Sr Director Analyst - Agentic AI in Infrastructure Cybersecurity (Remote: North America)

About the role: Gartner Analysts are industry thought leaders who create must-have insights, market predictions and best practices for a broad range of world-leading organizations. A Senior Director, Analyst serves as a leader within Gartner’s Business and Technology Insights (BTI) group, establishing oneself as a credible voice within their designated market at local, regional and global levels. Utilizing exceptional research and analytical skills, a Senior Director, Analyst plays a significant role in producing pragmatic and provocative insights which Gartner clients consume and apply to propel their business toward key objectives. They are a trusted source of advice for clients, reinforcing Gartner’s value every day by engaging them via in-person meetings, virtual meetings, sales support visits and Gartner conferences to discuss complex client challenges and offer appropriate recommendations. Key area of coverage will be in agentic AI technologies focused on securing IT infrastructure. You will apply your broad knowledge of technologies, vendors, processes, and best practices to provide actionable insights to our clients.   What you will do: Create innovative, thought provoking, and highly leveraged “must-have insights” content Develop new insights and ideas through thought leadership and offer compelling, actionable approaches to client's needs and requests that accelerate the client's ability to act Develop in-depth analysis to identify the root cause of a client’s barriers or overall needs and reframe thinking to drive strategy forward Demonstrate thought leadership in establishing Insights positions across a team of analysts Bring provocative, independent insights to Gartner leaders that can evolve the course of a research agenda Research, analyze and predict market trends and shifts to provide clients and vendors with actionable insights Provide clients and prospects with actionable advice aligned to their designated content area via virtual or face-to-face interactions Create and deliver high value presentation materials on and off stage for Gartner events, industry and professional association conferences, and client briefings Support BTI and Sales: Provide sales support serving as voice of the market to help Insights teams create content and to drive engagement with clients to make progress against their critical priorities to grow their business Provide high quality and timely content peer review Build credibility as an industry expert to represent Gartner insights, methodology and strategy Actively participate in innovation, ideation, and research discussions and collaborate effectively with peers in the Insights community Identify research process improvements or develop new processes that help the team and BTI provide excellent service delivery Be a mentor and a coach by supporting more junior team members Be client-centric while actively seeking to help clients engage regularly and often with Gartner insights and interactions What you will need: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; Graduate degree preferred 12+ years of experience in infrastructure cybersecurity, secure networking architecture, or related IT domains, preferably within forward‑leaning enterprise environments Knowledge of major infrastructure cybersecurity AI offerings from vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Netskope, Cato Networks, Fortinet, Cisco, Zscaler, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, and Microsoft Expertise in agentic AI architectures, frontier AI models, and autonomous cybersecurity agents, including their use in threat detection, investigation, response, vulnerability management, and security operations automation Strong understanding of domain-specific agentic infrastructure cybersecurity use cases such as in network security, cloud security, endpoint/server patching, backup, data protection, and disaster recovery Solid understanding of multi-agent cybersecurity systems, including agent orchestration, autonomous decision-making, and coordinated security operations across infrastructure, cloud, and enterprise environments Solid understanding of AI agent security, including agent identity, authorization, privilege management, prompt injection risks, agent hijacking, tool poisoning, and emerging security architectures for autonomous systems Demonstrate executive presence; can immediately establish credibility with C-level executives and additional stakeholders Strong organizational skills; ability to work under tight deadlines and produce high-quality deliverables Demonstrate excellence in research and writing ability Proficient in analyzing and synthesizing data; can effectively apply patterns and frameworks while drawing and defending conclusions to client challenges Strong communication skills; able to explain complex concepts concisely and simply; comfortable presenting at large and small-scale speaking engagements Ability to work independently, while also being intrinsically motivated to collaborate across teams and support the workflow of others, in a multicultural global team Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% (where applicable) #LI-Remote #LI-SK1 Who are we? At Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT), we guide the leaders who shape the world. Our mission relies on expert analysis and bold ideas to deliver actionable, objective business and technology insights, helping enterprise leaders and their teams succeed with their mission-critical priorities. Since our founding in 1979, we’ve grown to 20,000 associates globally who support over 13,000 client enterprises in ~90 countries and territories. We do important, interesting and substantive work that matters. That’s why we hire associates with the intellectual curiosity, energy and drive to want to make a difference. The bar is unapologetically high. So is the impact you can have here. What makes Gartner a great place to work? Our vast, virtually untapped