Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley (0132U) #88620

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Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley (0132U) #88620

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88620

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About Berkeley

Executive Summary

The University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley), the nation's premier public research university, seeks a collaborative, experienced, and principled leader to serve as its next Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR).

The VCR joins the institution at a pivotal moment. Poised to lead new discoveries and solve complex global challenges, Berkeley aims to push the boundaries of knowledge, foster innovation, expand opportunities, and cultivate a welcoming environment for individuals of all backgrounds over the next decade. The VCR has the opportunity to engage with UC Berkeley's Strategic Planning, which includes fundamental inquiry, use-inspired research for global grand challenges, and enhancing research sustainability.

Working closely with other campus leaders and a broad range of stakeholders across campus, the VCR will advance research across the campus by promoting and supporting discovery, scholarship, innovation, entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary collaboration while addressing administrative complexities, research compliance requirements, and upgrades to research facilities and services. The VCR will also collaborate with external stakeholders, nationally and internationally, relevant to Berkeley's research mission.

About the University of California, Berkeley

Chartered in 1868, as the flagship of the University of California (UC) system, UC Berkeley is situated on a hillside overlooking the San Francisco Bay. It is consistently recognized for the quality of its faculty and students, the depth of its research, and its leadership in the national dialogue on the future of higher education. More information can be found on UC Berkeley's Points of Pride.

UC Berkeley is part of the ten-campus University of California system. Collectively, the UC system enrolls approximately more than 300,000 students and maintains a mission of research, teaching, and public service.

Institutional Highlights

• Global Ranking: Ranked the #1 public university and #7 university by U.S. News & World Report.
• Academic Breadth: Comprises 14 schools and colleges, 184 academic departments and programs, and more than 300 degree programs, including more top-ranked PhD programs than any university.
• Entrepreneurial Excellence: Ranked #1 by Pitchbook for undergraduate programs producing the most VC-backed startups, and #1 for the most women-led VC-backed startups.
• Distinguished Faculty: The current faculty includes 10 Nobel laureates (26 historically), 1 Fields Medal winner, 4 Pulitzer Prize winners, 33 MacArthur Fellows, and 364 Guggenheim Fellows.
• Research Funding: Over $1 billion in annual research expenses based on the NSF Herd model.

The city of Berkeley has a population of approximately 121,000 and is a culturally rich community located across the Bay from San Francisco and north of Oakland and San Jose. It is a prominent center for theater, music, dining, and intellectual life. The university's 1,200-acre campus sits within an urban core and is defined by natural beauty-featuring creeks, meadows, and groves of trees. It is close to some of the state and nation's most impressive nature and outdoor recreational areas.

Research At UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley is a world-renowned R1 public research university, which champions groundbreaking, interdisciplinary research to tackle society's toughest challenges. Berkeley's prize-winning faculty and researchers bring in over $900 million in sponsored research funding per year on average from federal (over $315 million), state, industry, and nonprofit sources across disciplines from hard science to the arts and humanities. Berkeley is also the home of innovation and entrepreneurial research, ranked #1 in the world by Pitchbook in 2025 for the number of venture-backed companies founded by undergraduate alumni and students. Berkeley's world-leading research institutes and centers bring together researchers from multiple disciplines and from around the world to drive new insights across a wide array of fields, including genomics, labor policy, space science, ethics, global engagement, public health, transportation, development, human health, to name but a few. The campus also hosts notable innovation hubs, connecting startup companies with Berkeley faculty and students to accelerate groundbreaking solutions in biotechnology, energy and materials, and health, and fosters engineering, materials science and transportation research at its nearby Richmond Field Station. Berkeley researchers are also actively engaged in public-impact, community-engaged research to drive lasting change.

Berkeley research collaborations extend beyond the campus to leverage synergies with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), located adjacent to the campus, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), located across the Bay. The campus has deep connections and history with Silicon Valley entrepreneurship.

Berkeley's core research community is made up of roughly 1,600 full‐time ladder‐rank faculty, 33,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students, 1,200 postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars from around the world, and over 2,500 other research staff who participate in our vibrant research ecosystem of academic departments, laboratories, museums, field stations, and research centers. Many of the 30,000 undergraduate students also participate in the campus's cutting‐edge research, either as part of their coursework or as research and laboratory assistants. In addition, there is a comprehensive infrastructure of highly-skilled technical and administrative staff and non‐faculty researchers who support the University's research enterprise. This enterprise takes form in the University's 130 academic departments and in its numerous research institutes, centers, supported by a rich ecosystem of world-class museums/research collections, libraries, field stations, and shared-user facilities.

Role of the Vice Chancellor for Research

Reporting directly to the Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (EVCP), the VCR plays a critical role in advancing Berkeley's research excellence. The VCR has the overall leadership, through vision and shared governance, of the research enterprise at Berkeley. The VCR provides line management and operational oversight for the Research Division encompassing more than 3,000 staff and affiliates (approximately 2,600 in the Research Units, Museums and Field Stations, and 460 in research administration, compliance and campus support units).

Scope of Oversight

The VCR holds direct management responsibilities for:

• Organized Research Units (ORUs): The Associate Vice Chancellor for Research (AVCR) portfolio includes more than 25 multidisciplinary research units-which encompass many more nested research centers and institutes-as well as research museums and field stations.
• Museums & Field Stations: Eight research museums and science centers, alongside seven remote research field stations.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer (CIEO) portfolio, which includes Intellectual Property & Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA), entrepreneurship programs, and startup incubators.
• Research Administration & Compliance Offices: Overseeing the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) in managing research contracts and grants, animal/human subject protections, research security (including export control), and conflicts of interest, and eight research compliance committees.
• Research Support Units: Research Integrity (with the AVCR); Environmental Health & Safety (with the Vice Chancellor for Administration); the Office of Laboratory Animal Care; Research Information Technology, and the Visiting Scholar and Postdoc Affairs Office.
• Research Development: Berkeley Research Development Office (including limited submission opportunities); stewardship of philanthropic and internally funded research programs.

VCR Division Financial and Operational Portfolio (FY 2026 Data)

• Central Budget Allocation: $67 million.
• Contributes over one-third of campus indirect cost revenue, and accounted for 18% of philanthropic funds raised in the most recent Capital Campaign.
• Total Division Headcount: 2,417 employees and 688 affiliates.
• Intellectual Property: Holds more than 873 active U.S. patents, 1391 active foreign patents, and 863 products commercialized, with 387 under active license.

Key Responsibilities

The VCR serves as UC Berkeley's senior executive leader for research policy, planning, and administration, leading the research division and partnering with faculty, deans, and other campus leaders to advance the University's broader research mission. The VCR provides strategic and administrative leadership for the research enterprise and executive oversight of the research administration, integrity, compliance, and support functions that enable research across the Berkeley campus.

• Strategic Vision & Research Excellence:

• Partner with the Chancellor, EVCP, deans, and faculty to help ensure the continued excellence of Berkeley's research mission in an ever-evolving research environment.

• Catalyze interdisciplinary and cross-campus research initiatives, bringing together faculty, schools, colleges, research units, and external partners around emerging opportunities and areas of strategic importance to Berkeley.

• Help the campus anticipate changes in the research landscape and develop new approaches to research funding, partnerships, infrastructure, and institutional support.

• Enhance the value of Berkeley research for private industry (technology licensing, startup companies, and industry partnership), public policy, and direct engagement with communities.

• Advance the visibility of Berkeley's research enterprise, partnering with campus communications, academic leaders, and other stakeholders to elevate faculty scholarship, research accomplishments, and Berkeley's contributions to society.

• Serve as a spokesperson for Berkeley research.

• Organizational Leadership & Management:

• Provide strategic oversight of over 100 interdisciplinary research institutes, centers, museums, field stations, research support units, shared user facilities and other organizations reporting to the VCR, ensuring strong leadership, effective stewardship of resources, strong engagement of campus faculty and researchers, and alignment with campus research priorities.

• Lead efforts to modernize and streamline research administration, reducing inefficient administrative burden and improving the systems, processes, and services that enable faculty and researchers to conduct research effectively.

• Lead and support organizational change, systems transformation, and process improvement across the research enterprise, working with campus partners to develop more effective and flexible ways of operating.

• Maintain a strong leadership team and delegate effectively so that the VCR can maintain strategic focus while ensuring the organization has the capacity to manage its substantial operational and compliance responsibilities.

• Research Administration, Integrity & Compliance:

• Provide executive oversight of the infrastructure, policies, services, and compliance functions that support Berkeley's research enterprise, including sponsored research administration, research integrity, human and animal research protections, research security, export controls, conflicts of interest, environment, health and safety, and other areas of regulatory compliance.

• Ensure that Berkeley maintains the highest standards of research integrity and that campus research complies with applicable federal, state, University, and institutional policies and regulations, while promoting processes that enable and support the research mission.

• Strengthen Berkeley's ability to attract, secure, and effectively administer external research funding, working with faculty, research administrators, government agencies, foundations, industry, and other partners.

• Provide strategic leadership for the entrepreneurship ecosystem, intellectual property, technology transfer, industry research relationships, and other mechanisms that broaden the reach and impact of Berkeley research.

• Provide leadership on campus research policy and ensure that policies and practices appropriately balance research opportunity, institutional risk, regulatory requirements, and the needs of faculty and researchers.

• Campus Governance & Collaboration:

• Serve on the Chancellor's Cabinet and the Provost's Council, among other campus leadership groups.

• Act as a principal liaison to the campus's Academic Senate on research matters.

• Navigate Berkeley's decentralized, shared-governance environment and build alignment across faculty, staff, deans, campus leaders, and other stakeholders.

• Partner closely with deans and other academic leaders to support research across Berkeley's schools, colleges, and divisions, serving as a catalyst and partner in shaping research strategy rather than its sole owner.

• Foster close cooperative relationships with academic deans to support research conducted across Berkeley's schools, colleges, and divisions.

• Represent the Chancellor or EVCP, as appropriate, on campus committees and initiatives addressing research-related infrastructure, fundraising, budget, policy, and other matters affecting Berkeley's research enterprise.

• System-wide & National Representation:

• Represent Berkeley on the UC Council of Vice Chancellors for Research; the APLU Committee on Research; and the AAU Senior Research Officer groups, and in other organizations involving university research leaders.

• Anticipate and respond to changes in the federal research funding and policy environment and work with UC system leadership, federal and state agencies, and policymakers to advocate for Berkeley's research enterprise and position the campus for emerging opportunities.

• Collaborate with other UC VCRs to manage multi-campus research units, initiatives, and programs.

• Internal Administrative Partnerships:

• Work with the Vice Provost for the Faculty and academic leaders on the recruitment and retention of an outstanding and diverse community of faculty researchers; collaborate with the Chief Information Officer on strategic computing, security, and infrastructure; partner with the Vice Chancellor for Administration to oversee Environment, Health and Safety; and coordinate with the Vice Chancellors for Administration and Finance on facilities investments, administrative services supporting research, and other key funding considerations.

• Partner with academic deans, the Vice Chancellor for Administration, and Vice Provost for Academic Planning to advocate for, and raise funds for updating and renewal of research infrastructure (buildings, facilities), shared user facilities, and other core infrastructure (IT network, supply chain, etc) to enable cutting edge research across campus.

• Assess and strengthen shared research facilities, core infrastructure, museums, field stations, and other research "common goods," including the development of sustainable operating and financial models.

• External Interface:

• Help to manage the close research partnership and administrative interface with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the partnership with NASA Ames.

• Strengthen relationships with federal agencies, industry, foundations, national laboratories, and other external partners to diversify and expand research opportunities while balancing institutional priorities, financial considerations, risk, and research integrity.

• Support the broad dissemination and visibility of Berkeley's research and scholarship through external engagement and other avenues that extend the reach and societal impact of the University's research enterprise.

Key Opportunities and Challenges

The role is multifaceted as an inspiring intellectual leader who champions diverse research activities, facilitates cross-disciplinary innovation, and acts as an operational change agent capable of effecting positive, significant change in infrastructure and organizational structures.

Funding Diversification & External Advocacy

• Navigating Federal Volatility: Understanding, communicating, and leading the navigation of shifting federal agency priorities, grant disruptions, and heightened regulatory mandates (research security, export controls).
• Alternative Funding Streams: The next VCR may proactively build and leverage relationships to diversify funding streams, maintaining connections with federal agencies while pursuing opportunities from industry partnerships, private philanthropy, and foundations.
• Facilitating Broad Collaborations: Capitalize on California state funding, cross-UC collaborations, or interdisciplinary initiatives on campus in high-impact areas.

Change Leadership on Infrastructure & Organizational Structures for Research Administration

• Change Management for Research Administration: Collaborate with campus leaders and administration to reduce administrative burden and overall RA process complications for faculty and researchers. Address and communicate effective process and systems improvements.
• Strategy for Shared Facilities: Evaluate and build sustainable financial models to operate, upgrade, and recapitalize shared core facilities and specialized units.
• Future-Proofing Buildings & Spaces: Collaboratively address deferred facilities maintenance and space constraints that hinder research growth.
• Systems & Technology Solutions: Partner with the Finance and IT leadership to modernize aging enterprise systems and safely integrate emerging AI tools where appropriate and relevant.

Intellectual Leadership, Research Vision, & Values-Based Leadership

• Champion the Research Enterprise: Ensuring humanities, social sciences, and STEM all receive strategic support.
• Balanced Leadership: Catalyze large-scale interdisciplinary initiatives without creating additional administrative silos. Advance innovation and entrepreneurship while supporting fundamental research.
• Decisive and Principled Approach: Exercise a principled and ethical compass, bring an aspirational vision for research support and strategy at Berkeley, and maintain the willingness and consistency to make and communicate complex/difficult decisions based on aligned values and vision.
• Diverse Stakeholders Communication: Communicate with clarity, empathy, and composure during crises, regulatory disruptions, and moments of institutional uncertainty.
• The Forest and The Trees: Balance high-level strategic vision with a realistic, grounded understanding of day-to-day administrative operations.
• Connecting with Institutional Equity: Preserve and communicate Berkeley's research success in service of its public mission, societal impact, and commitment to institutional equity.
• Faculty Partner & Liaison: Listen and leverage connections, and resolve and/or elevate issues of concern among the faculty to campus leadership; serve as an advocate for faculty and researchers. Convey direction, alignment, and relevant issues and trends of concern to faculty relating to research.

Navigating UC Berkeley and Managing Complexity

• Shared Governance & Decentralization: Understand and effectively navigate Berkeley's decentralized ecosystem, being part of a state system, and shared governance model, relying on coalition-building and influence for success.
• Unionization: Navigate labor dynamics effectively, adapting to student, and postdoc unionization that has transformed mentor-mentee dynamics into formal employment frameworks. Navigate unionization of research support staff.
• Visionary Management & Delegation: Provide calm and motivational leadership to a large and complex division while maintaining a culture of service orientation. Delegate operational tasks effectively to a trusted senior team to manage a massive portfolio encompassing ~2,300 personnel and multi-layered compliance duties.
• Organized Research Units: Provide clear oversight of Organized Research Units (ORUs), focusing on strategic alignment, cross-disciplinary growth, and sustainable financial models.

The challenges/opportunities and priorities for the VCR are multi-directional, and the research ecosystem and federal landscape are ever-changing. The next VCR will need to be strongly grounded in their vision for the research enterprise at Berkeley and core values so that they may strategically lead their team, collaborate, influence, and drive change in support of researchers.

Qualifications and Characteristics

The ideal candidate will be a distinguished scholar and researcher with strong skills in leadership, administration, collaboration, and communication who can bring and advance a vision for research at UC Berkeley that aligns with the mission and culture of Berkeley, its executive leadership, and the campus community.

Required Credentials

• A doctoral degree.
• A distinguished record of excellence in research, teaching, and/or professional activity appropriate for a tenured faculty appointment in one or more of UC Berkeley's academic departments.

Key Qualifications

• University of California (UC) Expertise: Current or recent UC experience is strongly preferred to support learning agility in navigating organizational and role complexities.
• Vision & Strategy: Excellent skills to think strategically and establish a vision and roadmap for research at Berkeley that is aligned with campus executives, researchers, and the community. Excellent ability to advance initiatives and understand details while maintaining clarity on big picture shared goals.
• Administrative Leadership: Demonstrated success in managing a complex unit, organization, team, and/or lab.
• Change Leadership: Strong skills to lead significant organizational change, transformation, restructuring, or enterprise-level implementation in a complex institution.
• Leading Through Influence: Demonstrated ability to lead effectively in a complex, decentralized, shared-governance environment; build alignment across diverse stakeholders; and influence outcomes without relying primarily on positional authority.
• Team Leadership & Delegation: Excellent skills to build and develop high-performing leadership teams, delegate effectively, mentor and coach others, provide thought partnership, motivate towards common goals, and hold accountability.
• Fundraising & Funding Success: Proven ability to secure major research funding; strong skills to support programs outside their direct domain of expertise and serve as an effective fundraiser with alumni, industry, and governmental stakeholders. Experienced in navigating multiple funding models and balancing financial opportunity with institutional priorities, risk, research integrity, and long-term sustainability.
• Financial Acumen: Strong financial acumen with a record of transparency and accountability in resource management. Ability to understand the financial and operational implications of research infrastructure, shared facilities, indirect cost recovery, and evolving research funding models.
• Systems Thinking and Process Improvement: Strong ability for deep analysis and build understanding of the systems and administrative infrastructure that underpin a major research enterprise, with the ability to identify barriers, improve processes, problem solve, and translate and communicate complex operational, technological, financial, and regulatory issues into practical solutions for researchers and staff.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Deep understanding of the legislative, regulatory, public policy, and compliance environments impacting higher education research. Demonstrated ability to navigate research security, export controls, international research requirements, data and privacy considerations, intellectual property, and rapidly evolving regulatory environments.
• Intellectual Leadership & Curiosity Across Disciplines: Demonstrated intellectual curiosity and the ability to engage credibly across disciplines, appreciate different research methods and perspectives, and advance work beyond traditional academic or organizational silos. Desire for engagement with the full breadth of an institution's academic and research enterprise, including disciplines and communities beyond the candidate's primary field of expertise.
• Commitment to Institutional Values: Demonstrated history of implementing successful strategies and programs that attract, support, and retain students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds.
• Values-Driven Leadership: The position requires the highest personal integrity, a clear sense of self, and principled, values-based grounding aligned with the campus vision and community. A calm, steady leadership presence and the confidence to help faculty, staff, and campus partners remain focused and grounded during periods of significant change or crisis.
• Communication & Political Acumen: Exceptional skills in listening, writing, and presenting to diverse internal and external audiences. Exceptional political judgment, diplomacy, and interpersonal skill, including the ability to understand different stakeholder perspectives, tailor messages to different audiences, de-escalate conflict, and maintain trust during periods of uncertainty or disagreement.
• Ethics & Decision Making: A strong moral compass and the courage to make, explain, and stand behind difficult or unpopular decisions, including decisions involving funding, partnerships, compliance, research security, and institutional priorities, while maintaining respectful and productive relationships.
• Adaptability & Humility: Confidence tempered by humility, including a willingness to listen to experts, acknowledge what one does not know, seek advice when appropriate, learn quickly, and adapt leadership approaches as circumstances evolve.
• External Perspective: Experience engaging with federal agencies, government, industry, foundations, national laboratories, or other external research partners is highly desirable, as is an understanding of the broader national and international research landscape.

Inquiries, Nominations, and Applications

The review of applications will begin on September 29, 2026. For full consideration, those interested should apply by September 29, 2026 at noon PT. The position will remain open until filled. All those interested in applying for official consideration are asked to do so via jobs.berkeley.edu to job number 88620. Candidates should submit both a CV/resume and a letter of interest.

All inquiries and nominations should be directed to the university's internal executive search partner, the Berkeley Executive Search team at executivesearch+vcr@berkeley.edu.

Compensation

The anticipated annual range that the University reasonably expects to offer is $500,000 to $560,000. The estimated pay scale for the role and classification ranges from $460,000 to $580,000.

How to Apply

All those interested in applying for official consideration are asked to do so via jobs.berkeley.edu to job number 88620. Candidates should submit both a CV/resume and a letter of interest.

Job application guides are available at https://jobs.berkeley.edu/job-listings/external-applicants.

The full leadership profile is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rusqRdH-2xDeGYaX2XHhofpBe-PjIVUy/view?usp=drive_link.

Conviction History Background

This is a designated position requiring fingerprinting and a background check due to the nature of the job responsibilities. Berkeley does hire people with conviction histories and reviews information received in the context of the job responsibilities. The University reserves the right to make employment contingent upon successful completion of the background check.

Misconduct Disclosure

As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts a conditional offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; received notice of any allegations or are currently the subject of any administrative or disciplinary proceedings involving misconduct; have left a position after receiving notice of allegations or while under investigation in an administrative or disciplinary proceeding involving misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of misconduct with a previous employer.

"Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC's policies addressing some forms of misconduct:

UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy

UC Anti-Discrimination Policy

Abusive Conduct in the Workplace

Equal Employment Opportunity

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

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