How does Lecturer in UK compare to other systems?
&quot;Lecturer&quot; is the main entry-point academic rank in the UK system, and spans quite a wide range of pay grades: someone at the top of the lecturer pay bracket can easily have 10-15 years more experience than someone at the bottom. Promotion is usually to Senior Lecturer, and then to Reader and Professor. Nearly all Professors will have started out as lecturers.
The precise duties of a lecturer will vary between institutions, but typically involve a balance of research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities. One sometimes sees positions advertised as 'teaching-focussed': this means a higher teaching load and limited expectations of research output (and often an assumption that any research you do produce will focus on pedagogy).
Jobs may be advertised as 'fixed-term'/'temporary' or 'permanent'. Permanent jobs are more-or-less what they sound like: positions supported by the university's central funds, which are expected to continue indefinitely (though lecturers can be made redundant if, say, the university decides to close or merge departments in the face of falling enrolments). Often permanent jobs will have some element of probation, with a review 1-5 years after appointment. Each institution has its own procedures around this: in some it is purely an internal administrative process; in others it is more similar to a US tenure review, with external referees and the like. However, it is much less of a hurdle than the US tenure process, and failing to pass probation is rare.
Fixed-term jobs are usually supported by transient funding sources, and often arise because a permanent job-holder is expected to be on leave for a period (e.g. maternity cover), or has 'bought themselves out' of teaching responsibilities for the duration of a major grant. Whereas new permanent hires often get a soft start, with a reduced initial teaching load, fixed-term appointees may find themselves immediately lumbered with the teaching responsibilities of whoever they are replacing. Invariably adverts will make vague claims about a 'possibility of extension', but you should not place much weight on this: there may not be a clear plan for where the funds would come from.