How to Apply to UBC

16 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 14 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • UBC uses Workday Recruiting on its own tenant at ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com, with separate Staff (ubcstaffjobs) and Faculty (ubcfacultyjobs) job boards that share a single candidate profile.
  • There are five practical hiring tracks: Faculty (UBC Faculty Association), CUPE 2950 clerical and library staff, CUPE 116 technical and trades staff, AAPS Management and Professional staff, and Postdoctoral and Sessional appointments. The track determines the entire process, from posting period to interview format to offer timeline.
  • Faculty searches take six to nine months and centre on a public job talk during a one-to-three-day campus visit; staff searches take three to twelve weeks and centre on a structured behavioural panel interview.
  • Tailor every application to the posting's Required and Preferred Qualifications using the posting's exact phrasing; UBC reviewers literally check off both lists during screening.
  • Internal candidates often have first consideration for unionized staff postings under collective-agreement language; external applicants should apply but plan for a longer timeline.
  • The president since July 2023 is Benoit-Antoine Bacon, formerly president of Carleton University, and the institution's strategic direction is set by the 2024 Strategic Plan refresh anchored on the Indigenous Strategic Plan, climate action, and research excellence.
  • Vancouver's housing market is a real consideration; UBC offers some on-campus subsidized rental and restricted-resale ownership programs but capacity is limited.
  • International candidates should expect to engage with the BC Provincial Nominee Program for most permanent positions, with UBC Faculty Relations and HR providing institutional support.

About UBC

The University of British Columbia is one of Canada's two largest research universities, sharing the top tier of the country's higher-education landscape with the University of Toronto and McGill. Founded in 1908 and headquartered on the Point Grey peninsula in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a second campus in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley, UBC employs approximately 17,000 faculty and staff and educates roughly 70,000 students across two campuses, a distributed Faculty of Medicine, and a network of teaching hospitals and research institutes. It is the third-oldest university in British Columbia, the largest employer in the city of Vancouver outside of government and health authorities, and a perennial fixture in the global top 50 of the QS, THE, and ARWU rankings. For job seekers, UBC is one of the most consequential employers in Western Canada and one of the most operationally complex public-sector workplaces in the country. The institution is led by President and Vice-Chancellor Benoit-Antoine Bacon, who took office on July 1, 2023, succeeding interim leadership and Santa Ono, who departed for the University of Michigan. Bacon arrived from Carleton University in Ottawa, where he had served as president since 2018, and brought a research-administration background in cognitive neuroscience and a reputation for community-engaged leadership. His arrival coincided with the development of UBC's 2024 Strategic Plan refresh, which carries forward the four core themes of the original Shaping UBC's Next Century plan, people and places, research excellence, transformative learning, and local and global engagement, while sharpening the institution's focus on Indigenous engagement under its Indigenous Strategic Plan, climate action, and operational sustainability across both campuses. UBC's organizational structure is unusually layered, even for a major research university, and understanding it is essential to navigating the job market here. The institution operates 12 faculties, including Arts, Science, Applied Science (engineering), Medicine, the Sauder School of Business, the Peter A. Allard School of Law, Education, Forestry, Land and Food Systems, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dentistry, and the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, plus 18 affiliated schools, institutes, and centres ranging from the School of Population and Public Health to the School of Music. The Faculty of Medicine in particular is unusual in that it operates as a fully distributed program, with cohorts based at UBC Vancouver, UBC Okanagan in Kelowna, the Northern Medical Program in Prince George (with the University of Northern British Columbia), and the Island Medical Program in Victoria (with the University of Victoria). This distributed model means clinical, academic, and administrative jobs in medicine appear across the entire province, not just on the Point Grey campus, and several recent expansions, including additional Indigenous MD seats and Surrey-based clinical placements, have grown the Medicine workforce meaningfully over the past two cycles. Financially and politically, UBC is a public institution funded primarily through the Province of British Columbia, supplemented by tuition, research grants from the Tri-Council agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR), and philanthropic gifts. This shapes hiring in two important ways. First, UBC operates under the BC government's mandate-letter regime and public-sector compensation framework, which means total compensation, salary bands, and increases for many roles are constrained and publicly documented. Second, UBC is a heavily unionized workplace, and a significant share of staff positions are governed by collective agreements rather than negotiated individually. The most prominent staff union is CUPE 2950, which represents clerical, library, and theatre workers and is one of the largest CUPE locals in BC. Additional bargaining units include CUPE 116 (trades, technical, food services, and child care), the BCGEU (BC General Employees' Union, covering certain technical and student services roles), the IUOE (operating engineers), the Faculty Association (UBC's faculty union, covering tenure-stream and most other academic appointments), and AAPS (the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff), which represents Management and Professional staff. The unionized staff structure means that internal candidates often have first crack at vacant positions under collective-agreement language, and that posting periods, qualification scoring, and seniority can play a real role in who is shortlisted. For candidates considering a move to Vancouver, the lifestyle case for UBC is genuine and the cost-of-living case requires honest framing. The Point Grey campus sits on a forested peninsula above the Pacific Ocean, with beaches, the Pacific Spirit Regional Park, and a 20-minute commute to downtown Vancouver. The Okanagan campus sits on a 200-acre site near Kelowna with a desert-adjacent climate, vineyards, and Okanagan Lake within easy reach. Both campuses are in the unceded ancestral territories of the Musqueam (Vancouver) and Syilx Okanagan (Kelowna) peoples, a reality reflected in UBC's land acknowledgements, Indigenous strategic plan, and growing slate of Indigenous-specific positions. However, Vancouver's housing market is among the least affordable in North America, and UBC has responded with a meaningful but capacity-constrained faculty and staff housing program, including subsidized rentals on campus and a restricted-resale ownership program. International candidates should additionally factor BC's Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP), which is the most common immigration pathway for non-citizen UBC hires and is supported by UBC's central HR for many positions.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Start at hr

