"Assistant Teaching Professor in Computational Social Science and Cognitive Science"

Position overview

Position title: Assistant Teaching Professor Salary range: A reasonable salary range estimate for this position is $142k -$166k. The posted UC Academic salary scales set the minimum pay as determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See the following table(s) for the salary scale(s) for this position https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2025-26/policy-covered-october-2025-scales/t1.pdf The base salary range, from the salary table(s), for this position is $80k-$104k. "Off-scale salaries" and other components of pay, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions, qualifications, and experience. Additional UCSD salary information can be found here: https://aps.ucsd.edu/compensation/apo-salary.html

Application Window

Open date: February 24, 2026
Next review date: Thursday, Mar 26, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
Final date: Wednesday, Sep 30, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

Position description

The School of Social Sciences at UC San Diego invites applications for an Assistant Teaching Professor position in Computational Social Science and Cognitive Science, with an anticipated start date of July 1st, 2026.

The position: An Assistant Teaching Professor is also known within the UC system as an Assistant Professor of Teaching (https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/apm/apm-285.pdf). The Teaching Professor series parallels that of the research-focused faculty series, but with emphasis upon excellence in teaching and other instruction-related activities. Individuals in the position are expected to provide outstanding teaching, as well as to engage in professional and/or scholarly activity and service related to the pedagogical mission of the program and university. This appointment confers membership in UCSD's Academic Senate and full voting voting rights in both CSS and Cognitive Science. The Teaching Professor series includes security of employment analogous to tenure granted upon promotion to the Associate Professor of Teaching level. This position will be jointly appointed in the Computational Social Science Program and the Cognitive Science Department, both within the Division of Social Sciences at UC San Diego.

The Teaching Professor will contribute to the Computational Social Science program by teaching our introductory undergraduate courses (such as CSS 1, 2 and 100) which cover python basics, introductory statistics, and introductory machine learning, as well as developing new courses for the program. CSS teaching responsibilities will also include graduate courses for our M.S. program as well as teaching in our summer 'bootcamp' for incoming graduate students. The Teaching Professor will also teach within the Cognitive Science Department, contributing to their existing curriculum in machine learning, data science, and computational modeling of cognition. Our priority is to attract candidates who are strong in relevant technical areas and who can teach Python-based courses on modern computational social science methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Exceptional candidates will have a track record of teaching relevant courses and either research contributions or completed projects working with computational models and large-scale social science data.

For this position, we're seeking candidates with a background and expertise in Large Language Models, Computer Vision Models, Deep Neural Networks, and/or other 'AI' or Machine learning fields. We particularly welcome candidates whose work centers on the human or social aspects of the implementation, training, design, understanding, and/or ethics of these tools.

The School of Social Sciences is committed to academic excellence and community leadership within the faculty, staff, and student body. We are thus especially interested in candidates who have strong, demonstrated accomplishments in areas contributing to community building and outreach, and a desire to play a leadership role in advancing UC San Diego's commitment to achieving these goals within an academic setting. Salary and starting rank will be commensurate with experience and based on the University of California pay scales. The position will remain open until filled.

School of Social Sciences: https://socialsciences.ucsd.edu/
CSS Program: https://css.ucsd.edu/
Cognitive Science Department: https://cogsci.ucsd.edu/

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
Candidates must have a PhD or ABD in computational social science or a relevant field.

Preferred qualifications
Preference will be given to candidates with:
1. Ability and experience teaching Python-based courses on modern computational social science methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
2. A track record of scholarly contributions and completed projects working with computational models and large-scale social science data.
3. Ability to teach courses in Cognitive Science.

Application Requirements

Document requirements

• Cover Letter
• Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
• Statement of Teaching
• Teaching Excellence Documentation - Please provide at least 3 pieces of evidence merged together in 1 PDF. Some examples may include: instructional materials you developed, summaries of teaching evaluations, online instructional segments, reprints of scholarly articles, particularly with a pedagogical focus, etc.
• Statement of Research
• Miscellaneous/Additional Documents (Optional)

Reference requirements

• 3-5 required (contact information only)

Letters of request will be requested for candidates invited out to interviews.

Job location
San Diego, CA