Research Professional Faculty Restructure Project

Research professional faculty are essential to Virginia Tech's research mission. This project reviews the current research faculty ranks to create a clearer career framework, enhance opportunities for career progression, and better align positions with the external market.

The focus is to develop a structure designed to support the university’s research mission by providing a clear and equitable framework for classifying, recognizing, and advancing research professionals.

This structure establishes consistent expectations across research specializations and levels, aligns responsibilities with institutional standards, and promotes professional growth while ensuring flexibility to meet the diverse needs of the university’s research enterprise.

This project focuses on four research faculty ranks of research associate, senior research associate, research scientist, and senior research scientist, represent approximately 400 positions outlined in Chapter 6 of the Faculty Handbook. This project does not include postdoctoral associate and research professorial positions.

The project will develop a structure that groups similar positions which share knowledge, skills, abilities and type of work across the university research ecosystem. Employees will be able to access their specialization and levels to assist in career pathing and development. The structure will also provide market compensation data for research positions for competitive alignment to the external market to help attract and retain top research talent.

The project launched in Fall of 2024. Following governance approvals at the university, the transition to implementation is expected to occur in Summer of 2026 with functional rollout anticipated in early Fall 2026.

The previous structure did not provide a non-doctorate/terminal degree track and lacked clarity on promotion pathways. An outcome of the new classification structure is to develop a consistent understanding of knowledge, skills and abilities for like positions supported by market trends and assists with career progression. Each level defines the position’s minimum education requirement, supervisory and principal investigator eligibility, as well as responsibilities, scope, complexity, and accountability.

The ranks of research associate, senior research associate, research scientist, and senior research scientist will be renamed as ‘research professional faculty’ to include six levels reflecting minimum position requirements and alignment expectations that increase in experience, scope, expertise, responsibility, and accountability.

1. A job structure that reflects the research faculty ecosystem
2. A salary structure that is applicable and informative
3. A job catalog that employees and managers can access to review information specific to their position’s classification:
   1. Market information
   2. Summaries and Descriptions
   3. Titling
   4. Qualifications
4. Reporting capabilities for analysis

No. Research professional faculty is a distinct appointment type that recognizes employees whose primary responsibilities support Virginia Tech's research mission. While the name includes "professional faculty," it is separate from administrative and professional faculty and has its own classification structure, career framework, and appointment criteria.

Each research professional faculty position will be assigned a level and specialization based on the position's primary responsibilities, scope, complexity, and accountability. This new structure is intended to provide greater clarity and consistency across research roles and is not a direct crosswalk from the current rank structure.

Levels are assigned based on the position’s responsibilities, scope, complexity, expertise and accountability. Not an employee’s current title or years of service.

No., there is not intent to adjust salary as part of this initial rollout. The purpose of this project is to provide targeted external market data about university research faculty to university leaders. This will help leaders better understand and make more informed decisions about compensation in the future.

Benefits will not be impacted as a result of this project.

Existing and prospective research professional faculty will have a new job structure with consistently defined jobs and job profiles to assist with recruitment, career development and planning, as well as workforce development and planning. Resources and tools will be developed to aid employees and leaders with these efforts.

The job catalog has been developed to reflect the structure as well as serve as a resource in career development activities. The research professional faculty job catalog may be accessed here.

No. This project introduces a new classification framework rather than converting existing ranks one-for-one. Position levels are determined based on the responsibilities, scope, complexity, and accountability of the role within the new structure. As a result, the recommended level should not be interpreted as a promotion or demotion from the current research faculty rank.

This project establishes clearer expectations for each career level. Promotions will continue to be based on significant changes in a position's responsibilities and scope, with supervisors recommending advancement when the role aligns with the expectations of the next level.

1. To develop a structure that will provide a:
   1. Consistent understanding of levels and appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities, and compensation for like positions across the university research ecosystem.
   2. Classification structure that is available to employees to assist in career pathing.
   3. Market compensation data for research positions.
2. Structure to better facilitate career and workforce development and planning.
3. Consistent methodology for job titling, job summaries, and qualifications for roles to aid in recruiting and retention efforts.

A specialization is a specific discipline or skill area within a broader job family, and is defined by the essential disciplinary focus of the position. A level is based on the position’s responsibility, scope, complexity, and accountability. Together, the specialization and level assignment create a classification titled used to assist with broader market and internal comparisons, like compensation benchmarking, workforce analysis, and job pricing, by ensuring we compare truly similar roles across the university to the external research market

Yes, a specialization assignment is required to provide classification consistency to the structure of similar internal positions as well as alignment to similar external roles for compensation benchmarking purposes. Specializations are not intend to align with department or research themes within a research team, but rather recognize the primary function of the position.

Yes, a level designation is required to provide classification consistency defining the expectations of the position as well as alignment with similar internal and external roles for compensation benchmarking purposes.

While a position may incorporate skills from multiple specialty areas, only one specialization classification is used in the job classification structure that best aligns to the primary functions of the position to preserve clarity, consistency, and market alignment.

Specializations are reflected by the field of work and not necessarily degree fields. Specializations are identified based on external market sources ensuring alignment with relevant market pricing data.

The research professional faculty structure is created and owned by the university and can be adjusted and updated as appropriate to reflect changing market and industry standards as needed.

On an individual basis, the primary functions of a position may evolve over time to reflect changes in scope, complexity and responsibilities. When such changes occur, the position description should be revised to reflect the changes, and the specialization and level classification should be examined to ensure they reflect those changes.

If you believe a new specialization is needed, work with your supervisor and HR representative, who can submit the request through the university's review process.

Job postings should include the minimum education and experience requirements associated with the position's assigned research professional faculty level. Departments may also include preferred qualifications that are relevant to the position and support the needs of the research program. Your human resources (HR) representative can help ensure the job advertisement aligns with the position's classification and university hiring guidelines.

Research professional faculty is a distinct appointment type designed for positions whose primary responsibilities support the university's research mission through specialized research expertise and scholarly contributions.

Staff and administrative and professional faculty positions each have their own appointment criteria based on the nature of the work performed. While some positions may require similar knowledge or technical expertise, they are classified using different criteria and serve different institutional purposes.

Position classification is determined by the primary duties, scope of responsibility, and expectations of the role.

Principal investigators and budget managers will be able to use job profiles, pay structures, and market data to aid in the development of sponsored project budgets.

No, at this stage, employees do not need to take any action unless contacted by their department or HR. Additional information and implementation guidance will be shared as the project moves forward.

Start by discussiing your concerns with your supervisor. If your responsibilities have changed significantly over time, your position description may need to be updated. Once updated, your HR representative can review the position to determine whether the assigned level and specialization remain appropriate.

Employees should first speak to their supervisor or department HR representative. Additional university resources and guidance will be available throughout implementation.