    Start at hr.ubc.ca/careers, which is the canonical UBC HR landing page. From there, two distinct Workday boards are linked: Staff and Management & Professional postings live at ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcstaffjobs, and Faculty postings live at ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs. Bookmarking the right board for your target stream saves significant time, since the staff and faculty boards have separate filters, separate posting cadences, and meaningfully different application flows.

  2. 2
    Identify which employee group your target role belongs to before you apply

    Identify which employee group your target role belongs to before you apply. UBC postings will name the union or employee group in the job summary, typically one of: Faculty (governed by the UBC Faculty Association collective agreement), CUPE 2950 (clerical, library, theatre), CUPE 116 (technical, trades, food services, child care), BCGEU (selected technical and student services roles), AAPS Management & Professional (M&P), Postdoctoral Fellow, Sessional Lecturer, or Student Worker. The employee group dictates the application package, the interview format, the posting period, and the path to a permanent appointment, so do not skip this step.

  3. 3
    Create a single Workday candidate profile in the UBC tenant and reuse it

    Create a single Workday candidate profile in the UBC tenant and reuse it. UBC went live on Workday in 2020 as part of its Integrated Renewal Program, replacing the previous PeopleSoft-era system, and your profile, application history, and saved searches all persist within the ubc.wd10 tenant across both staff and faculty boards. Your UBC Workday profile is separate from any Workday profile you have at a different employer, so you must create one specifically for UBC.

  4. 4
    Prepare a tailored cover letter for every position

    Prepare a tailored cover letter for every position. UBC search committees and HR coordinators consistently expect a cover letter, and many M&P and faculty postings will not be considered complete without one. The cover letter should explicitly map your experience to the qualifications listed in the posting (UBC postings separate Required Qualifications from Preferred Qualifications, and reviewers literally check off both lists), reference the specific faculty, school, or unit by name, and acknowledge UBC's Indigenous Strategic Plan and equity, diversity, and inclusion commitments where genuinely relevant to the role.

