Certified Agentic Research Specialist

Two things are happening at once in AI research right now.

The SaaS research tools keep getting better. Listen Labs, Coloop, Marvin, Vurvey, SyntheticUsers — these tools can run interviews, analyze qualitative data at scale, and deploy synthetic users in ways that were impossible two years ago. Used well, they're exceptional. Used poorly, they're a liability.

At the same time, a second layer is opening up. Custom agentic workflows, multi-agent systems, synthetic experts grounded in your team's actual data, end-to-end pipelines with validation and inspector loops built in. This is what comes after prompting — and it's where the most valuable research work is moving.

Plenty of researchers are getting fluent in one of these layers. Very few are fluent in both. Even fewer have the DISCERNMENT to decide — in the moment, on a real project — which approach the question actually calls for.

That combined capability changes what research can do. Studies that used to take weeks happen in days. Research scales across languages and geographies. Methods that were too expensive to run become feasible for teams that never had research budget. And when the work is done with judgment, the insights are sharper, faster, and more defensible than they were before.

THAT COMBINED CAPABILITY IS THE RAREST THING IN RESEARCH RIGHT NOW. INCREASINGLY, IT'S BECOMING CRITICAL.

The Certified Agentic Research Specialist is the credential for that work. It recognizes researchers who can ethically design transparent AI research workflows — balancing speed, scale, rigor, and human judgment — using SaaS tools when they fit, custom-built systems when they don't, and the discernment to know the difference.

Based on Maven Top 100 Courses.

The credential reflects two integrated mastery layers — and the discernment to move between them.

LAYER 1 — Fluency with the SaaS research stack

You'll be able to:

• Critically evaluate AI research platforms — cut through vendor demos and identify which tools actually deliver, with criteria you can defend to procurement or leadership.

• Design AI-moderated interviews — and know when AI moderation outperforms a human moderator, and when it doesn't.

• Conduct AI-powered research analysis at scale — process dozens of interviews in hours using tools like Coloop and Marvin, with the discipline to know where human review is essential.

• Use enterprise synthetic user platforms — and defend the methodology to skeptics who think "synthetic" means "made up."

LAYER 2 — Building beyond SaaS

You'll be able to:

• Design transparent agentic workflows — research pipelines where every step can be traced, audited, and explained.

• Build custom research agents and multi-agent systems — not just use someone else's, but agents that follow your team's methodology and your industry's specifics.

• Create synthetic experts grounded in your real research data — agents that simulate hard-to-reach stakeholders, domain experts, or user segments your team can't reach directly.

• B

  uild validation and inspector loops — the quality systems that let your team trust autonomous AI work without watching every output.

• Orchestrate end-to-end research systems — combining SaaS tools, custom agents, synthetic users, and human judgment into pipelines that produce defensible insights at speed.
  

THE THIRD CAPABILITY IS DISCERNMENT — knowing, in the moment, which approach the question actually calls for. Sometimes it's a SaaS workflow. Sometimes it's a custom agent. Sometimes it's a hybrid pipeline that takes parts from both. That's the skill that separates a researcher who uses AI from one who shapes how their team uses it.

The Certified Agentic Research Specialist is issued by BRILLIANT EXPERIENCE — John Whalen's insight and innovation consultancy.

John has spent the last three years on the AI-research frontier. His team runs studies and trainings for Fortune 500 clients — Microsoft, ServiceNow, Pinterest, Mars — to complete research that isn't possible with humans alone, and to pinpoint exactly where AI-enhanced research excels and where human judgment is irreplaceable. The methodology behind the credential is the same methodology Brilliant Experience deploys with global brands.

What that means for you: the capabilities recognized in this credential aren't theoretical. They're the ones used daily on engagements where research quality directly drives major business decisions.

A PhD in cognitive science from Johns Hopkins. Author of Design for How People Think (O'Reilly, 2019). A top instructor on Maven. Two decades combining academic rigor with frontier-practitioner depth.

