Which foreign academic job markets most favor (monolingual) American PhDs? I am pursuing a PhD in one of the physical sciences. I attend a university that is top 10 or so in my field and has a recognizable name (Ivy league). My adviser’s past students have had somewhat good luck finding professorships, but even so several have left the field for jobs in computer science. Since I enjoy traveling, to increase my chances of finding a permanent academic position I plan to also apply abroad. Unfortunately, I only speak English.
Do you have any suggestions of where a monolingual American PhD can find an academic job abroad? If I need to complete a postdoc first like in America, would it be better to do it in America or said foreign country?
I'm Dutch. In physical sciences, most of our universities teach their MSc programmes entirely in English. Some of our universities also teach their BSc programmes entirely in English. If you find an academic job here, you are quite likely to get by with only speaking English. From a language POV, American PhDs are welcome here.
Dutch universities commonly do expect at least one postdoctoral stint before starting a tenure-track position. Whether that stint is performed in Europe or the USA makes little difference IMO.
Of course, your mileage may vary, and this answer sketches only the situation in a single foreign academic job market. But the conclusion is: yes, there are foreign academic job markets where American PhDs are sought after. Beyond the Netherlands, I expect the situation to be similar in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Also, anecdotally, I know of one American PhD who did a postdoc in the USA and then moved to a professorship in Belgium.