Digital Forensic Technician (DF Quality)

Job description

Digital Forensic Technician (DF Quality)

Vacancy Reference Number

23212

Number of Vacancies

3

(B) OCU

MO4 Forensic Services

Location

Lambeth

Building

LAMBETH HQ

Band

Band I

Part/Full Time

Full Time

Hours per Week

36 hours per week

Type of Contract

Permanent

Job Advert

Job Title: Digital Forensic Technician (DF Quality)

Salary: The starting salary is £46,985, which includes allowances totalling £3,009.

The salary is broken down as £43,976 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £49,670. Plus, a location allowance of £2,009 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

This role does not attract Shift Disturbance Allowance. If you are currently in a shift-working role, SDA should cease upon appointment to this job.

Location: Lambeth

Shaping the Future of Digital Forensics. Deliver Better Outcomes for Victims and the Public.

Are you passionate about Digital Forensics, Quality, and Innovation?

Do you want to play a key role in helping one of the UK's largest Digital Forensic Departments maintain the highest standards?

Join the Digital Forensics Quality Team within the Metropolitan Police Service's Forensic Services Department. This is an exciting opportunity to influence how Digital Forensics is delivered, drive continuous improvement across a complex and evolving forensic landscape, and help shape the future of Digital Forensics.

Your work will directly support our ongoing commitment to achieve and maintain compliance to the Forensic Science Regulator's Code of Practice while enabling the wider department to deliver better outcomes for victims and the public.

Why Join the Digital Forensics Quality Team?

The Digital Forensics Quality Team plays a vital role in ensuring that forensic science remains trusted, reliable and fit for any challenge.

Working alongside practitioners, technical specialists and senior leaders, you will gain exposure to every area of Digital Forensics while helping ensure the quality, reliability and integrity of forensic outputs used throughout the Criminal Justice System.

Every improvement we make, every risk we mitigate and every standard we uphold contributes to delivering high-quality forensic evidence that supports investigations, prosecutions, victims and communities.

Join us and help shape the future of Digital Forensics, uphold scientific excellence, and deliver better outcomes for victims and the public.

This role offers the opportunity to:

• Influence and support the future direction of Digital Forensics
• Help maintain and expand accredited forensic capabilities
• Drive meaningful improvements that enhance quality, efficiency and risk management
• Develop expertise across multiple forensic disciplines and quality standards
• Work with passionate professionals committed to scientific excellence
• Make a genuine difference to victims, investigations and public confidence in forensic science

What You'll Be Doing:

As a Digital Forensic Technician within the Quality Team, you will contribute within an established Quality Management System where your responsibilities will include:

• Supporting compliance with the Forensic Science Regulator's Code of Practice, ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and Global ACI-TECH-1-004 (G) (previously ILAC-G19:2022)
• Conducting and supporting internal audits, identifying opportunities for improvement and helping drive positive change
• Managing quality incidents and supporting investigations to identify root causes and prevent recurrence
• Developing and reviewing policies, procedures, forms and guidance used across Digital Forensics
• Supporting accreditation activities and future scope expansion
• Working closely with operational and technical teams to embed quality into everything we do
• Achieving and maintaining discipline-specific competency within Digital Forensics

Additional Information:

It is departmental policy is that all members of Forensic Staff shall provide a DNA and fingerprint elimination sample for FS' embargo database, when accepting this role candidates are agreeing to provide these samples.

In the next 12-18 months Digital Forensics may be introducing a 24/7 operating model as part of an investment and transformation plan to ensure the best service to support operational policing. These teams will work on a rotational shift pattern compromising early, late and night shifts, inclusive of weekends. Approximately 20% of the overall staff in the Digital Forensics' department will be required to support it. These posts attract an additional 20% shift allowance plus weekend premium payments on top of the salary advertised above. All new staff are eligible to be placed on a shift rota subject to the relevant notice given, however in the first instance placements on these teams will be allocated to those who volunteer, any remaining places will be allocated by management and will also be subject to certain skills required to support out of hours services. Although this role is not expected to be directly affected by this requirement, by applying you acknowledge that you may be assigned to one of the 24/7 shift teams and could be rotated according to business needs.

