We are seeking a senior Forensic Technology and eDiscovery practitioner to join our client in Sydney at Senior Director level. The ideal candidate will hold relevant forensic-technology and eDiscovery credentials with at least 10 years of relevant experience, the most recent 3+ years at Director or equivalent senior-leadership level. The successful candidate will lead the most complex multi-jurisdictional forensic-collection and eDiscovery engagements, define the practice's defensibility doctrine on TAR / CAL and AI-assisted review under Federal Court Practice Notes on technology and the court, carry a meaningful named-account pipeline across the Australian and Trans-Tasman litigation, class-action and arbitration bar, and contribute to the practice's strategy as an emerging Partner-track operator.

Confidential Client. Applying to this position means that you are interested to have an initial confidential discussion about how we can help you to identify and join a new forensic technology and eDiscovery practice. With your authorisation we will exclusively run the entire application and recruitment process for you, keeping you apprised at every step. With over 30 years' combined experience of helping the most talented forensic-technology practitioners to make safe exits to launch rewarding new careers, we have the experience, network and ability to help you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead high-stakes forensic-collection and eDiscovery engagements, typically running AUD 750k - 4m, often with Australia-NZ-PNG-APAC overlay, with full responsibility for technical strategy, EDRM governance, evidentiary discipline and client outcome.
• Define the practice's defensibility doctrine on TAR / CAL, predictive coding, near-dedup, email threading, multi-language analytics and AI-assisted review (such as Relativity aiR for Review or Reveal AI) under Federal Court Practice Notes on technology and the court and the Pre-Discovery Conference protocol; set the bar for what is - and is not - defensible against opposing-party challenge in Federal Court, NSW Supreme Court and ACICA arbitration.
• Lead complex forensic-imaging and live-collection programmes on enterprise-scale endpoint and server estates, M365 / Google Workspace tenants, AWS / Azure / GCP cloud workloads, structured-data sources (Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, ServiceNow), and ephemeral-messaging platforms (Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Signal); ensure ISO 27037 / ACPO / Sedona alignment under counsel-supervised privilege architecture.
• Take signed-off positions on protocol-letter responses, search-term proportionality challenges, predictive-coding validation methodologies and TAR-3.0 protocols at instructing-counsel level; appear as forensic-technology liaison or testifying expert before the Federal Court and Supreme Court single-judge eDiscovery hearings.
• Engage instructing solicitors at partner level on bet-the-company collection scope, custodian-interview strategy, Pre-Discovery Conference position and Sedona-aligned proportionality.
• Develop and own a sustained pipeline of named accounts at General Counsel, Head of Litigation and Chief Compliance Officer level, and at relevant law firm partner level; originate or co-originate AUD 1.5m+ annually in qualified forensic-technology opportunities.
• Convert reactive case work into multi-year retainer engagements covering managed-discovery, eDiscovery-readiness, legal-hold-program design, custodian-onboarding, information-governance and OAIC notifiable-data-breach response work.
• Set methodology and tooling-strategy direction within the forensic-technology sub-practice; define the framework on AI-assisted-review governance; directly supervise, mentor and advocate for Directors and Senior Managers - championing their advancement at promotion rounds, sponsoring sustained upskilling on emerging methodology and AI tooling, and shaping their external profile-building on EDRM technical depth.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Recognised forensic-technology and / or eDiscovery credential, such as EnCE (EnCase Certified Examiner), GCFE / GCFA (GIAC), CCE (Certified Computer Examiner), ACEDS CEDS (Certified eDiscovery Specialist), Relativity Master (RCA), or Nuix Master - typically multiple at this level.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience in forensic technology, eDiscovery or digital evidence, with the most recent 3+ years at Director or equivalent senior-leadership level.
• Demonstrable track record of leading bet-the-company forensic-collection and eDiscovery matters with full EDRM-lifecycle and client-facing responsibility, including signed-off TAR / CAL validation methodologies in Australian-court matters.
• Direct experience operating with General Counsel, Heads of Litigation, Chief Compliance Officers, instructing solicitors at partner level and arbitration tribunals or Australian-court process.
• Working knowledge at supervisory-policy depth of the Australian evidence and disclosure framework: the Federal Court Rules 2011 and Practice Notes on technology and the court on Technology and the Court, NSW UCPR disclosure practice, Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, OAIC Notifiable Data Breach scheme implications for cross-border productions, and class-action discovery under the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976.
• Authority on the EDRM model, the Sedona Conference principles (notably TAR-3.0 protocols and Commentary on Defensibility), ISO 27037 and ACPO Guidelines for Digital Evidence; track record of signed-off defensibility positions in adversarial settings.
• Familiarity with industry-standard forensic-technology tooling, including review platforms (such as Relativity, Relativity aiR for Review, Nuix Discover, Reveal / Brainspace, Disco or Everlaw), forensic-imaging and analysis tools (such as EnCase, Magnet Axiom, X-Ways, FTK or Cellebrite UFED), processing engines (such as Nuix Workstation, Relativity Processing or LAW), and cloud-collection platforms (such as Hanzo, Onna, Pagefreezer or X1 Social Discovery).
• Demonstrable history of converting forensic-technology engagement relationships into multi-year managed-discovery, eDiscovery-readiness or information-governance work.
• Established relationships with law firm partners in international arbitration, commercial litigation, class actions, white-collar crime, regulatory enforcement and internal-investigations practices who refer and instruct forensic-technology and eDiscovery work; sustained named-account level engagement is the strongest evidence.
• High-agency operating style, calm and credible under court-deadline and adversarial-challenge pressure, with the methodological discipline to ensure technical decisions are evidence-based, structured and defensible.

Preferred Experience:

• Multiple stacking credentials (EnCE + ACEDS CEDS + Relativity Master + Nuix Master) - the senior-leadership pattern.
• GREM (GIAC Reverse-Engineering Malware) or GCFA (GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst) for practitioners whose work crosses into incident-response forensics.
• Postgraduate qualification: Master's in computer science, information security, digital forensics, MBA, or LLM with eDiscovery / privacy / litigation-technology relevance.
• Royal Commission or Commission-of-Inquiry forensic-technology experience.
• Cross-border collection experience across Australia / NZ / PNG and the broader APAC region.
• Published authorship on TAR / CAL, AI-assisted review, eDiscovery proportionality or digital-evidence themes; conference-level speaking on forensic technology.
• Track record of testifying or signed-off declaration on forensic-technology defensibility issues in Australian-court or arbitration matters.
• Growth-mindset operating posture and visible engagement with the AI developments reshaping forensic technology and eDiscovery: candidates who track tooling shifts (such as Relativity aiR for Review, Reveal AI, TAR-3.0 protocols, or AI-assisted classification under Federal Court Practice Note GPN-TECH defensibility expectations), share that knowledge with the Director and Manager bench under their supervision, and have a track record of building team-upskilling programmes on emerging methodologies.

Compensation:

Competitive package commensurate with seniority and experience, including base, performance-based bonus, long-term incentives and (where applicable) partner-track equity participation.

Next Steps:

This opportunity is open to Australian citizens, permanent residents and qualified candidates with relevant Australian work-rights status who match the above criteria. Please apply to receive prompt contact from an experienced and specialist forensic technology and eDiscovery recruitment consultant.

Search & Counsel is a trading style of Feltan Associates Pte Ltd; an international Executive Search, Recruitment and Consulting business based in Singapore, licensed and regulated by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower to conduct recruitment services for clients. UEN: 202225620G. EA Licence 23S1672. All rights reserved.