Contract Subject Matter Expert (SME) – Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst

Description:

This role is designed for experienced cybersecurity practitioners to participate in a skills assessment pilot aligned to the Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst (Work Role 212 / PD-WRL-002). The purpose of this engagement is assessment validation and standard-setting, not hiring, ranking, or performance evaluation.

The Contract SME will complete a structured assessment and a brief survey only. This role does not involve teaching, instructional design, content creation, consulting, facilitation, or advisory responsibilities.

Scope of Work
• Complete a practitioner-level skills assessment
• Complete a short post-assessment survey
• No meetings, facilitation, reviews, or follow-up work

This is a finite, transactional engagement with clearly defined deliverables.

Time Commitment
• Estimated assessment length: ~120 items
• Estimated completion time: Approximately 1 hour
• Assessment window: Must be completed within a defined access period (typically 5 business days once access is granted)
• Once started, the assessment must be completed within 24 hours

Requirements:

Candidates must be current practitioners with applied, real-world experience analyzing digital evidence and supporting cybersecurity investigations. Familiarity should align with one or more of the following areas:
• Conducting digital forensic analysis in support of cybersecurity investigations
• Collecting, preserving, and analyzing digital evidence from endpoints, servers, or network sources
• Applying forensic principles to maintain evidence integrity and chain of custody
• Investigating computer security incidents to determine scope, impact, and root cause
• Analyzing logs, memory, disk images, and network artifacts
• Using forensic and investigative tools to support incident response and vulnerability mitigation
• Understanding common attack techniques, malware behaviors, and adversary tradecraft
• Supporting incident response teams with forensic findings and technical insights
• Documenting investigative processes, findings, and conclusions in clear reports
• Understanding legal, policy, and procedural considerations related to forensic investigations

Minimum Performance Expectation
• Participants must score above 50% on the assessment
• This threshold exists only to confirm practitioner-level participation
• Results are not used for hiring, ranking, or performance evaluation

Ideal Candidate Profile
• Active cyber defense, DFIR, or digital forensics practitioner
• Hands-on experience performing forensic analysis during real security incidents
• Comfortable working with ambiguous or incomplete data
• Familiar with forensic tooling, evidence handling, and investigative workflows
• Reliable and able to complete work within a short, defined window

Deliverables
• One completed skills assessment
• One completed post-assessment survey

Compensation
• Flat-fee contract payment
• Paid upon successful completion of the assessment and survey

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