  5. 5
    Submit application materials in the formats Workday expects: PDF or DOCX, with e

    Submit application materials in the formats Workday expects: PDF or DOCX, with each document attached as a separate file (resume, cover letter, references, teaching dossier, research statement, etc.). Workday's parser will extract structured data from your resume into the profile fields; review and correct the parsed fields before submitting, since recruiters often filter and search on those fields rather than reading every PDF.

  6. 6
    Honour the posting period and the internal-priority window

    Honour the posting period and the internal-priority window. Most CUPE 2950 and CUPE 116 postings have a defined internal-priority period during which current UBC employees in the bargaining unit have first consideration; external applicants can apply during this window but will only be considered if no qualifying internal candidate emerges. Faculty and M&P postings typically run 30 days minimum and may be extended; do not assume a posting is closed because the deadline has passed without an explicit status change in Workday.

  7. 7
    Prepare for a multi-step process whose length depends on the stream

    Prepare for a multi-step process whose length depends on the stream. CUPE staff competitions can move from posting close to offer in three to six weeks. M&P searches typically take six to twelve weeks. Faculty searches, especially tenure-track, frequently run six to nine months from posting to offer, with public job talks, multiple committee meetings, and dean and provost approvals between rounds.

  8. 8
    If you are not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, raise immigration statu

    If you are not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, raise immigration status early and constructively. UBC's central HR and the immigration team in Faculty Relations support BC PNP nominations for many faculty and senior staff hires, and the university is a designated employer for federal Global Talent Stream applications for selected research and technical roles. Acknowledging your status proactively, and confirming that the role is one UBC will support for sponsorship, prevents late-stage offer collapses.

  9. 9
    Track everything in your Workday candidate home

    Track everything in your Workday candidate home. Workday will surface stage transitions (Under Review, Interview, Offer, Hired, Not Selected) in real time, and UBC recruiters generally update statuses within a few days of a decision. If a posting has been in 'Under Review' for more than four weeks past close, a polite follow-up to the named recruiter or hiring manager is appropriate.

Resume Tips for UBC

recommended

Mirror the language of the posting, not generic resume keywords

Mirror the language of the posting, not generic resume keywords. UBC postings are written by HR Advisors against negotiated job descriptions and union classification standards, so the phrasing in the Required Qualifications section is precise and load-bearing. If the posting asks for 'experience administering Workday Recruiting,' use that exact phrase; if it asks for 'demonstrated experience supporting graduate-level academic programs,' use that one. Workday's keyword search inside UBC's recruiter view rewards verbatim matching.

recommended

Lead with credentials and education for academic and research roles, and lead wi

Lead with credentials and education for academic and research roles, and lead with experience for staff and M&P roles. UBC's faculty and postdoctoral search committees expect to see degree, institution, and supervisor at the top of page one. CUPE and M&P hiring managers expect to see your most recent role and accomplishments first, with education near the bottom. Do not use a single template across both streams.

recommended

Quantify outcomes against UBC-relevant metrics: number of students supported, gr

Quantify outcomes against UBC-relevant metrics: number of students supported, grant dollars administered, square metres of facility managed, FTE supervised, programs coordinated, course sections taught, publications produced. UBC reviewers are accustomed to public-sector and academic metrics and respond well to specificity that is not inflated.

recommended

For unionized staff roles, list every UBC system, tool, and process you have tou

For unionized staff roles, list every UBC system, tool, and process you have touched: Workday HCM, Workday Finance, FMS, SISC, Canvas, Qualtrics, FAMIS, ServiceNow, ARC. Many CUPE 2950 and 116 postings list specific systems in the Preferred Qualifications, and direct experience materially improves your shortlist odds.

