Senior Digital Forensic Specialist (Chelmsford, Headquarters)

Essex Police and Kent Police; Chelmsford; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional police authority in Chelmsford seeks a Senior Digital Forensic Specialist to supervise digital forensic investigations. Candidates should possess technical abilities across digital devices and at least two years' experience in a Digital Forensic service. This full-time position requires effective communication skills and resilience in handling sensitive information. The salary starts at £47,709, with potential increases based on experience and position within the police force.

Benefits

Incremental salary increases

Support for career progression

Qualifications

• Experience in digital forensic investigations.
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.
• High degree of emotional resilience.

Responsibilities

• Supervise a team of digital forensic practitioners.
• Provide advice on the extraction of digital data.
• Ensure compliance with ISO standards.

Skills

Technical ability across digital devices

Interpersonal skills

Understanding of ISO 17025

Education

A level standard or 2 years experience in Digital Forensic service

Tools

Digital forensic tools

Job description

Senior Digital Forensic Specialist (Chelmsford, Headquarters)

Location of Role: Chelmsford

Advert Closing Date: 14/10/2025

Starting Salary: £47,709.00(pro-rata for part-time vacancies)

Part/Full Time: Full Time

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: Shift not 24/7

Kent and Essex Police have recently transformed their digital service to adapt and take advantage of the latest technology and infrastructure available. An exciting opportunity has arisen for an individual to undertake the role of Senior Digital Forensic Specialist within Kent and Essex Digital Services, based at Essex Police HQ.

The new Digital Services’ structure has been designed to provide the best possible career progression and CPD framework to ensure you will have the tools and necessary experience to carry out first class digital forensic investigations.

Digital devices and information communication technology are present in almost every investigation the Police Service undertakes. These range from complex computer platforms to mobile phone handsets, games consoles, digital CCTV systems and satellite navigation. As digital devices continue to evolve it will be critical that you are able to adapt & learn new emerging technologies to meet the requirements of the role.

The role involves the day-to-day supervision of a team of digital forensic practitioners to ensure service delivery against published SLAs in support of investigations, ensuring compliance with ISO standards and relevant legislation.

You will be able to provide advice and assistance to officers and staff concerning the proportionate extraction of digital data. This role requires you to utilise streamlined, targeted extraction techniques or triage capability of sized digital devices to enable faster charging decisions.

You will have an understanding of the quality standard ISO 17025 and how this affects the role. You will be required to develop and maintain your competence under these requirements ensuring best practice is shared amongst colleagues. It is expected that you will update your technical knowledge of specialised Digital Forensic procedures and advancements within the Digital Forensic field.

To balance these technical attributes, you will need to be a highly motivated team player with the ability to manage a high caseload and be able to utilise coaching methods to provide an environment that is both supportive and constructive to other members of the team.

In this role you will be dealing with highly sensitive and distressing information which requires you to have a high degree of emotional resilience. You will also be required to work to tight deadlines and be able to multi-task, dealing with competing demand and court requests.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and dynamic individual who can demonstrate within their reason for application the following skills and/or experience:

• Technical ability across a range of digital device, knowledge of computer and/or mobile phone hardware, software, and operating systems.
• Educated to A level standard or have at least 2 years’ recent experience within a Digital Forensic service provider (law enforcement or private sector), to include experience of the leading digital forensic tools currently employed nationally.
• Good understanding of ISO 17025.
• Interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.

The Senior Digital Forensic Specialist role is shift based, you will be working a 6-week pattern where you will be required to work 1 weekend in 6. The shifts are detailed below:

AM shift: 0700 – 1500

PM shift: 1200 – 2000

This recruitment process consists of 2 stages which involves a presentation and a competency-based interview.

Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Andrew Richards or Andrew Marbrow for further information regarding the role on 01622 654783, 01245 49149 ext 489201, or via email on [e-mail].

Essex Police offer incremental increases within this salary band, therefore the salary for this position will rise to a maximum of £51,291.00.

Kent Police and Essex Police have separate salary grading systems therefore the salary for this position will be dependent on which home office force you are appointed to. This will be discussed with the successful applicant before a final offer is made.

Your application for this role will be shortlisted on the content you provide within the “reason for application” question, within the application form itself. CVs, covering letters or attachments are not included in the shortlist. Within your “reason for application” answer, please refer to any experience, skills, and abilities you feel you have that will make you suitable for this role, based on the role criteria stated in the job advert or job description. Please provide as much detail as possible as insufficient content may mean you do not meet the shortlisting criteria, however please note this question is limited to 9000 characters and this system will count spaces and blank lines as characters. This count may differ from the Microsoft Word word count function therefore you may wish to use a different online character counter to check the characters used.

All of our posts require a level of vetting and security clearance. During the recruitment process you will be sent vetting information forms to complete.

Kent Police and Essex Police welcomes applications regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex, or employment status.

Please let us know if you require extra support at any stage of the application process, or for further information regarding this position, please email us at [e-mail] stating ‘Application Support and Adjustments’ in the title of your email. Alternatively, you can call us on 01245 452833. Where appropriate we will make adjustments to the selection process, working arrangements and/or the working environment provided it is reasonable in all the circumstances to do so.

If you’re not from the UK, you must be a resident in the UK and have lived here continuously for the last three years. You must also be free from restrictions with indefinite leave to remain. If you’re from the UK you must have lived here continuously for the last three years. This doesn’t apply to those serving abroad in the British Armed Forces.

Essex Police is a Disability Confident Leader, we:

• have subjected our Disability Confident self-assessment to externalchallenge and validation
• are taking an active leadership role in encouraging and helping otheremployers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are central to the values of our organisation. At Essex Police we value and embrace the unique experiences, identities and abilities that each of us bring to our roles. We strive to empower everyone to bring their authentic self openly and safely to work.

Through the dedicated commitment of our support networks, DE&I team and wider HR departments, we are on a journey to embed our DE&I commitments, ensuring Essex Police is an employer of choice; where everyone feels included.

Essex Police and Kent Police are an equal opportunities employer. Communications may be recorded for monitoring purposes.