Swedish university doctoral researcher-teachers construe their work as creative, vital to the development of students and modern societies. The majority feel privileged, even though they find themselves in tension between reforms based on managerial business world logics and pedagogic processes informed by professional academic logic. Autonomy and jurisdiction is threatened by managerial, administrative and external stakeholder pressure. Complexity, intensification and frequent change impede their potential to perform according to professional standards: endangering teaching quality, the doctorate, student results, work satisfaction, health and well-being. Drawing on constructivist theories about professional practice as superordinate constructs, we explore the core identity of academic staff/doctoral researchers, in relation to the experience of being a good teacher in the current politic-economic context of higher education. The results will inform recommendations about improving working conditions and models for policy and practice, designed to improve quality as sought by the Government by increasing professional freedom and discretion.