A credential is only worth as much as the person behind it. This one's awarded by the practitioner who built the methodology.

• CORPORATE RESEARCHERS STAYING AHEAD.

  
  You're at a company where AI fluency is increasingly expected — sometimes implicitly, sometimes loudly. You've used the SaaS tools enough to know their limits. You want to be the person who shapes how research uses AI at your organization, not the person who waits to be told. Past students include researchers, designers, and PMs from Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, IKEA, Canva, Deloitte, Humana, Telia, HubSpot, and Autodesk.

  
  

• INDEPENDENT RESEARCHERS STANDING OUT.

  
  You're a freelancer, consultant, or between roles. You can see the field shifting and you want hands-on, practical training combined with foresight and ethics — the kind that helps you lead and guide where your team or consultancy is headed. You need a credential that signals to employers and clients that you've done the real work — both the SaaS and the custom build side, not just the YouTube version. The Certified Agentic Research Specialist is that signal.
  

• LEADERS WHO NEED TO SEE THE VISION FIRST.

  
  You manage a research team. You can't ask them to learn this if you haven't done it yourself. Many of John's most senior students take both courses precisely to understand the territory before they invest their team's time and budget in it. This is the credential you earn before you bring AI research transformation to your team.

BRINGING YOUR WHOLE TEAM? Reach out to John directly at jw@brilliantexperience.com. Teams can either join the public cohorts or run a PRIVATE COHORT tailored to your team's needs and schedule — with custom kickoff sessions, a private Slack channel, and pricing for 5+ seats.

• A FOUNDATION IN CUSTOMER RESEARCH OR INSIGHTS WORK.

  
  You've conducted research, contributed to it, or worked closely with researchers. You don't need to be a senior moderator — but you should be familiar with what good research looks like and why it matters. The credential's weight depends on the rigor you bring to the work.

  
  

• WILLINGNESS TO TRY TOOLS HANDS-ON.

  
  Both courses are demanding. You'll set up AI-moderated studies, analyze data through enterprise platforms, build custom agents, and orchestrate end-to-end pipelines. Watching demos isn't enough — you'll actually do this work, on real research scenarios, with peer feedback.

• COMFORT LEARNING NEW INTERFACES.

  
  You don't need to code. John doesn't code either. But you'll work with tools researchers haven't traditionally used: IDEs, terminals, automation platforms like n8n, AI coding environments like Claude Code. Onboarding is built for non-technical professionals. If you can write clear instructions in plain English and you're curious about new tools, you're ready.

• A PRO OR BUSINESS PLAN WITH ONE OF THE MAJOR AI CODING TOOLS.

  
  For Course 2's agentic build work, you'll need a pro or business plan with Claude, Codex (ChatGPT), Gemini, or GitHub Copilot. Enterprise AI research platforms used in Course 1 (Listen Labs, Coloop, Marvin, Vurvey, SyntheticUsers) are provided through the course at no additional cost.

THE CERTIFIED AGENTIC RESEARCH SPECIALIST CREDENTIAL.
Issued by Brilliant Experience on completion of both courses. LinkedIn-ready badge and signed PDF certificate.

BOTH COURSES, IN FULL.

• AI for Customer Research — 4 weeks, 4 live sessions, 31 lessons, 3 projects

• Agentic AI for Research — 5 weeks, 5 live sessions, 26 lessons, 4 projects
  

60 MINUTES OF 1:1 TIME WITH JOHN.
Two 30-minute private sessions — one during each course. Talk through your specific work, troubleshoot your projects, or get career advice on applying AI research to your context.

ENTERPRISE AI TOOL ACCESS DURING COURSE 1.
Hands-on work in Listen Labs, Coloop, Marvin, Vurvey, SyntheticUsers — platforms most teams can't access on their own.