How to apply

To begin your career at the Met, please click the "apply button ". The application process requires a comprehensive CV, a Personal Statement, and an online application form. In your Personal Statement, you should demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role. Please note that you should not submit two copies of your CV and ensure that your documents are saved in either PDF or Word format, clearly labelled as CV and/or Personal Statement.

You will also need to complete the Level 1 competencies outlined in the Competency and Values Framework (CVF). Please refer to the CVF guidance document, which provides further information and examples of the behaviours expected for each competency.

Where possible, use clear, work-based examples that demonstrate the behaviours associated to the following competencies:

• We Take Ownership:
  • Describe a time when you identified a problem or issue and took responsibility for resolving it. Explain the actions you took, the outcome achieved, and what you learned from the experience.

Word count: Minimum 200 words, maximum 500 words.

• We Are Collaborative:
  • Describe a time when you worked effectively with others to achieve a shared objective. Explain your role, how you contributed to the team's success, and the outcome achieved.

Word count: Minimum 200 words, maximum 500 words.

• We Analyse Critically:
  • Describe a time when you used data or information to support a decision. Explain your thought process, the factors you considered, and how your analysis informed the final outcome.

Word count: Minimum 200 words, maximum 500 words.

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 24th November 2026.

Once received, your application will be reviewed against eligibility criteria, following this, your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager.

Following application review, successful candidates will be invited to interview.

Essential For The Role

Who We're Looking For:

We're seeking an enthusiastic and motivated individual with Digital Forensics experience who enjoys problem-solving, collaboration and driving continuous improvement who can demonstrate the following essential criteria:

• Have a degree or recent equivalent experience in a relevant Digital Forensics, engineering, scientific or technical discipline
• Have Digital Forensic practitioner experience and will be expected to achieve competency in at least one Digital Forensic discipline
• Have knowledge of the Forensic Science Regulator's Code of Practice, ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and Global ACI-TECH-1-004 (G) (previously ILAC-G19:2022)
• Have experience of raising non-conformities and/or improvements within a Quality Management System
• Have knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel (formatting and document development)
• Have excellent attention to detail, organisational and time-management skills
• Have good analytical and problem-solving skills to identify causes as well as symptoms
• Have the confidence to work independently and as part of a team
• Can collaborate with others and work in a constructive manner with a positive attitude
• Can clearly communicate, and justify findings and recommendations to personnel and management of all levels across Digital Forensics and the wider organisation

Desirable experience in any of the following would be advantageous:

• Experience working within a Digital Forensics laboratory which has been granted, or is working towards achieving ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation
• Knowledge of relevant legal powers/procedures/acts (CPIA, PACE and Human Rights Act etc.)
• Experience of investigating the root cause, the impact and the extent of raised non-conformities to identify improvements to minimise the risk of future quality failures
• Experience of conducting audits and writing up reports. Audit training can be provided to the successful candidate if they have not yet received any audit training and/or do not have experience carrying out audits
• Experience of writing and/or updating standard operating procedures and/or forms
• Experience of carrying out or assisting with the validation of forensic methods
• Court experience.

Required Languages

English

Additional Information

The following competencies will be tested against during sift:

• We take ownership at level 1

• We collaborate at level 1

• We analyse critically at level 1

Disability Confident Statement

The Met is committed to being an equitable (fair and impartial) and inclusive employer for disabled people, striving to have a diverse and representative workforce at all levels. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and long-term conditions, ethnic minority groups and women.

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Met has committed to making disability equality part of our everyday practice. We ensure that people with disabilities and those with long term conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

The Met is committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process to ensure disabled applicants can perform at their best. If you need any reasonable adjustments or changes to the application and recruitment process, we ask that you include this information within your application form. All matters will be treated in strict confidence.

Please note, if you are applying for a police officer role or to become a police community support officer (PCSO) or designated detention officer (DDO), there is a minimum requirement that you must pass a job-related fitness test (JRFT) at point of entry. This does not apply to police staff roles. Find out more about .