Senior Technical OSINT Lead

Schillings is a multidisciplinary advisory firm with expertise in reputation, privacy and security.

We work with UK and international clients to successfully manage high-stakes opportunities and threats, using a unique combination of capabilities: legal; intelligence; communications; security and diplomacy.

We believe everyone has a right to fair treatment of their reputation, to a reasonable expectation of privacy and to feel safe.

Our experts sit within their specialist team but day-to-day work in multidisciplinary teams solving client problems. They are supported by our business services teams: Clients and Markets, HR, Finance, Risk and Compliance, IT and Client Services.

Because we are a growth business, opportunities appear in all areas and at all levels.   We have the largest team of specialist media lawyers in the world, an expanding Intelligence & Investigations team, a growing Critical Risks unit, an evolving Digital Resilience practice, and a new communications agency – Schillings Communications – that will grow significantly in the next three years.

Schillings is a collaborative, fun and welcoming place to work, with a positive culture, strong values and a developed service ethic.  We require commitment, diligence, agility and professionalism, and in return provide competitive packages and incredibly stimulating and interesting work.  We are committed to sharing learning and creating development opportunities so you can progress your career with us. Our people’s career trajectory and longevity at Schillings is a good example of this: a third of our people have been at the business for over five years. Join us and become part of our story.

Job Title:  Senior Technical Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Lead
 
Accountable to: Partner of Intelligence, Security and Diplomacy (ISD) team
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Job Purpose 

As Senior Technical OSINT Lead, you will play a central role in strengthening Schillings’ digital intelligence capability. You will combine advanced OSINT expertise with a passion for developing others - leading on ISD knowledge‑sharing, mentoring colleagues, and driving improvements in research methodology, consistency and output quality. This role combines fee-earning, client interaction, and internal development tasks.

Working closely with Partners, Directors and the wider ISD, Digital Resilience and Compliance teams, you will ensure the firm remains at the cutting edge of digital investigations by applying modern AI frameworks, developing bespoke OSINT tools from the ground up, and collaborating closely on strategic projects.

You will monitor developments in the OSINT landscape, particularly with regards to its use in legal proceedings, and equip the team with the skills and tools needed to operate confidently, ethically and lawfully in highly sensitive environments.
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Responsibilities

Knowledge, Training & Development

• Provide expert mentorship, coaching and technical OSINT guidance to analysts and associates.
• Lead on OSINT knowledge sharing by creating frameworks, tools, best practice guidance and methodological standards.
• Design and deliver structured upskilling programmes, identifying capability gaps and building technical competencies across the team.
• Develop specialist training on:  
• • advanced OSINT techniques
  • AI enabled investigative workflows
  • safe and ethical use of automated tooling
  • technical skills for colleagues transitioning from non-technical backgrounds
• Curate and circulate key developments in OSINT, AI powered research, platform changes, and emerging risks.
• Research, Technical Expertise & Tool Development

Advanced OSINT Research

• Conduct and supervise complex digital investigations involving reputation, privacy, security and threat mitigation matters.
• Apply both manual and automated research methodologies, ensuring accuracy, rigour and operational security.

AI & Technical Tooling

• Evaluate, test and implement AI frameworks relevant to OSINT.
• Working alongside our technical team, build simple OSINT tools, scripts and prototypes from scratch, supporting investigative efficiency, quality and innovation.
• Collaborate on strategic projects, contributing to design, architecture, testing and productisation of new investigative capabilities.
• Drive adoption of new technologies, translating opportunities into practical workflows that enhance team capability and output consistency.

Compliance, Governance & Methodology

• Monitor legal, regulatory and platform level changes relevant to digital investigations. For example, Data Protection law, Terms and Conditions, AI governance, and digital surveillance related regulation relevant to digital investigations.
• Produce technical notes, research guides and methodological updates ensuring all work is ethical, lawful and aligned with firmwide standards.

Operational Leadership

• Supervise researchers and analysts on investigative tasks, supporting case preparation, quality assurance and reporting excellence.
• Maintain and expand OSINT knowledge repositories, including:  
• • research playbooks
  • AI and tool directories
  • risk and compliance notes
  • training materials and internal technical assets
• Contribute to client facing masterclasses on OSINT, digital risk and investigative readiness.
• Represent Schillings externally at relevant events and expert communities to support the firm’s digital intelligence profile.
• Support internal reporting on training progress, AI/tool adoption, technical development and knowledge initiatives.
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Expectations

• Extensive hands-on expertise in OSINT investigations, digital research tools, online methodologies and complex digital footprint analysis.
• Strong understanding of AI frameworks, automation techniques, and how to integrate them safely into OSINT workflows.
• Proven ability to design and build OSINT tools, prototypes or scripts from scratch.
• Strong communicator able to translate highly technical concepts for nontechnical colleagues and clients.
• Proactive in identifying emerging risks, opportunities and skill gaps while working at pace.
• A collaborative team player with high levels of discretion, judgement and professionalism when handling sensitive information.
• Excellent project management skills with the ability to prioritise and deliver under pressure.
• This role is primarily office‑based, bringing you into the heart of our collaborative environment, while still offering flexibility to work from home one to two days per week.
• Values working with others to get the best outcomes for clients.
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Life at Schillings

Given our audacious (and successful) business strategy, it is not surprising that Schillings has a very strong culture. The atmosphere is highly collaborative and focused on excellence. We have worked hard over the years to develop a coaching culture and are remarkably non-hierarchical, especially given our roots as a law firm. Schillings has adopted a set of values to put at the heart of this change and they reflect the intention and tenor of our ambitious plans. They are: ‘Innovative; Bold; United; and Excellent’. Our client list speaks for the outstanding results that have been delivered over many years and the task now is to grow without losing any of the commitment to delivering for clients or the service ethos. Finding people who share our values and can thrive in this environment is key to our success.

It takes a unique mix of people to create something truly great. We appreciate that diversity of thought, background and culture creates the best environment to truly innovate, solve problems and achieve our goals. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds – if you are driven and want to achieve your best then we will give you the platform and support to succeed.

Please let us know if there are any extenuating circumstances we should consider, or any adjustments we may need to make to our selection process, when making your application.

Find our candidate privacy notice here, Candidate Privacy Notice (schillingspartners.com)

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