recommended

Highlight Canadian academic credentialing where relevant: TQS-equivalent profess

Highlight Canadian academic credentialing where relevant: TQS-equivalent professional certifications, BC College of Nurses and Midwives registration for clinical roles, Engineers and Geoscientists BC (EGBC) for engineering roles, CPHR designation for HR, CPA for finance. UBC will not assume foreign credentials are equivalent without explicit framing.

recommended

For faculty and academic roles, prepare a separate two-page CV-style teaching do

For faculty and academic roles, prepare a separate two-page CV-style teaching dossier and research statement in addition to your full CV. Search committees in Sauder, Allard, Engineering, and Medicine will expect these as separate documents in your Workday submission, not buried inside a 40-page CV.

recommended

Acknowledge Indigenous and EDI commitments in a values statement only if you can

Acknowledge Indigenous and EDI commitments in a values statement only if you can do so substantively. Many UBC searches now ask candidates to address how their work supports the university's Indigenous Strategic Plan and Inclusion Action Plan. A generic statement is worse than no statement; a specific one drawing on actual experience is genuinely valued.

recommended

Format for ATS parsing: standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, 11 to 1

Format for ATS parsing: standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, 11 to 12 pt), single column, no tables in the body, no header or footer text containing critical information, clear section headings (Experience, Education, Skills, Publications), and PDF or DOCX, never image-only PDFs. UBC's Workday tenant uses Workday's standard resume parser, which is among the better ones on the market but still struggles with two-column designs and embedded images.

recommended

Include a Canadian phone number and address if you have one

Include a Canadian phone number and address if you have one. Hiring managers will not screen out remote applicants, but for staff roles based at a specific campus, evidence of local presence (or a clear plan to relocate) reduces friction in shortlisting.

recommended

Keep length disciplined: one to two pages for staff and M&P roles, three to six

Keep length disciplined: one to two pages for staff and M&P roles, three to six pages for postdoctoral and early-career faculty applications, and as long as needed for senior faculty CVs (eight to fifty pages depending on stage). Do not pad.

ATS System: Workday Recruiting

UBC operates Workday Recruiting on the ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com tenant, with two public-facing job boards: ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcstaffjobs for staff and Management & Professional postings and ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs for faculty appointments. Workday went live for UBC in 2020 as the first major deliverable of the Integrated Renewal Program, replacing the previous HRMS environment. The system handles requisition workflow, posting, application intake, screening, interview scheduling, offers, and onboarding, and is integrated with UBC's Faculty Service Centre for academic appointments. Both boards share the same candidate profile, so a single Workday account at the ubc.wd10 tenant gives you access to apply for any open role, track status across applications, set up saved searches with email alerts, and update your profile once for use across all submissions.

  • Create your Workday candidate profile carefully on the first application. Workday will autofill subsequent applications from the same profile, so errors in education, prior employment, or contact information will propagate across every job you apply for until corrected.
  • Always review and edit the parsed resume fields after upload. Workday's parser frequently merges roles, drops bullet points, and misclassifies dates. The recruiter sees the parsed fields, not just the PDF, so cleaning them up is one of the highest-leverage things a candidate can do.
  • Use Workday's saved-search and email-alert feature with broad keyword and faculty filters. UBC posts roles continuously across two campuses and dozens of units; alerts keep you ahead of the posting period rather than chasing closed competitions.
  • Attach all required documents as separate PDF files (resume, cover letter, references, teaching dossier, research statement) rather than concatenating them. UBC reviewers download documents individually and concatenated files routinely get missed.
  • Make sure your name on the application exactly matches the name on your resume, references, and supporting documents. Workday treats the profile name as canonical, and discrepancies create administrative friction at offer stage.
  • Apply through the official UBC Workday boards only. Aggregator listings on Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor for UBC roles are scraped from the Workday boards but often lag posting closures by several days; applying through aggregators sometimes routes you to a stale or duplicate requisition.
  • Monitor your Workday Candidate Home regularly. UBC recruiters update application status promptly, and interview invitations are typically sent through Workday rather than direct email, with the email serving only as a notification.
  • Use the same email address across all UBC applications. Workday associates application history with the email on the candidate profile, and using multiple addresses fragments your record and can cause duplicate-profile flags.

