Karlsruhe Institute of Technology 
Karlsruhe, Germany Offer Summary
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology invites applications for an endowed W3 professorship in Responsible Leadership, funded by the Karl Schlecht Foundation. The role focuses on research into ethical, societal, and ecological dimensions of leadership, including decision‑making, development, and sustainable transformation. Responsibilities include a 9‑hour weekly teaching load, leading the Leadership Talent Labs and Perspektivenlabor at the House of Competence, and offering courses across KIT faculties. Candidates should have a strong publication record, habilitation or equivalent, proven teaching and coaching skills, experience in interdisciplinary research, and willingness to acquire German language proficiency.
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Project Description
Facing global challenges such as climate change, digitalisation, and societal transformation, the question of responsible leadership is gaining increasing importance. Alongside economic objectives, scientific research is increasingly focusing on ethical, social, and ecological aspects, as well as considering diverse stakeholders.
Your tasks
Hence, this endowed professorship, funded by the Karl Schlecht Foundation, is dedicated to responsible leadership. Concretely, it examines responsible leadership and its conditions, mechanisms of action, and effects. Potential research priorities include:
- ethical leadership and decision-making processes, as well as leadership behaviour at the intersection of societal and economic responsibility
- leadership development (e.g., self-leadership, emotional and social skills, resilience, conflict competence)
- leadership for sustainable development and transformation
- relationship-oriented leadership (e.g., dynamics between leadership and followership, fostering employees and teams)
The professorship will fulfil university responsibilities with a teaching load of 9 semester hours per week. This will primarily be conducted at the central academic institution "House of Competence" (HoC) at KIT, particularly to expand the offerings of the Leadership Talent Labs (LTL). Overall, the professorship contributes to the interdisciplinary competency development of students across all disciplines at KIT, through training and coaching programmes.
Additionally, the professorship will offer courses in the study programmes of the KIT Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (e.g., in the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme).
At the HoC, the professorship will take on the academic leadership of the LTL and the “Perspektivenlabor”, as well as prospective additional academic leadership roles. There are excellent collaboration opportunities with the “Leadership Talent Academy” (Career Service).
Your profile
Required qualifications include an outstanding academic track record, evidenced by significant publications in international journals, as well as a habilitation, a successfully evaluated junior professorship, or equivalent achievements, along with proven teaching aptitude.
The willingness to train and coach in Responsible Leadership is required. Experience as a trainer or coach is advantageous. Additionally, the candidate is expected to have:
- experience in the conception and leadership of interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research projects
- interest and talent for inspiring and developing people, as well as embracing diversity
- evidence of successful acquisition of third-party funding
- cross-disciplinary analytical and strategic thinking
- demonstrated experience in responsible team leadership
- willingness to participate in academic self-governance
Willingness to acquire proficiency in the German language may be required to conduct German-language instruction.
Organizationally, the professorship is affiliated with Division II – Informatics, Economics, and Society, the KIT-Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the House of Competence (HoC); a joint appointment with the KIT-Faculty of Economics and Business Engineering is welcome.
Employment is subject to Art. 14, par. (2) of the KIT Act in conjunction with Art. 47 LHG Baden-Württemberg (Act of Baden-Württemberg on Universities and Colleges).
Salary
Salary is governed by the statutory provisions of the State of Baden-Württemberg and comprises the basic salary of salary grade W3.
In addition, the granting of performance-related pay components is possible. The family allowance is paid, where applicable, in accordance with civil service law.
Contact person in line-management
For subject-matter inquiries, please contact Prof. Dr. Bernhard Beckert, E-Mail: bernhard.beckert@kit.edu
Application
The application comprises standard documents including a CV, list of publications, degree certificates, teaching evaluations, a description of your previous research and teaching activities and your contributions to the aforementioned fields (where applicable, also experiences in training and coaching for Responsible Leadership), alongside evidence of acquired third-party funding. Moreover, an exposé (no longer than three pages) outlining your planned research and teaching activities, as well as potential collaborations at KIT needs to be submitted.
Please send your application to:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Division II, Head of Division Prof. Dr. B. Beckert
Preferred format: a single PDF file via email to: gs@bl2.kit.edu