Sr. Director, Forensics

KLDiscovery, Inc.; Eden Prairie (MN); Remote; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

KLDiscovery is seeking a Senior Director, Forensics to lead a global forensics and collections practice, managing a distributed team across the US, EMEA, and APAC with a unified operating model and defensible methodologies.

You will drive client-facing delivery, scope complex matters, price services, and expand forensics revenue while ensuring governance, SLAs, and integration with Digital Analysis and Processing.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in digital forensics or eDiscovery, with 5+ years leading distributed teams.
• Hands-on expertise in forensic acquisition and analysis across computer, mobile, cloud.
• Experience scoping complex matters, client communication, and potential expert testimony.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end forensics and collections as one global team.
• Define standards: SOPs, quality, cost per collection event, cycle time, utilization.
• Maintain client-facing leadership, growth of forensics revenue, and offerings.

Skills

Digital forensics leadership

Client-facing leadership

Cross-regional staffing

Cloud/remote collection

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Forensics

Tools

Cellebrite

Cloud collection tooling

Job description

Senior Director, Forensics

Operations, Forensics | Remote (United States) | Full-time | Reports to the SVP, Operations

About the role

KLDiscovery brings clarity, trust, and meaning to data for clients navigating legal matters worldwide. Forensics is where that work starts. Collections and forensic analysis are the front of the matter, and the forensics leader is often the first person from Operations a client talks to. Clients tell us they choose partners on forensics leadership and modern collection capability, and this role is where we make that case.

The Senior Director, Forensics runs forensics and collections as one global practice. You lead a skilled team of examiners and analysts across the US, EMEA, and APAC and bring the practice together under one standard. You grow it: defensible delivery, a cross-regional staffing model that puts the right examiner on the right matter regardless of geography, modern remote and cloud collection offerings, and a client-facing presence that expands forensics-only and consulting revenue. You report to the SVP, Operations.

What you'll be doing

Run forensics and collections as one team

• Own end-to-end collection delivery: scoping, onsite, remote, and cloud collections, forensic analysis and reporting, chain of custody, and media handling across the US, EMEA, and APAC.
• Run the practice on one operating model: shared queues, one set of SOPs and quality standards, and one KPI set for cost per collection event, cycle time, error rate, and utilization.
• Run the daily rhythm: job board health, the 2-hour forensic scoping call SLA, weekend and 24/7 coverage rotations, and escalation handling.
• Own defensibility: methodology, chain of custody, documentation, state private investigator licensing compliance, and readiness to provide expert testimony where required.
• Own clean handoffs from collection into Digital Analysis and Processing so data lands through one front door with no separate staging.

Lead and develop the team

• Set clear expectations, communicate consistently, recognize great work, and build a visible career path for examiners and analysts.
• Develop the regional directors and managers as leaders who own their teams' results, and build succession depth across the practice.
• Own the forensics billable bonus plan and keep it aligned to the goals of the practice.
• Lead with the four values. Client is Always in the Room. Own the Outcome. Better Every Day. Deliver Results Together.

Be the client-facing forensics leader

• Serve as the senior forensic subject matter expert for clients, Client Success, and Sales: scoping calls, complex and high-profile matters, escalations, RFP responses, and testimony where required.
• Grow forensics-only and consulting revenue. Build the pipeline with Sales for forensics-only accounts, onsite collections, and remote collection engagements.
• Define, price, and launch new offerings: 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: industry presence, thought leadership, and a clear point of view on what stays human-led and what becomes AI-assisted in collection.

Systems, tooling, and intake automation

• Own the forensics toolchain and vendor relationships, including Cellebrite, remote collection platforms, analysis tools, and hardware and drive inventory, and manage them against cost per collection event.
• Serve as the operational owner for collections intake within the Tech-Enabled Platform program: standardize the remote collection toolchain into one intake path, automate FTP ingestion between PIP and clients, and extend native cloud ingestion.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to specify, test, and adopt automation. Evaluate and action technology proposals for remote and self-collection.
• Keep case records, job databases, and timesheets accurate and current to support billing, compliance, and reporting.

