Research Director

Company Overview The Futurum Group is a renowned technology advisory and research company, empowering organizations worldwide to navigate the complex landscape of digital transformation. With a commitment to delivering actionable insights and innovative solutions, we help our clients harness the power of emerging technologies to drive sustainable growth and competitive advantage. As we expand our intelligence platform and research depth, we are seeking a collaborative, highly technical, and results-driven individual to join our team as a Research Director supporting the Software Lifecycle Engineering (SLE) and Observability research practices. Position SummaryAs the Research Director, you will partner closely with the Vice President of the practice to drive, execute, and scale Futurum's research agenda at the vital intersection of modern software development and system visibility. In 2026, the software landscape is shifting rapidly from AI experimentation to the development of agent-based systems that successfully reach production, meeting the required governance, security, visibility, and controls. Software development is moving from code-centric execution to intent-directed, agent-based systems. Consequently, observability is transitioning from a forensic operational and post-incident analysis system to a real-time, observability-native control surface for non-deterministic systems. In this supportive leadership role, you will be a key subject-matter expert, understanding, analyzing, and predicting how organizations build, deploy, manage, and secure this new AI-native software and its underlying AI stack. You will work in tandem with the VP to deliver world-class insights to tech vendors, enterprise buyers, and investors, helping them understand where value is being created, consolidated, and protected. Key Coverage Areas & Research Domains In collaboration with the VP, you will track and research: 1. Software Lifecycle Engineering (SLE) • The New AI-Centric Development Model: Tracking the transition from traditional developer patterns to AI-centered primitives for planning, delegation, and execution. • The New AI Stack: Researching agent-native infrastructure (the "Kubernetes of the agentic era"), including agent control planes, orchestration, and scalable operations. • Agent Control Planes & Harnesses: Evaluating how vendors establish agent orchestration, governance, scoped authority, behavioral constraints, and safety guardrails. • Hybrid & Parallel Development Pipelines: Documenting how enterprises reconcile AI-generated code with legacy CI/CD pipelines, testing environments, and ownership models. • Open Standards: Assessing emerging frameworks (e.g., MCP, A2A) and their impact on ecosystem interoperability. 2. Observability • Embedded, Execution-Native Observability: Analyzing the shift from downstream, post hoc infrastructure telemetry to real-time, runtime visibility into agent intent, decisions, and outcomes. • Observability as an AI Control Surface: Explaining how observability platforms bound, govern, and make probabilistic, non-deterministic execution explainable. • The Agent OS Management Surface: Assessing how observability acts as the core feedback mechanism to throttle, escalate, and orchestrate autonomous systems before operational risks compound. • Key Responsibilities • Research Execution & Collaboration: Work in close partnership with the Vice President to execute the strategic research agenda and roadmap, aligning planned deliverables with 2026 market realities. • Thought Leadership & Writing: Co-author and contribute to high-impact research deliverables, including bi-annual State of the Market Reports, Analyst Insight Reports, and Futurum Signal Reports. Deliver engaging presentations, participate in panel discussions, and contribute to industry publications. • Client Advisory & Delivery: Serve as a trusted advisor to technology vendors and IT buyers. Conduct custom briefings, workshops, and advisory sessions that translate complex technical concepts into actionable business strategies. • Business Development Support: Assist the VP, sales, and marketing teams in identifying growth opportunities, supporting custom proposals, and participating in scoping calls to expand subscription and advisory accounts. • Ecosystem Networking & Event Travel: Cultivate and maintain active relationships with industry stakeholders, developers, platform vendors, cloud providers, and open-source communities. This includes representing The Futurum Group at major trade shows, technology conferences, and industry events, which requires regular travel to connect with the ecosystem in person and surface emerging trends early. • Market Modeling & Data Integrity: Support the VP in reviewing, maintaining, and refining the market size and five-year forecast models for both practice areas. Conduct quality assurance on datasets within the Futurum Intelligence platform. • AR & Client Relationship Building: Establish