Digital Forensic Lab Technician (Unit 42)

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks were united by a shared missionto protect our digital way of life. We thrive at the intersection of innovation and impact solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology and bold thinking. Here everyone has a voice and every idea counts. If youre ready to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who are just as passionate as you are youre in the right place.

Who We Are

In order to be the cybersecurity partner of choice we must trailblaze the path and shape the future of our industry. This is something our employees work at each day and is defined by our values: Disruption Collaboration Execution Integrity and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and use it to augment the impact every individual can have. If you are passionate about solving real-world problems and ideating beside the best and the brightest we invite you to join us!

Job Summary

Reporting directly to the Forensic Lab Director the Digital Forensic Lab Technician is a critical pillar of our labs operations ensuring all digital evidence is handled tracked and preserved in strict accordance with industry-leading standards. The ideal candidate will excel in a fast-paced high-stakes laboratory environment where meticulous attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities are essential. Due to the time-sensitive nature of forensic investigations this role requires schedule flexibility including occasional evening and weekend work as well as participation in a holiday on-call rotation.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the end-to-end evidence lifecycleincluding receipt inventory tracking and auditingensuring strict adherence to lab protocols and company standards from case inception to closure.

• Maintain meticulous chain of custody documentation to guarantee the legal defensibility security and integrity of all physical and digital evidence.

• Perform forensically sound acquisitions and preservations of digital media across diverse platforms including workstations servers mobile devices and tablets.

• Triage and fulfill evidence handling and system requests via Jira ensuring rapid resolution and consistent adherence to internal Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

• Evaluate test and validate emerging forensic hardware software and methodologies to continuously enhance lab capabilities and efficiency.

• Collaborate with cross-functional IT teams to monitor maintain and troubleshoot the forensic labs high-performance computing and secure storage infrastructure.

• Design and administer comprehensive training modules via Litmos to educate staff on evolving lab workflows security policies and forensic systems.

• Facilitate software and hardware procurement and manage licensing renewals optimizing internal workflows and ensuring uninterrupted lab operations.

• Author review and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to align with industry best practices and regulatory requirements.

• Execute secure data wiping and evidence disposition protocols for closed cases in accordance with data retention policies and environmental guidelines.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Digital Forensics Cybersecurity Information Technology Criminal Justice or a closely related field.

• 1 year of experience and/or new grad with Bachelors degree.

• Working knowledge of Windows macOS and Linux operating systems including file systems and common artifacts.

• Proven ability to diagnose and resolve routine to complex hardware and software operational issues.

• Solid understanding of computer networking principles protocols and underlying enterprise IT infrastructure.

• A strong demonstrated passion for technology cybersecurity and digital forensics with a desire to stay current on emerging trends.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical findings for non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience handling digital evidence and a practical understanding of forensic imaging tools write-blocking techniques and preservation methodologies.

• Relevant industry-recognized certifications such as EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE) AccessData Certified Examiner (ACE) or similar credentials.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications experience and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level the starting base salary (for non-sales roles) or base salary commission target (for sales/com-missioned roles) is expected to be the annual range listed below. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here.

Our Commitment

Were trailblazers that dream big take risks and challenge cybersecuritys status quo. Its simple: we cant accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need please contact us at .

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age ancestry color family or medical care leave gender identity or expression genetic information marital status medical condition national origin physical or mental disability political affiliation protected veteran status race religion sex (including pregnancy) sexual orientation or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.