Interview Culture

Interviews at UBC are structured, formal, and stream-specific.

The format you encounter depends almost entirely on the employee group and the unit, and the gap between a CUPE 2950 staff competition and a tenure-track faculty search is enormous. Staff and Management & Professional interviews are conducted by a panel that almost always includes the hiring manager, an HR Advisor from UBC Human Resources, and at least one peer or stakeholder from a partner unit. Panels typically run 60 to 90 minutes and follow a behavioural-question format anchored to the posted qualifications. Expect three to seven questions in the form of 'Tell us about a time when you...' or 'Describe a situation where you had to...' targeted directly at the Required and Preferred Qualifications in the posting. The STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is the expected answer structure, and panellists are trained to score answers against a written rubric. For technical and senior roles, a written exercise, presentation, or skills test is common and will be scheduled for either the same day or a follow-up appointment. Reference checks at UBC are thorough and conducted by the hiring manager or HR Advisor before any offer is extended, typically with a structured set of questions sent to references in writing. Faculty interviews are a different process entirely. A tenure-track or tenured search begins with a paper screen by a search committee chaired by the department head or unit director, followed by virtual first-round interviews for a longlist of six to twelve candidates. Shortlisted finalists, usually three to four, are then invited for full on-campus visits lasting one to three days. The on-campus visit is the centrepiece of the academic search and follows a recognizable pattern: a public job talk (usually 45 to 60 minutes presenting your research program, with 15 to 30 minutes of questions), a teaching demonstration or chalk talk where applicable, individual meetings with the search committee, the department head, the dean, and senior faculty, group meetings with junior faculty, postdocs, and graduate students, and frequently a meal with the committee. The job talk is the single highest-stakes element; faculty hires are made or lost in the room during that presentation and the questions that follow. After the visit, the search committee deliberates, makes a recommendation to the dean, and the dean's recommendation goes to the provost for approval before any offer is extended. The total elapsed time from posting to signed offer for a tenure-track faculty search is routinely six to nine months, occasionally longer, and candidates should plan their job-search timelines accordingly. Postdoctoral interviews are typically less formal than faculty searches but more rigorous than staff interviews. They are usually run by the principal investigator with input from the lab group, often involve a research presentation, and focus heavily on technical fit with the lab's program and on the candidate's publication record and research trajectory. Sessional and adjunct teaching appointments are typically interviewed by the unit head or program director and may involve a teaching demonstration. Across all streams, interviewers at UBC will assess how seriously you have engaged with the institution. Knowing the unit's research strengths or service portfolio, naming the dean or department head correctly, understanding UBC's two-campus structure and the role of distributed Medicine where relevant, acknowledging the institutional commitment to Indigenous engagement and to the Inclusion Action Plan, and demonstrating awareness of the BC public-sector context all signal that you understand what you are applying to. Hedged or generic answers about 'wanting to work at a great university' read as poorly prepared and are routinely scored down.

