One of the more reliable signals in niche market research isn’t from product review sites or software directories. It’s from job boards.

The test is simple: search for job postings that describe humans doing work that sounds like it should be automated. Not “software engineer” or “data analyst” — those are infrastructure roles. The target is a posting like “SWPPP writer,” “property condition report author,” or “Phase I environmental report specialist.” A human, being paid a salary, to produce a specific kind of document repeatedly.

When you find postings like that — especially multiple postings, at multiple firms, across different geographies — you’ve identified a workflow that’s still manual. Which means either the automation doesn’t exist, or it exists but hasn’t penetrated the market.

Why Job Postings Work

The job posting signal has a few properties that make it useful.

First, it’s ground truth. Unlike software directories, which may list tools that exist but are never used, a job posting represents actual budget allocation. A firm posting for a “SWPPP compliance specialist” is paying someone today to do this work. That’s a real workflow, not a theoretical one.

Second, it reveals the buyer persona directly. The hiring firm is the buyer. Their size, location, and industry segment are visible in the posting. A construction firm posting for a SWPPP writer is different from an environmental consulting firm posting the same role — same document type, different distribution channel for any tool that might replace or assist that person.

Third, it captures the vocabulary. Job postings use the terms practitioners actually use. If you’re trying to understand what terminology a niche uses — for SEO, for sales copy, for community targeting — the job posting is a primary source. “SWPPP writer” is what the market calls this person. That’s what to search for in forums, in G2 reviews, in association publications.

The Variant to Watch For

The most interesting variant isn’t just any job posting — it’s the job posting where the document type is the entire job. Not “environmental compliance manager who also writes SWPPPs.” The posting that says: this is a person whose primary function is to produce this specific report.

When the document type warrants its own job title, the volume of that document type is high enough to occupy a full-time role. Which means there’s a repeatable, high-volume workflow. Which means automation has leverage.

A one-off document type, produced occasionally by generalists, is a harder target. But a document type specialized enough to become someone’s job title has already cleared the market size threshold.

What It Doesn’t Tell You

The job posting signal confirms a manual workflow exists. It doesn’t tell you why automation hasn’t appeared yet.

The answer might be that the market is too small. The answer might be that the workflow requires judgment that’s hard to automate. The answer might be that tools exist but haven’t reached this community. Or it might just be that no one has built the obvious thing yet.

That’s what the rest of the research is for — the direct tool search, the review mining, the community forums. The job posting signal starts the inquiry. It says: there’s something here. The other signals determine whether that something is worth pursuing.

But as a starting point for identifying unexplored territory, it’s remarkably efficient. Search for the job title that describes a person doing the thing you’re wondering if software could do. If the postings exist, the workflow exists. That’s where to start looking.