Consulting Director, DFIR, Reactive Services (Unit 42)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.
Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

Job Description

Job Summary

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.

Key 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.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 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).

Preferred Qualifications

• 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.

Additional Information

The Team

Unit 42 Consulting is Palo Alto Network's security advisory team.  Our vision is to create a more secure digital world by providing the highest quality incident response, risk management, and digital forensic services to clients of all sizes. Our team is composed of recognized experts and incident responders with deep technical expertise and experience in investigations, data breach response, digital forensics, and information security. With a highly successful track record of delivering mission-critical cybersecurity solutions, we are experi