What UBC Looks For

  • Demonstrated alignment with UBC's strategic direction, including Indigenous engagement under the Indigenous Strategic Plan, climate and sustainability action, and equity, diversity, and inclusion commitments. Specific examples from past work matter; performative statements do not.
  • Genuine subject-matter depth in the unit's domain. Whether that is health-policy research for the School of Population and Public Health, securities-law scholarship for the Allard School of Law, financial accounting for Sauder, or HVAC trades certification for Building Operations, UBC hires for substance and is suspicious of generalists who claim to do everything.
  • Evidence of collaborative practice and ability to work across faculties, schools, units, and bargaining units. UBC is a large, federated institution, and hires who cannot navigate matrixed reporting, faculty governance, or union-management relations struggle.
  • For faculty roles: a coherent, fundable research program with a credible plan for Tri-Council and provincial funding (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR, Genome BC, Michael Smith Health Research BC), and a teaching philosophy that engages with UBC's pedagogical commitments and the realities of large undergraduate cohorts.
  • For staff and M&P roles: precise familiarity with relevant UBC systems and processes (Workday HCM, Workday Finance, the Faculty Service Centre, SISC, the Research Information System, FMS, FAMIS) and with the procedural realities of working in a unionized public-sector environment.
  • Communication skills appropriate to the role: clear written English to a publishable or near-publishable standard for academic and policy work, the ability to present research or operational plans in a public forum, and the interpersonal range to engage students, colleagues, donors, and the public.
  • A realistic relationship with cost-of-living in Vancouver or the Okanagan and a credible plan for relocation if you are coming from outside BC. Candidates who have not thought about housing, schools, or commuting are easy to identify and concerning to hiring managers.
  • For international candidates: clear understanding of immigration pathways (BC Provincial Nominee Program for most senior roles, federal Global Talent Stream for selected research and technical positions, Post-Graduation Work Permit holders for early-career postdocs) and willingness to engage with UBC's Faculty Relations or HR immigration team early in the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ATS does UBC use, and where do I actually apply?
UBC uses Workday Recruiting on its own tenant. Staff and Management & Professional jobs are at ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcstaffjobs, and faculty positions are at ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs. Both boards are linked from hr.ubc.ca/careers, which is the canonical UBC HR landing page. UBC went live on Workday in 2020 as part of its Integrated Renewal Program. A single Workday profile in the ubc.wd10 tenant works across both boards, and you should apply only through these official boards rather than aggregators like Indeed or LinkedIn, since aggregator listings sometimes lag posting closures.
What is the difference between a Faculty, M&P, and CUPE position?
Faculty positions are academic appointments (Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor, plus Lecturer, Sessional, Postdoctoral Fellow, and similar titles) governed by the UBC Faculty Association collective agreement. Management & Professional (M&P) staff are non-academic professional staff covered by the AAPS framework, including roles in finance, HR, communications, IT, research administration, and senior operations. CUPE 2950 represents clerical, library, and theatre workers, while CUPE 116 covers trades, technical, food services, and child care. The employee group determines the application package, posting period, interview format, salary band, and progression path, so identifying it before applying is essential.
Does UBC sponsor international candidates?
Yes, for many positions, though the mechanism depends on the role. The most common pathway is the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP), which UBC's central HR and Faculty Relations support for most permanent faculty and senior staff hires. The federal Global Talent Stream is used for selected research and technical positions where UBC qualifies as a designated employer. Postdoctoral fellows often arrive on Post-Graduation Work Permits or institutional Letters of Acceptance for permits. Raise your immigration status early in the process; UBC will not extend offers it cannot deliver, and confirming sponsorship support before you invest in interviews protects everyone.
How long does the hiring process take?
It depends entirely on the stream. CUPE 2950 and CUPE 116 staff competitions typically run three to six weeks from posting close to offer. M&P searches usually take six to twelve weeks. Tenure-track and tenured faculty searches routinely take six to nine months from initial posting to signed offer, with public job talks, multiple committee meetings, and dean and provost approvals between rounds. Postdoctoral appointments and sessional teaching appointments fall in between. Plan your job-search timeline accordingly, and do not rely on a faculty search closing quickly.
Do internal candidates have an advantage?
