Sr. Director, Forensics

KLDiscovery•United States,

5d•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Director, Forensics leads forensics and collections as one global practice across the US, EMEA, and APAC. The role oversees a skilled team of examiners and analysts and establishes a shared operating model, standards, and staffing approach across regions. It is responsible for defensible delivery, modern remote and cloud collection capabilities, and a client-facing presence that supports forensics-only and consulting revenue growth. The position reports to the SVP, Operations. The role owns end-to-end collection delivery, forensic analysis and reporting, chain of custody, media handling, defensibility, daily practice operations, and handoffs into Digital Analysis and Processing. It leads team development and succession planning, serves as a senior forensic subject matter expert for clients and internal partners, and develops and launches collection offerings. It also owns the forensics toolchain and vendor relationships, collections intake automation, utilization and performance reporting, and the practice budget and 2027 plan. KLDiscovery provides technology-enabled services and software for complex data challenges, including eDiscovery, information governance, data recovery, forensic investigation, data processing, hosting, and managed document review. It operates in 26 locations across 17 countries and has served clients for over 30 years.

Requirements

12 or more years of experience in digital forensics, eDiscovery collections, or investigations.
At least 5 years leading distributed teams that include managers or directors.
Deep hands-on expertise in forensic acquisition and analysis across computers, mobile devices, cloud platforms (including Microsoft 365, Azure, and Google Workspace), chat and collaboration platforms, chain of custody, and defensible methodology.
A client-facing track record that includes scoping complex matters with counsel, directly handling escalations, and growing forensics or consulting revenue.
Experience managing utilization-based teams, billable time discipline, cross-regional staffing, and capacity planning.
Experience bringing regional teams together under one operating model and standard, with a record of taking on a new leadership role while retaining strong performers.
Working knowledge of remote and self-collection tools and cloud-native collection, and a perspective on how AI affects collection workflows.
Commercial and financial fluency, including budget ownership, service pricing, and explaining cost per event and margin to a CFO.
Direct, warm communication style and comfort communicating with general counsel, law firm partners, and junior analysts.
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, digital forensics, information technology, criminal justice, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
US-based and eligible to work in the US.
Ability to travel to client sites and obtain state private investigator licensing where required.

Nice To Haves

Certifications such as EnCE, CCE, GCFE, GCFA, Cellebrite CCO, or CCPA.
Expert testimony experience.
An advanced degree.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end collection delivery, including scoping, onsite, remote, and cloud collections, forensic analysis and reporting, chain of custody, and media handling across the US, EMEA, and APAC.
Operate the practice using shared queues, common SOPs and quality standards, and KPIs for cost per collection event, cycle time, error rate, and utilization.
Manage daily operations, including job board health, the two-hour forensic scoping call SLA, weekend and 24/7 coverage rotations, and escalations.
Own defensibility, including methodology, chain of custody, documentation, state private investigator licensing compliance, and readiness to provide expert testimony where required.
Ensure clean handoffs from collection into Digital Analysis and Processing through a single front door without separate staging.
Set team expectations, communicate consistently, recognize strong performance, and develop visible career paths for examiners and analysts.
Develop regional directors and managers, build leadership capability and succession depth, and own the forensics billable bonus plan.
Lead the practice according to the company’s core values.
Serve as senior forensic subject matter expert for clients, Client Success, and Sales, including scoping calls, complex and high-profile matters, escalations, RFP responses, and testimony where required.
Grow forensics-only and consulting revenue and build the pipeline with Sales for forensics-only accounts, onsite collections, and remote collection engagements.
Define, price, and launch remote and self-collection, mobile and chat collections, cloud-native collections from Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and AI-assisted collection workflows.
Represent the practice externally through industry presence, thought leadership, and a perspective on human-led and AI-assisted collection.
Own the forensics toolchain and vendor relationships, including Cellebrite, remote collection platforms, analysis tools, and hardware and drive inventory, managing them against cost per collection event.
Own collections intake operations within the Tech-Enabled Platform program, standardizing remote collection tools into one intake path, automating FTP ingestion between PIP and clients, and extending native cloud ingestion.
Partner with Product and Engineering to specify, test, and adopt automation, and evaluate and act on technology proposals for remote and self-collection.
Maintain accurate and current case records, job databases, and timesheets to support billing, compliance, and reporting.
Own billable and non-billable time tracking, regional utilization, and forensics KPIs, including cost per collection event, cycle time, error rate, utilization, and revenue from remote and AI-assisted offerings.
Build a cross-regional, follow-the-sun staffing model that routes work to available examiners across the US, EMEA, and APAC and raises billable utilization.
Provide forensics inputs to weekly and monthly business reviews on throughput, SLA, quality, utilization, and cost; record improvements in the value capture register with a baseline, dollar target, and owner.
Own the forensics budget and 2027 plan, including staffing, tooling, licensing, and margin.