GUEST SESSIONS WITH AI TOOL FOUNDERS AND SYNTHETIC-USER EXPERTS.
Hear from the people building these platforms — what's actually possible, what's on their roadmap, where the field is heading. Beyond the marketing pitch.

HANDS-ON PROJECTS IN BOTH COURSES.
You won't just watch demos. You'll set up AI-moderated studies, analyze qualitative data through enterprise tools, build custom agents, design validation loops, and orchestrate end-to-end research pipelines. Projects get peer feedback throughout, and John's direct input during live sessions and your 1:1.

WEEKLY OFFICE HOURS DURING COURSE 2.
Open to all enrolled students — bring stuck projects, half-built workflows, or strategic questions.

LIFETIME ACCESS TO EVERYTHING.
Sessions, recordings, prompt libraries, setup guides, frameworks — yours to keep, reference, and adapt for future work.

A COMMUNITY OF PRACTITIONERS PUSHING THE FIELD FORWARD.
Researchers, designers, and PMs from Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, IKEA, Braze, Humana, Telia, Autodesk, MasterControl, and more — actively building AI research practices at their companies.

MAVEN COURSE COMPLETION CERTIFICATES — one per course, in addition to the Brilliant Experience credential.

THE MAVEN GUARANTEE — full refund eligible through the second week of each course.

The credential is built from two cohort-based courses. You can take them in any order, and you can mix and match any 2026 cohort for each — they don't need to be back-to-back.

COURSE 1 — AI for Customer Research

4 weeks · 2026 cohorts:

• June 2 – June 23

• July 28 – August 18

• September 15 – October 6

• November 3 – December 1

COURSE 2 — Agentic AI for Research

5 weeks · 2026 cohorts:

• June 4 – July 9

• July 30 – August 27

• September 17 – October 15

• November 5 – December 10

For specific session days, times, and full syllabus details, see the individual course pages:

• AI for Customer Research — https://maven.com/john-whalen/ai-for-customer-research

• Agentic AI for Research — https://maven.com/john-whalen/agentic-ai-for-research

ALUMNI FROM TEAMS BUILDING REAL AI RESEARCH PRACTICES.

Microsoft · Meta · TikTok · IKEA · Canva · Deloitte · FedEx · Autodesk · HubSpot · Braze · Humana · Telia · Illumina · MasterControl · Teladoc Health · Printify

FROM TIKTOK'S GLOBAL RESEARCH LEADER.

"Best course on AI implications for consumer and market research. You get useful learnings and tools you can use right away while experiencing, first hand, the future that is already here."

— Esteban Ribero, Global Research Leader, TikTok

TWO COURSES IN, STILL RECOMMENDING.

"I've completed both of his courses and regularly recommend them to peers. You genuinely level up your skills while learning practical, high-quality content you can apply immediately."

— Ross Lordon, PhD, Staff UX Researcher, Microsoft Azure

FOUR WEEKS, DIFFERENT RESEARCHER.

"Completely changed the way I interact with AI. I feel like I've learned more in 4 weeks than the last 2 years about how to use AI."

— Albert Packer, Product Design Manager, MasterControl

THE SKEPTIC.

"'I could NEVER trust AI to synthesize user research or moderate interviews with customers.' — Me, a month ago. And then I took this course."

— Jenny Shirley, UX Researcher

ON THE FEAR OF BEING REPLACED.

"One of the biggest takeaways was being able to debunk the myth that researchers are on the verge of becoming obsolete. On the contrary, this course reaffirmed the critical thinking, curiosity, and human nuance that researchers bring to the table — skills AI can enhance but not replace."

— Neha Scher-Shah, Sr. UX Researcher, Humana

AN ENTIRE TEAM, IN ONE COHORT.

"If you want to move your team past basic prompting and into true agentic workflow orchestration, this is the course to take. My team and I took it a few weeks ago to quickly upskill our entire practice. The impact on our daily workflow has already been substantial."

— Sofia Linse Videla, Senior UX Research Manager, Braze