Arc Institute seeks an outstanding scientist to join the Institute as a Core Investigator and to be recommended by the Department of Neurology at UCSF for concurrent faculty appointment as Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor in the In Residence faculty series. The successful candidate would be employed by Arc as a Core Investigator, and receive full funding and lab space at Arc Headquarters in Palo Alto.

This search has a particular focus in neurobiology and/or neuroimmunology, with an emphasis on application to complex human disease. Together, the Arc Institute and UCSF Neurology particularly encourage candidates with a strong track-record of exceptional contributions in the development, translation, and application of innovative concepts, tools, or methodologies in neurobiology and/or neuroimmunology. That said, we give high priority to the overall originality and promise of the candidate’s work, and encourage applications from individuals representing disciplines or opportunities that are not yet well-established within neuroscience, broadly defined.

Only an application to Arc is required at this point in the search process. To receive full consideration, candidates are encouraged to apply by December 10, 2024.

Applicants selected through this process will be invited to apply for a concurrent faculty position in the Department of Neurology at UCSF; required qualifications include a medical or doctoral degree, post-MD and/or postdoctoral training, and a record of independent research activity and achievement consistent with proposed faculty rank.

About Arc Institute
The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution that conducts curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

• Funding: Arc fully funds Core Investigators' (PIs') research groups with full annual funding for their labs, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
• Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators. 
• Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
• Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and collaboration across disciplines and groups.

Arc scaled to nearly 100 people in its first year. With $650M in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly to several hundred in the coming years.

Core Investigator Role
Core Investigators are appointed for an eight-year renewable term and are employed by Arc Institute. Core Investigators are provided with no-strings-attached annual funding for a lab of 8-18 people as well as cutting-edge scientific and infrastructure support to enable high-risk, high-reward science. Core Investigators are employed by Arc and may have a faculty appointment at one of our university partners (in this case, Stanford University). All Core Investigators are intended to spend the majority of their time  – at least 75% – on research. Additional details about the role are available on our website.   

Eligibility
This is an open rank search. Current postdocs as well as current faculty at all career stages are encouraged to apply. Individuals who are authorized to work in the US as well as those who require visa sponsorship are eligible to apply. 

Salary
The base salary range for this position is $185,000 to $345,000. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, internal equity, market conditions, education/training, and skill level, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This range covers the possible salary for Core Investigators at the comparable ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor. Successful applicants in this role will be compensated in line with their respective positions.

Application Instructions

• Cover Letter
• CV
  • Any format is acceptable, but we request an expanded academic CV (including, e.g., education, research experience, mentorship & teaching, full list of publications, awards, and funding)
• Research Plan (4 pages)
  • Description of your past research (1 page)
  • Description of 1-2 ambitious questions or goals you would like to tackle in your first 8 years at Arc. Areas of interest include but are not limited to basic science, translational biology, or technology development. (2-3 pages, inclusive of up to 3 figures)
  • References should be included in your research plan document, but do NOT count toward the page limit
• List of 3 most significant publications with a brief description of your specific contributions to each paper (2 pages) 
• PDFs of 3 most significant publications
• Confidential Letters of Recommendation* (3)
  • *Letters are required for individuals who do not currently hold a faculty position, e.g., those coming out of their post-doctoral training period. Applicants who do currently hold a faculty position are not required to submit letters of reference at the time of application.

To receive full consideration, candidates are encouraged to apply by December 10, 2024.

A detailed FAQ for applicants is available here: https://arcinstitute.org/programs/coordinated-search-ucsf-neurology. For additional questions, please contact coreinvestigatorsearch@arcinstitute.org.