Unit economics, utilization, and reporting

• Own billable and non-billable time tracking, utilization by region, and the forensics KPI set: cost per collection event, cycle time, error rate, utilization, and new revenue from remote and AI-assisted offerings.
• Build a cross-regional, follow-the-sun staffing model so work flows to available examiners across the US, EMEA, and APAC, and raise billable utilization across the practice.
• Deliver forensics inputs to the weekly and monthly business reviews: throughput, SLA, quality, utilization, and cost. Record every improvement in the value capture register with a baseline, a dollar target, and one owner.
• Own the forensics budget and the 2027 plan: staffing, tooling, licensing, and margin.

What you should already have

• 12+ years in digital forensics, eDiscovery collections, or investigations, with 5+ years leading distributed teams that include managers or directors.
• Deep hands‑on expertise in forensic acquisition and analysis: computer, mobile, cloud (Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Workspace), chat and collaboration platforms, chain of custody, and defensible methodology. Certifications such as EnCE, CCE, GCFE, GCFA, or Cellebrite CCO and CCPA.
• A client‑facing record: scoping complex matters with counsel, handling escalations directly, and growing forensics or consulting revenue. Expert testimony experience a strong plus.
• Experience running utilization‑based teams: billable time discipline, cross‑regional staffing, and capacity planning.
• Experience uniting regional teams under one operating model and standard, and a record of stepping in as a new leader with the strong performers still in place afterward.
• Working knowledge of remote and self‑collection tooling and cloud‑native collection, and a view on how AI changes collection workflows.
• Commercial and financial fluency. You have owned a budget, priced services, and can explain cost per event and margin to a CFO.
• A direct, warm communication style. Comfortable in front of a general counsel, a law firm partner, and a first‑year analyst on the same day.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, digital forensics, information technology, criminal justice, or a related field, or equivalent experience. Advanced degree a plus.
• US‑based and eligible to work in the US. Able to travel to client sites and to obtain state private investigator licensing where required.

Our mission and core values

We bring clarity, trust, and meaning to data for clients navigating legal matters worldwide.

Client is Always in the Room. We operate and make decisions as if the client is in the room. We anticipate their needs, consider their perspective, and prioritize their best interests.

Better Every Day. We improve our tomorrow by always striving to be better than today. We embrace curiosity, question assumptions, and raise the bar constantly.

Own the Outcome. We bring an unwavering bias for action, act with urgency, and hold ourselves accountable to our clients and each other.

Deliver Results Together. We collaborate obsessively to achieve shared success. We assume good intentions, debate ideas thoughtfully, treat each other with respect, and fully commit once decisions are made.

Our culture shapes our actions, our products, and the relationships we forge with our customers.

Who we are

KLDiscovery provides technology‑enabled services and software to help law firms, corporations, government agencies and consumers solve complex data challenges. The company, with offices in 26 locations across 17 countries, is a global leader in delivering best‑in‑class eDiscovery, information governance and data recovery solutions to support the litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigation and data recovery and management needs of our clients.

Serving clients for over 30 years, KLDiscovery offers data collection and forensic investigation, early case assessment, electronic discovery and data processing, application software and data hosting for web‑based document reviews, and managed document review services. In addition, through its global Ontrack Data Recovery business, KLDiscovery delivers world‑class data recovery, email extraction and restoration, data destruction and tape management.

KLDiscovery has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in North America by both Inc. Magazine (Inc. 5000) and Deloitte (Deloitte's Technology Fast 500). Additionally, KLDiscovery is an Orange‑level Relativity Best in Service Partner, a Relativity Premium Hosting Partner and maintains ISO/IEC 27001 Certified data centers.

KLDiscovery is an Equal Opportunity Employer.