Senior Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Consultant

Cypfer•Phoenix, AZ

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Consultant leads small workstreams within active incident response and recovery engagements, coordinating Consultants and ensuring deliverable quality and alignment with client objectives. Operating under the direction of a Manager or Senior Manager, the Senior Consultant owns workstream planning, validates technical outputs, and presents interim findings to client stakeholders while continuing hands-on DFIR and post-breach recovery (PBR) work across insurance, legal, and enterprise client engagements. The role combines technical execution with emerging service delivery leadership. The position is remote and requires the ability to travel on short notice to client sites up to 50%. Deployments are typically one to two weeks, and the consultant must be able to travel within 24–48 hours' notice. Participation in a rotating on-call schedule is required, with work on weekends and outside normal business hours as needed. The Senior Consultant analyzes triage collections and artefacts for indicators of compromise and potentially malicious activity; reviews host and appliance logs; collects forensic disk and memory images from physical and virtual endpoints and servers; and drives event correlation and timeline construction. The consultant conducts threat research based on investigation findings and directs junior team members in targeted research tasks. The role also requires accurate case notes and client-ready artefacts, adherence to SOPs and QA standards, and compliance with chain-of-custody and other requirements.

Requirements

3–5+ years of experience in incident response, digital forensics, or a related cybersecurity role.
Advanced DFIR and post-breach recovery analysis capability, including the ability to perform deeper forensic investigations and lead technical analysis workstreams.
Ability to coordinate plans, tasks, and risks across an engagement workstream with multiple contributors while maintaining quality and alignment with client objectives.
Experience presenting interim findings to client stakeholders, managing expectations, and leading the creation of client-ready deliverables.
Basic scripting proficiency in Python and/or PowerShell to automate forensic or recovery tasks.
Working knowledge of endpoint forensics, including evidence acquisition, preservation, and artefact triage across physical and virtual systems.
Hands-on experience operating EDR platforms for threat hunting, host isolation, and telemetry collection.
Familiarity with SIEM, SOAR, or incident-response orchestration platforms.
Ability to perform estimation and short-cycle planning within an engagement workstream.
Strong customer service, consulting, relationship management, and communication skills.
Ability to remain composed and articulate in high-pressure client situations.
Ability to maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive client and incident data.
Ability to participate in a rotating on-call schedule and work weekends and outside normal business hours as needed.
Ability to travel to client sites on short notice, including within 24–48 hours, for deployments typically lasting one to two weeks; travel may be up to 50%.

Nice To Haves

GCFA or GCFR certification is strongly preferred.
Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
Industry certifications such as GCFA, GCFR, GCIH, CCFR, CCHF, AWS Certified, or similar.
Exposure to threat hunting, network forensics, or malware analysis methodologies.
Experience in a professional services or consulting environment.

Responsibilities

Understand client challenges and objectives and ensure workstream operational tasks support the path to recovery.
Lead small workstreams under a Manager or Senior Manager, coordinate team task execution, and ensure deliverable quality and alignment with client objectives.
Own workstream planning, stand-ups, and risk tracking across active engagements.
Validate technical outputs, present interim findings to client stakeholders, and manage expectations.
Deliver work packages including forensic acquisition, IOC triage, and recovery steps.
Maintain accurate case notes and produce client-ready artefacts while following SOPs and QA standards.
Escalate risks early and follow chain-of-custody and compliance requirements.
Analyze triage collections and artefacts for indicators of compromise and potentially malicious activity.
Review host-system and appliance logs to identify suspicious activity.
Collect forensic disk and memory images from physical and virtual endpoints and servers.
Drive event correlation and timeline construction across engagements.
Conduct independent threat research based on collected IOCs and direct junior team members in targeted research tasks.
Participate in a rotating on-call schedule and work weekends or outside normal business hours as needed.
Travel to client sites on short notice for deployments, typically lasting one to two weeks.
Provide strong customer service and consulting in client interactions.
Adhere to client and internal policies, procedures, and security practices.
Remain calm, composed, and articulate in high-pressure client situations.
Maintain effective relationship management and communication.
Protect confidential client and incident data.