Tenure Track Assistant/Associate Professor position in Business Analytics, the University of Oulu Business School

The University of Oulu is one of the biggest multidisciplinary universities in Finland. We are an international science community working in close cooperation with research institutes, companies and the public sector.  Together we form a globally significant research hub, relentlessly pushing the boundaries of known for a more sustainable and intelligent future. 

The University of Oulu Business School is an internationally accredited (AACSB) business school that utilizes the diversity of many different disciplines offered by the University of Oulu and is responsible for delivering high quality research and teaching in its focus areas.

We are now looking for a highly competent and motivated
Tenure track Assistant/ Associate Professor in Business Analytics

to join our faculty at the Oulu Business School. A qualified person is required to have a doctoral degree in Business Administration or Economics or another relevant field and abilities to carry out and supervise research, teach, and collaborate within a modern university and among its stakeholders.

A person to be appointed to the position is required to show evidence of strong research orientation with notable results. Scientific publications in qualified international journals are required. A successful candidate should also demonstrate a promise for high-quality research in the future. Moreover, we require candidates to have experience in planning for and implementing research projects, as well as in acquiring and obtaining external research funding.

What we expect

The research of the person to be appointed must be relevant for the position, but also integrating or contributing to the work of the other faculty members. Specifically, our research and teaching in Business Analytics include business and economic statistics, quantitative and qualitative analytics, modeling, and use of various data sources and analytics means. Moreover, such applications as business intelligence, market and customer behavior, accounting, management decision making, and econometrics are considered relevant.

In addition to carrying out research, the person appointed to the position will be supervising theses and teaching at undergraduate and Master’s levels, including courses offered jointly with the university’s Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.

Required qualifications at the different levels of the tenure track system

Our tenure track is positioned for exceptionally talented researchers with a high potential to advance in their careers. The top candidates undergo an evaluation by external experts and are required to reach top scores (5-6 on a scale from 1 to 6 for scientific activity and as the overall score), to be recruited.  Career advancement on the tenure track is based on regular performance assessments which measure merits in all these areas.  

For an Assistant Professor we expect you to have a doctoral degree in Business Administration or Economics or another relevant field, ability to work independently, and teaching skills relevant in the position. The research potential as demonstrated by the quality of the doctoral dissertation and high-quality publications is essential. External funding acquired and connections with the international research community are appreciated. To qualify as an Assistant Professor, you must have obtained a doctoral degree within the last ten years.  

For an Associate Professor we expect you to have a doctoral degree in Business Administration or Economics or another relevant field, as well as evidence of scientific research results, and teaching skills relevant in the position. You must have experience in leading a research group and in acquiring and obtaining external research funding, in addition to high-quality scientific publications. Sufficient and relevant experience in international scientific work, as well as evidence of research cooperation are also appreciated. 

The person to be appointed is also expected to collaborate with the surrounding businesses and the larger society, to advance the dissemination of research findings and their impact for promoting well-being and competitiveness. Although the position is located at the University of Oulu Business School, it will require close collaboration with the university’s Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.

You can find more information on our tenure track system, entry criteria, evaluation procedure and advancement from the university’s careers website https://beta.oulu.fi/en/tenure-track

Salary

The salary of an Assistant Professor will be based on levels 5-6, and the salary of an Associate Professor on levels 6-7 in the requirement level chart for teaching and research staff of Finnish universities.  In addition, salary includes a component based on personal work performance (maximum of 50 % of the job-specific component). The fulltime salary is approximately 3 500 – 4 100 euros per month for an Assistant Professor and 4 000 – 5 000 euros per month for an Associate Professor.

What we offer

The position is offered for a fixed term of five years, starting September 1st , 2022 or as agreed, and a trial period of six months is applied. The annual frame of working is 1 612 hours, as specified in the personal work plan.

Since Business Analytics is a very recent, multi-disciplinary teaching and research setting at the university, we provide an interesting and versatile position at the University of Oulu Business School, with a possibility to develop professionally as a key member of a forward-looking and building team. 

On tenure track, you have a guaranteed opportunity to advance your career through external evaluations at regular intervals. In addition to that, as a university we offer flexible working hours, good work-life balance, sports and culture benefits and access to occupational healthcare.  The benefits provided by the Finnish government to residents include, for example, access to the national healthcare system, tax breaks for employees with children, and high-quality affordable childcare services.

Oulu is a combination of beautiful nature, vivid cultural life and modern technology. The city is also known for its highly educated people and friendly, easy-going atmosphere, and good transportation services. Oulu enjoys the high standard of living Finland is known for, while the cost of living is still affordable in national comparison. The Oulu region is home to over 200 000 people, making it the largest urban centers in northern Nordics and one of the fastest growing regions in Finland. Find out more about Oulu at https://www.oulu.fi/university/living-in-oulu

Applications and the selection process

Apply online latest on Monday, January 31, 2022 at 23:59 (Finnish local time).

The application should be written in English and include the following documents:

1) A letter of motivation with the contact information, stating the career level on which the person would like to be evaluated at (max 2 pages)

2) A curriculum vitae following the guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity: http://www.tenk.fi/en/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae

3) A list of publications, preferably with DOI identifications, following the guidelines of the Academy of Finland: https://www.aka.fi/en/research-funding/apply-for-funding/how-to-apply-for-funding/az-index-of-application-guidelines2/list-of-publications/  with the ten most important ones marked

4) A brief account of research merits (max 1 page)

5) A brief account of teaching merits or a teaching portfolio (max 2 pages)

6) Details regarding the acquisition of research funds (max 2 pages)

7) A research and action plan (max 3 pages)

8) The contact information of two to four persons available for recommendation.

The selection process follows the University of Oulu tenure track guidelines. The process is carried out by a recruitment committee and the candidates are subjected to publication analysis based on their publication lists. The candidates that are considered most suitable by the recruitment committee will also undergo an expert evaluation, assessing the following merits:

•  Scientific activities and their reflection in the publication record, scientific presentations, and such other recognitions as awards and patents
•  Teaching activities and their evaluation (the teaching portfolio, including students’ evaluation)
• Supervision of theses
• Acquisition of competitive research funds
• International scientific activities and collaboration
• Services for the academic community
• Business and societal relevance and potential of the activities conducted.

A successful candidate is expected to reach top scores (5-6 on a scale from 1 to 6 for scientific activity and as the overall score), to be recruited.

Further information

To receive the information and announcements concerning the official selection procedures to be followed when filling the post, the applicants must inform of their contact details for the whole duration of the selection process. They must specifically provide both their home and work telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and postal addresses.

For questions concerning academic research, teaching and other issues related to the position, please contact:

Professor Janne Järvinen
e-mail: Janne.T.Jarvinen(at)oulu.fi
tel. +358 294 482908

Professor Veikko Seppänen
e-mail: Veikko.Seppanen(at)oulu.fi
tel. +358 40 156 2805

Professor Mikko Puhakka
e-mail: mikko.puhakka(at)oulu.fi
tel. +358 294 482581

For questions concerning the application process for the position, please contact:

HR manager Emilia Vuoti
e-mail emilia.vuoti(at)oulu.fi
tel: +358 50 3758 055