I don't believe it requires the SQL Server Agent account to be a member of the local Administrators group. I do believe you can utilize a non-administrator account with specific privileges granted.

What all those privileges are, I do not know offhand. I'd guess ones like (in User Rights Assignments) "Act as part of the operating system", "Log on as a service", possibly "Profile system performance", and possibly "Create a token object" and "Replace a process level token" (definitely unsure about the latter two).

A good Windows Administrator should be able to determine the minimum permissions needed. I'm also sure there is a KnowledgeBase article out there that details them.

I did find one article, but it specifically deals with XP. It is #259733 and the link is http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q259/7/33.asp&NoWebContent=1. It may or may not help, as I've run out of time to delve further.

Good luck.