Supervisor Talking Points- Research Professional Faculty Project
Supervisor Reminders
- Focus discussions on the position, not the individual.
- Reinforce that implementation is not a performance evaluation.
- Listen to employee questions and document concerns that require HR follow-up.
- Refer employees to the FAQs, Research Faculty Ranks, Job Catalog, or HR representative for questions outside your understanding and scope.
- If you are uncertain how to respond, consult with your HR representative before providing guidance.
Key Message
The Research Faculty Leveling Project established a consistent job structure for research faculty across Virginia Tech. The goal is to provide greater clarity around career progression, position expectations, and market alignment while supporting the university’s research mission.
Opening the Conversation
Begin by emphasizing the purpose of the project.
“This project is about creating a consistent framework for research positions across this university. This project impacts ranks previously referred to as research associate, senior research associate, research scientist, and senior research scientist. This new framework condenses the four ranks into one rank now referred to as “Research Professional Faculty” with six levels progressing in recognition of increased responsibilities, scope, complexity, and accountability.
Research professional faculty positions are aligned to two independent dimensions: a job specialization as defined by the essential disciplinary focus of the position, and a level as defined by the position’s scope, complexity, and accountability. The unique specialization and level assignment create a classification title used to assist with broader market and internal comparisons.
This new structure is designed to better define research roles, improve career pathing, strengthen recruitment and retention, and provide more reliable market information for future compensation decisions.
This structure does not impact the current structure outlining Postdoctoral Associates as well as Research Professorial ranks (Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, and Research Professor).”
About the Structure
Specializations
Employees may ask why they received a particular specialization.
Key points:
- Every position is assigned one specialization.
- The specialization reflects the primary function of the position, not the employee’s degree or research topic.
Specializations allow the university to compare similar jobs internally and externally for compensation and workforce planning.
Levels
Employees may ask about the importance of the levels.
Key Points:
- Six levels within the research professional faculty rank, and each level is defined by the minimum required education, supervisory responsibility, and eligibility for principal investigator (PI) status.
- Level assignment is based on the expectations of the position, not the employee’s background.
- Like specializations, levels allow for comparison of like positions internally and externally for compensation and workforce planning.
- In descending order of increasing responsibility, scope, complexity, and accountability, the six levels are:
- Research Associate I
- Research Associate II
- Research Scientist I
- Research Scientist II
- Senior Research Scientist
- Principal Research Scientist
What is Changing
The previous rank structure (research associate, senior research associate, research scientist, and senior research scientist) did not provide a non-doctorate/terminal degree track and lacked clarity for career progression and promotion pathways.
Employees will now be classified within the new Research Professional Faculty structure and assigned a classification title based on combining the specialization and level assignment reflecting the essential disciplinary focus and expectations of the position.
The new structure provides:
- Clearly defined career levels
- Standardized job profiles
- Research specializations
- Consistent qualifications
- Career development resources
- Market compensation information for future planning
Classification Title
- Your position has been reviewed using a university-wide methodology.
- Mapping to the new structure is based on the essential disciplinary focus and functions of the position, not the experience, education or skills of the individual currently performing the work.
- Position level reflects:
- Scope of responsibility
- Complexity of work
- Minimum expertise required
- Level of accountability
- This is not a direct conversion from the previous four-rank structure (research associate, senior research associate, research scientist, and senior research scientist) to the levels.
"Based on this methodology, the classification title of your position has been mapped as (insert classification title). This classification title is a combination of the level and specialization assignment of your position and does not impact your current working title. However, we may want to review your working title to ensure it reflects the work performed."
What is NOT Changing
Research Professional Faculty employees should understand that implementation does not:
- Change current job responsibilities
- Change working titles
- Affect benefits
- Affect pay
- Represent a promotion or demotion
- Reorganize departments
Why this Matters
The new structure helps Virginia Tech:
- Better recruitment and retain research talent.
- Create consistency across research positions.
- Improve workforce planning.
- Provide employees with greater transparency around career progression.
- Better align research positions with national market practices.
- Provide principal investigators with better information when budgeting sponsored research.
Questions about Level Placement
Employees may ask if they were “leveled down.”
Suggested response:
“The new structure is an entirely different classification framework. Your assigned level should not be viewed as either a promotion or demotion from your rank as outlined under the previous structure. Your position level reflects how the position aligns within the new university-wide structure.”
Questions about Salary
Suggested response:
“This implementation does not include salary adjustments. One of the long-term benefits of the project is providing university leaders with better market data to make informed compensation decisions in the future.”
Career Growth
Employee may ask how promotions will work.
Suggested response:
“Promotion opportunities will continue to occur when a position’s responsibilities and scope increase sufficiently to align with the expectations of the next level as defined in the structure.”
If an Employee Believes Their Position Doesn’t Reflect Their Work
Suggested response:
“If your responsibilities have changed significantly over time, discuss those changes with me. We can review the position description and work with our designated HR representative to determine whether the classification remains appropriate.”
Closing the Conversation
End with reassurance.
“This project is intended to provide greater clarity and consistency across Research Professional Faculty positions. Additional resources, including Research Professional Faculty Job Catalog, FAQs, and HR support, will continue to be available throughout implementation and beyond.”