"I've never worked out whether I was, in American terms, an assistant professor or an associate professor." Generally speaking, British lecturers are equiv. to

"I've never worked out whether I was, in American terms, an assistant professor or an associate professor." Generally speaking, British lecturers are equiv. to associate professors, and assistant professors are untenured. Most post-docs in proper academic departments are assistant professors, but this is not a hard and fast rule; post-docs in tenure-track programs nearly always are assistant professors.