Principal Consultant, DFIR, Reactive Services (Unit 42)

Palo Alto Networks
Cupertino, CA

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.

Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

Job Description

Your Career

This role is client-facing and requires the Principal Consultant to lead and produce deliverables based on reactive services client engagements. The Principal Consultant will work directly with multiple customers and key stakeholders (Admins, C-Suite, etc) to manage incident response engagements and provide guidance on longer term remediation.

Your Impact

  • Perform reactive incident response functions including but not limited to: host-based analysis functions through investigating Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X systems to identify Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)
  • Examine firewall, web, database, and other log sources to identify evidence of malicious activity
  • Investigate data breaches leveraging forensics tools including Encase, FTK, X-Ways, SIFT, Splunk, and other investigation tools to determine source of compromises and malicious activity that occurred in client environments
  • Manage incident response engagements to scope work, guide clients through forensic investigations, contain security incidents, and provide guidance on longer term remediation recommendations
  • Ability to perform travel requirements as needed to meet business demands (on average 20%)
  • Mentorship of team members in incident response and forensics best practices

Qualifications

Your Experience

  • 6+ years of incident response or digital forensics consulting experience with a passion for cyber security
  • Strong leadership skills including experience managing a team or individuals
  • Experience with leading complicated engagements including scoping, interfacing with the client, and have executed on a technical front
  • Proficient with host-based forensics and data breach response
  • Experienced with EnCase, FTK, X-Ways, SIFT, Splunk, Redline, Volatility, WireShark, TCPDump, and open source forensic tools
  • Identified ability to grow into a valuable contributor to the practice and, specifically:

    • have an external presence via public speaking, conferences, and/or publications;

    • have credibility, executive presence, and gravitas;

    • be able to have a meaningful and rapid delivery contribution;

    • have the potential and capacity to understand all aspects of the business and an excellent understanding of PANW products;

    • be collaborative and able to build relationships internally, externally, and across all PANW functions, including the sales team.

  • Incident response consulting experience required
  • Ability to perform travel requirements as needed to meet business demands (on average 20%).
  • Bachelor’s Degree in Information Security, Computer Science, Digital Forensics, Cyber Security or related field

Additional Information

The Team

Unit 42 Consulting is Palo Alto Network's security advisory team. Our vision is to create a more secure digital world by providing the highest quality incident response, risk management, and digital forensic services to clients of all sizes. Our team is composed of recognized experts and incident responders with deep technical expertise and experience in investigations, data breach response, digital forensics, and information security. With a highly successful track record of delivering mission-critical cybersecurity solutions, we are experienced in working quickly to provide an effective incident response, attack readiness, and remediation plans with a focus on providing long-term support to improve our clients’ security posture.

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/commissioned roles) is expected to be between $151000/YR - $208000/YR. The offered compensation may also include restricted stock units and a bonus. A description of our employee benefits may be found here .

Our Commitment

We’re problem solvers that take risks and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t 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 [email protected] .

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.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship? No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

Posted 2025-11-16

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