STRATEGY OVER GUESSWORK
Career Coaching for Postdocs & Senior Researchers
You’ve built real expertise. Now comes the harder question: what do you actually do with it?
One focused session helps you move from uncertainty to strategy: whether you want to stay in academia, lead your own research, or make a clean exit.
Full Professor · Certified Coach · Confidential · Online · 45 min
POSTDOC CAREER STATISTICS
Postdoc Career Strategy: Why Most Researchers Stay Stuck
Less than 3% of postdocs land a tenure-track position. That’s not a reason to give up. It’s a reason to get serious.
The researchers who make it to a professorship aren’t necessarily the most brilliant ones in the room. They’re the ones who understood the game early enough to play it deliberately — who built a research profile with intention, positioned themselves strategically, and made decisions based on clarity rather than hope.
But a professorship is not the only definition of success. There are research scientist roles, senior lecturer positions, industry-facing research roles, grant-funded independent positions — and paths that don’t have a name yet. Paths that work. Paths I’ve seen, and in some cases lived myself.
What you need isn’t a standard career checklist. You need someone who understands the real landscape and helps you build options where you currently see none.
The Struggle is Real
High competence, low clarity. That’s the tension I hear most.
On the tenure-track question
I want a professorship, but I’m not sure I’m building towards it in the right way.”
I’m doing a second or third postdoc and I need to be honest with myself about where this is going.”
On leaving academia
I’m thinking about leaving for industry, but I don’t want to make a rushed decision I’ll regret.”
I’ve decided to leave. Now what? Where do I even start?
On stability & life
My contract ends in less than a year. I don’t know what comes next and I’m starting to panic.
My partner and I are both in academia. How do we make this work geographically?”
Coached by a Professor Who’s Been There
Most career coaches can help you polish a CV or prepare a pitch. That’s not what postdocs and senior researchers need.
You need someone who actually knows what it takes to build an academic career — what a strong publication strategy looks like in practice, how funding decisions get made, what search committees really want, and what the system will never tell you directly.
I’m a full professor. I’ve led international research projects across seven countries, secured over five million euros in research funding, and sat on the kinds of committees that make the decisions you’re trying to influence.
I’m also a certified coach — which means I don’t just tell you what to do. I help you figure out what you actually want. And whether what you think you want is truly what you want, or just what you’ve been trained to want.
I work especially well with researchers in non-standard situations: interdisciplinary careers, late-stage pivots, atypical backgrounds, dual-career couples navigating relocation. I don’t do cookie-cutter. I work with your actual situation.
Years in Research & Teaching
Academic Publications
Awarded Research Funding
Academic Coachings
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s not too late — but the earlier you start, the more options you have. Most postdocs come to me about a year before their contract ends. That’s workable. One focused session can create significant movement even under time pressure.
That’s exactly the kind of decision coaching is built for. We work through it grounded in your values, your situation, and an honest read of what’s realistic — not anxiety, not pressure from others.
Your PI has their own agenda. A university careers service doesn’t know academia from the inside. I’m an active full professor and certified coach — I understand both the system and how to navigate it on your own terms.
Yes, completely. I hold professional confidentiality as a certified coach. What you share with me goes no further — no institutional involvement, no exceptions.
That’s actually where I work best. Non-standard situations often have more options than they appear to — the work is figuring out how to position them strategically.
The discovery call is a free 20-minute conversation to see if working together makes sense — no commitment, no pressure. A coaching session is a full 45-minute session where we work directly on your situation.
No preparation required. Just bring your situation — a challenge, a question, or simply a feeling that something isn’t working. We take it from there.