hands-on guidance.
• Deliver expert-level consulting on cybersecurity, incident response, and digital forensics to a diverse client base.
• Proactively collaborate with clients and internal teams to develop unique and creative solutions for complex security incidents.
• Maintain and apply hyper-current knowledge of the threat landscape, emerging vulnerabilities, and malware persistence mechanisms.
• Utilize advanced forensic tools and processes (e.g., EnCase, FTK, Volatility) for evidence acquisition and analysis across major operating systems.
• Manage client relationships, lead technical meetings, and oversee multiple project teams concurrently to ensure successful engagement delivery.
• Identify opportunities to cross-sell or upsell existing clients and contribute to generating new business for reactive services.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees