Research Assistant Professor, Venture Methodology (EI)

About the job

Be a Tar Heel!

This position may be eligible for a hybrid work arrangement that may include a partially remote work location, consistent with System Office policy. UNC-Chapel Hill employees are generally required to reside within a reasonable commuting distance of their assigned duty station.

A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top public universities. Known for its beautiful campus, world-class medical care, commitment to the arts and top athletic programs, Carolina is an ideal place to teach, work and learn.

One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.

University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package, paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit

The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy (www.pharmacy.unc.edu) is one of six health science schools (Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, Social Work, Public Health, Medicine) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is one of the oldest health science academic programs at Chapel Hill. The School teaches approximately 600 PharmD students and 145 graduate students. The School has built a reputation for its continued pursuit of excellence, rigorous education and training programs, cutting-edge multidisciplinary research, progressive pharmacy practices, efficient business operations, and its outstanding faculty, staff, and students. The School was named the number one School of Pharmacy in the U.S. by the U.S. News and World Report. The School has experienced unprecedented growth and success and continues to strategically position itself for sustained impact, as articulated in the School’s Strategic Plan (https://pharmacy.unc.edu/about/oe/strategic-plan/).

Our Vision is to be the global leader in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences. Our Mission is to prepare leaders and innovators to solve the world’s most pressing health care challenges. We are Advancing Medicine for Life through innovation and collaboration in pharmacy practice, education, research, and public service.

Position Summary

Eshelman Innovation, housed in the nation’s #1 pharmacy school, was created to address translational challenges with a game-changing new approach to academic innovation and commercialization. Through its venture studio, Eshelman Innovation has built Kairos, a venture creation methodology that pairs faculty innovators with entrepreneurial student talent, and Kalphai, the agentic AI platform that encodes that methodology and runs the studio end to end. Eshelman Innovation seeks a dynamic leader to formalize, validate, and scale the Kairos methodology as a licensable asset deployed across academic medical centers and university innovation organizations. The chosen candidate will serve as the Principal Investigator for the methodology research program and will focus on generating the outcomes evidence that establishes Kairos as the defensible standard for AI-enabled venture creation, strengthening its commercial position and accelerating its adoption by partner institutions. This position provides an opportunity to change how universities convert research into companies, at a moment when the tools to do so are being defined.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

Ph.D. in strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation management, information systems, organizational behavior, health services research, science and technology policy, economics, education research, sociology, or a related field. Candidates whose doctoral training lies outside these fields but who bring directly relevant research experience are encouraged to apply.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience

Rigorous empirical research training and the ability to design defensible studies in real-world settings rather than controlled ones, including familiarity with measurement, construct validity, and the limits of causal claims from field data. Demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship, venture creation, technology commercialization, innovation systems, or how organizations make decisions under uncertainty. Sufficient working fluency with generative AI tools to reason about what an agentic system is doing and evaluate the quality of its judgments; software development experience is not required, and comfort with analysis in Python, R, or comparable tools is sufficient.

Experience working with messy operational data or designing measurement into a live system. Direct exposure to venture studios, accelerators, incubators, university technology transfer, or early-stage investing, in any capacity, whether as researcher, practitioner, advisor, or participant. Familiarity with design-science, action-research, implementation-science, or other methodologies suited to studying a system while helping build it. Domain knowledge in digital health, health services, life sciences commercialization, or health system adoption and reimbursement dynamics. Experience coordinating research across multiple sites or institutions. A record of translating research findings into tools, curricula, playbooks, or product requirements that other people actually use.

Experience leading or contributing to complex collaborations across research and operational teams, including mentoring students or junior colleagues. Excellent written and verbal communication, including publishing in respected refereed journals and presenting to varied academic, institutional, and commercial audiences.

Academic Personnel Office Contact Information

If you experience any problems accessing the system or have questions about the application process, please contact the University’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost office at (919)-962-1091 or send an email to facultyrecruitment@unc.edu.

Please note: The Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost office will not be able to provide specific updates regarding position or application status.

If you have any questions about the job requirements or the hiring department notify the Department Contact.