For unionized staff postings, yes, by collective-agreement design. CUPE 2950 and CUPE 116 postings include an internal-priority window during which current bargaining-unit employees are considered first, and external applicants are only shortlisted if no qualifying internal candidate is identified. M&P and faculty postings do not have a formal internal-priority structure, but internal candidates with good performance histories often have a meaningful informal advantage because hiring managers know their work. External applicants should still apply during the internal window, since failed internal searches are common.
What is the public job talk and how should I prepare?
The public job talk is the central element of any tenure-track or tenured faculty search at UBC. It is a 45-to-60-minute research presentation delivered to an open audience of faculty, postdocs, and graduate students, followed by 15 to 30 minutes of questions. The talk should articulate your research program (not just your most recent paper), demonstrate fluency with the relevant literature, present evidence of impact, and outline the next five years of the program in a way that connects credibly to UBC's research environment. Do a full dress rehearsal at your home institution, request critical feedback, and plan for hostile questions; the questions are often where searches are decided.
Are jobs concentrated at the Vancouver campus, or is the Okanagan campus a real option?
The majority of UBC positions are at the Vancouver Point Grey campus, which is the larger of the two, but UBC Okanagan in Kelowna is a substantial and growing campus with its own faculties, schools, research portfolio, and operational footprint. Faculty searches are advertised explicitly for one campus or the other. Staff and M&P postings will name the campus in the location field. The distributed Faculty of Medicine adds a third dimension: medicine-related positions appear at sites in Prince George (Northern Medical Program), Victoria (Island Medical Program), and Kelowna in addition to Vancouver. Confirm campus and primary work location before applying.
What is UBC's stance on remote work?
UBC published a hybrid work framework following the pandemic that allows many M&P and CUPE staff roles to be performed in a hybrid arrangement, typically two to three days on campus and the remainder remote, subject to operational needs and unit policy. Fully remote arrangements are uncommon and generally require explicit unit and HR approval. Faculty positions are inherently campus-based, with research, teaching, and service expectations that require regular on-site presence. Postdoctoral roles are typically lab-based and on-site. The arrangement is negotiated between the employee and supervisor within the unit's framework, so confirm at offer stage rather than assuming.
What salary should I expect?
UBC operates within the BC public-sector compensation framework, and salary ranges for unionized and M&P positions are set by classification and published in collective agreements or the AAPS salary scale. CUPE 2950 and 116 ranges are public; the AAPS salary scale is published on the AAPS website with grades and steps. Faculty salaries follow ranks (Assistant, Associate, Full) with negotiated starting salaries within published ranges that vary by faculty (Sauder, Allard, and Medicine generally pay above the arts-and-sciences baseline). Postdoctoral fellow minimum stipends are set by Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies policy and are typically supplemented by individual PI or grant resources. Expect total compensation, including the UBC Staff Pension Plan or Faculty Pension Plan, extended health and dental, and tuition benefits, to be a meaningful component of the package.
How do I follow up on an application without being annoying?
Workday will surface stage transitions in your candidate home (Under Review, Interview, Offer, Hired, Not Selected), and recruiters at UBC are generally diligent about updating status within a few days of a decision. If a posting has been in 'Under Review' for more than four weeks past close with no movement, a polite, single follow-up email to the named recruiter or hiring manager is appropriate. Reference the requisition number, restate your continued interest, and ask about the expected timeline. Avoid repeated follow-ups, do not contact deans or department heads directly unless you have a substantive prior relationship, and never send follow-ups through LinkedIn InMail; they are widely ignored.

Open Positions

UBC currently has 14 open positions.

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Related Resources

Related Articles

Sources

  1. UBC Human Resources - Careers and Job Postings —
  2. UBC Workday Staff Jobs Board —
  3. UBC Workday Faculty Jobs Board —
  4. UBC Office of the President - Benoit-Antoine Bacon —
  5. UBC Strategic Plan - Shaping UBC's Next Century —
  6. UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan —
  7. CUPE 2950 - University of British Columbia Local —
  8. CUPE 116 - UBC Local —
  9. UBC Faculty Association —
  10. Association of Administrative and Professional Staff (AAPS) at UBC —
  11. UBC Integrated Renewal Program - Workday Implementation —
  12. BC Provincial Nominee Program - Skills Immigration —
  13. UBC Faculty of Medicine - Distributed Program Sites —
  14. UBC Faculty Relations - Immigration Support —
  15. UBC Sauder School of Business - Faculty Positions —
  16. Peter A. Allard School of Law - Faculty —