We are seeking an experienced business-intelligence and complex-investigations practitioner to join our client in Sydney at Director level. The successful candidate will lead delivery on due-diligence, asset-tracing and corporate-intelligence workstreams under Partner-led engagement strategy and source-handling direction, operate as a senior delivery practitioner alongside Partners during investigation and reporting windows, and build the named-account and law-firm-partner relationships that underpin future origination at Senior Director and Partner level. Specific qualifications, regulatory fluency and tooling are detailed in the sections that follow.

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 business intelligence and complex investigations 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 intelligence and investigations practitioners to make safe exits to launch rewarding new careers, we have the experience, network and ability to help you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead delivery on complex pre-transaction due-diligence (CDD), management-background, reputational and political-risk investigations on M&A, private-equity, infrastructure, superannuation-fund, mining-and-resources and family-office mandates - often with Australia-NZ-PNG-APAC overlay - in support of Partner-led engagement strategy and source-handling direction, delivering hypothesis design, source mix, written deliverable and adversarial-context defensibility, while building the named-account and law-firm-partner networks that underpin future personal origination at Senior Director and Partner level.
• Lead delivery on adversarial-context asset-tracing workstreams on civil-recovery, judgment-enforcement and pre-litigation matters: capital-movement reconstruction, beneficial-ownership unwinding through BVI / Cayman / Mauritius / Bahamas / Trust-and-Foundation structures, and integration with civil-recovery counsel on Mareva and freezing-order applications under the Federal Court Rules 2011.
• Design and oversee OSINT, OSINF and HUMINT collection programmes under ethical codes (ABI, WAEPA, IBE) and Privacy-Act-1988-aligned source-handling protocols; run multi-language and cross-border records aggregation including ASIC, ABR, ATO ABN Lookup, AUSTRAC public records, NZ Companies Office, BVI / Cayman / Mauritius registries, AustLII / NZLII court records, and PNG / Pacific public records where lawful.
• Deliver subject-centric investigations on integrity-and-fitness reviews, counterparty risk reviews under sanctions-and-PEP overlays, and red-flag risk reports for board and audit-committee instruction under Partner direction.
• Lead delivery on political-risk and country-risk advisory mandates across the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the broader APAC region, including FIRB-relevance reviews, sovereign-counterparty profiling and regulatory-shift forecasting.
• Build emerging client relationships and contribute to named-account development at General Counsel, CFO, Head of M&A, Managing Partner of PE houses, Head of Investment at superannuation funds, family-office CIO and Audit Committee Chair level, and at relevant law firm partner level - under Partner direction.
• Mentor and advocate for managers and senior managers - supporting their delivery on intelligence tradecraft and investigations methodology, championing their development needs at engagement-staffing rounds, and sponsoring their upskilling on emerging methodology and AI tooling - and apply industry-standard intelligence tooling at investigation depth in support of investigative outcomes.
• Maintain registered-investigator status under the NSW Security and Investigation Industry Act 1996 (Master Licence Class 2A) where required for licensable activities; ensure engagement compliance with the Privacy Act 1988, the Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW) for source-handling boundaries and FIRB / sanctions overlays.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Recognised intelligence, investigations or legal credential, such as a Master Licence Class 2A under the NSW Security and Investigation Industry Act 1996 or equivalent state-licensed PI status, CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner, ACFE), CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, ACAMS), GIA (Governance Institute of Australia), ABI / WAEPA membership, or qualified lawyer status (Australian practising certificate).
• At least 8 years of relevant experience in business intelligence, corporate investigations, asset-tracing, OSINT-led research, political-risk advisory, intelligence-services background or qualified-legal practice with substantive direct exposure to investigations work.
• Demonstrable track record of leading delivery on pre-transaction due-diligence, adversarial-context asset-tracing or political-risk advisory engagements - in support of Partner-led engagement strategy and source-handling direction, delivering hypothesis design, source mix and written deliverable.
• Direct experience working with senior client stakeholders (General Counsel, CFO, Head of M&A, Managing Partner / Head of Investment at PE / hedge-fund / superannuation / family-office level) and instructing solicitors at partner level.
• Working knowledge of the Australian intelligence-and-investigations framework: the NSW Security and Investigation Industry Act 1996 (and state-equivalent licensing regimes), the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles for HUMINT / OSINT, the Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW) for source-handling boundaries, the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (FIRB) for technology-counterparty review, the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012 for export-controls advisory, the Criminal Code (Cth) cross-border bribery framework for cross-border bribery boundaries, and the Modern Slavery Act 2018 for supply-chain and counterparty review.
• Working knowledge of subject-centric investigations methodology: hypothesis-driven research design, multi-language and cross-border records aggregation, beneficial-ownership unwinding through cross-jurisdictional structures, HUMINT cultivation under the ABI / WAEPA / IBE ethical codes, and adversarial-context defensibility frameworks.
• Familiarity with industry-standard business-intelligence tooling, including entity-resolution and graph-intelligence platforms (such as Sayari Graph, Castellum.AI, Refinitiv World-Check, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance or LexisNexis Bridger), corporate-records and credit-data platforms (such as Bureau Van Dijk Orbis, Pitchbook, Mergermarket or Capital IQ), social-media intelligence platforms (such as Babel Street or Maltego), court-records aggregators across multiple jurisdictions, and local-language records (ASIC, ABR, ATO, NZ Companies Office, BVI / Cayman / Mauritius registries) at investigations depth.
• High-agency operating style with strong judgement under tight engagement deadlines and the methodological discipline to ensure findings are evidence-based, structured and defensible against subject challenge or counsel challenge.
• Calm, credible communication style suited to senior PE / superannuation / family-office / counsel reporting and high-trust source handling.

Preferred Experience:

• Prior background in intelligence services (such as ASIO, ASIS, the AFP, Australian Defence Force intelligence community or international peers), investigative journalism (such as ICIJ-affiliated publications, the AFR, ABC Four Corners or international investigations desks) or specialist corporate-intelligence boutiques.
• Multiple stacking credentials at senior-leadership level - the recognised pattern in this market.
• Australian Government security clearance (NV1 or above) for practitioners engaging on government and sovereign-counterparty mandates.
• Royal Commission or Commission-of-Inquiry advisor experience.
• Postgraduate study in international relations, security studies, intelligence studies, journalism, finance, governance or law.
• Cross-border investigations experience across Australia / NZ / PNG / Pacific and the broader APAC region.
• Track record of converting one-off engagements into multi-year retainer or standing-monitor work.
• Established or emerging relationships with law firm partners in commercial litigation, class actions, white-collar crime, regulatory enforcement, M&A litigation, asset-recovery and internal-investigations practices who instruct business-intelligence and asset-tracing work.
• Continuous-learning posture and active engagement with the AI developments reshaping business intelligence and complex investigations: candidates who track tooling shifts (such as AI-assisted OSINT and entity-resolution via Sayari Graph or Castellum.AI, LLM-aided source-language translation, or ML-driven beneficial-ownership inference across FIRB-relevance and Pacific-counterparty structures), share that knowledge with managers and senior managers, and have a track record of supporting team upskilling on emerging methodologies.

Compensation:

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