Would a (temporary) industry position before starting a tenure-track position have a negative effect on academic career? I have obtained a tenure-track offer (computer science) starting in 1 year that I'm planning to accept. I'm currently a postdoc in theoretical computer science and I'm facing the situation where I could either extend my current postdoc for another year or, somewhat by coincidence, I have also the option of going into industry with the knowledge that my appointment there would have a fixed ending date (when my tenure track position starts). The potential industry employer does not have any knowledge of my tenure track offer, so in a sense I would be "abusing" my position there as an industry postdoc. (Considering that the company is a big player in the financial world, I'm sure they wouldn't be too heartbroken over me leaving after a year...)

I feel somewhat more inclined to go for the industry position just for the sake of "trying something different" before going the full academic route. 


  Would taking up a temporary appointment in industry be perceived as lack of commitment to research once my tenure clock is up and/or could there be other negative repercussions for my future (academic) career? 


Edit: to add more detail, I'm planning to continue to work on research problems during my industry appointment as time permits. I'm reasonably well connected to avoid suffering from the fact that I'm not going to be physically located at a research institution (considering it's a short term absence).
Note:  I'm not addressing the ethics of taking the industry job in bad faith.  That's addressed above.

Regarding future negative impact on tenure:

No, it shouldn't have negative impact.  At least, not at a reasonable school.  But I don't know if the school you will be working at is reasonable.  I wouldn't expect this to be a negative at Georgia Tech.

The only reason it could possibly hurt is if you had zero publications during that time, and even then that shouldn't matter if it's a non-research industry job.  But even then, if you are getting interesting experience you can talk about later, that might help your research or make connections for future collaboration or funding, it's still good.

Remember, when you come up for tenure, you write your research and teaching statements, do you can contextualize this year any way you want!

Regardless, I would hope it's viewed positively. When you come up for mid-tenure review and tenure review, the committee should look at your impact (in all ways), your publications, teaching evaluations, and so on.  Generally, they want to look at the trajectory of your work since you started as a professor at this job.  Will you appear to be someone who will continue to be successful?

What you do during this gap year shouldn't impact that.  So, I would expect it wouldn't hurt in any way.

That said, I would ask the opinion of a few senior faculty at the school, and I would explain to them that you think the experience would be a good one (perhaps for informing your future work, and teaching).  That will both give you a chance to find out how senior faculty feel about this (they are the ones judging your tenure case later on) and put into their minds a positive reason for you doing this.  Looking deliberate and thoughtful about your career choices is a good thing.