Principal Incident Response Consultant – Cybersecurity / DFIR / Threat Hunting in Edinburgh

Principal Incident Response Consultant – Cybersecurity / DFIR / Threat Hunting

Location: UK wide – Remote

Salary - £85,000 - £110,000 + excellent benefits

Clearance - DV clearance required

We’re seeking a Principal Incident Response Consultant to join our client’s elite cybersecurity and digital forensics team. This is a client-facing role where you’ll lead DFIR (Digital Forensics & Incident Response) investigations, guide executives through cyber incidents, and help organisations strengthen their threat detection, response, and resilience.

If you’re an expert in incident response, threat hunting, and forensic analysis and thrive under pressure, this is your opportunity to work on some of the UK’s most significant cyber cases.

Key Responsibilities

• Incident Response Leadership: Take charge of high-profile cyber incidents, from breach triage and containment to full recovery.
• Client Engagement: Act as a trusted advisor to CISOs, boards, and regulators, providing executive-level briefings during and after incidents.
• Forensics & Threat Hunting: Conduct advanced forensic investigations across endpoints, servers, networks, cloud platforms, and SaaS.
• Adversary Analysis: Use threat intelligence and MITRE ATT&CK to attribute attacks and inform proactive defences.
• Crisis Management: Lead coordination between internal stakeholders, third parties, and law enforcement.
• Cybersecurity Advisory: Help clients improve incident readiness, detection engineering, and response capabilities.
• Innovation: Contribute to new playbooks, tools, and methodologies to evolve our DFIR practice.
• Mentorship: Train and coach junior consultants in incident response and digital forensics.
• Industry Contribution: Publish thought leadership, speak at conferences, and represent the business at NCSC CIR and key cybersecurity forums.

Required Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in incident response, threat hunting, or digital forensics (DFIR), ideally in consulting or client-facing roles.
• Hands-on leadership of large-scale incidents such as ransomware, insider threats, or advanced persistent threats (APT).
• Technical expertise in forensic acquisition/analysis across Windows, Linux, macOS, and cloud environments.
• Strong knowledge of attack tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
• Proficiency with SIEM, EDR, and forensic toolsets.
• Scripting experience (Python, PowerShell, Bash) to accelerate investigations and automate tasks.
• Excellent communicator, with the ability to translate technical findings into clear business risk.
• Awareness of regulatory and legal frameworks around incident response.

Preferred Qualifications

• ChCSP – Incident Response certification (or working towards).
• Industry certifications such as GIAC (GCFA, GEIR, GCFE, GREM, GNFA), CREST CRTIR, CISM, CISSP.
• Sector exposure across government, financial services, healthcare, or critical national infrastructure (CNI).
• Skills in malware reverse engineering and deep knowledge of adversary tradecraft.
• Experience working with regulators, insurers, and legal counsel during breaches.
• Contributions to the wider cybersecurity community (research, publications, speaking engagements).