This article presents the results of studying the professional identity of a young teacher in the transforming academic environment. The authors prove that the contemporary generation of young teachers exists in the conflicting socio-cultural and professional space. One of the research’s focuses includes the transformation of the academic environment as a place of work and the conflict of two types of University cultures: the traditional, or “professorial” one, focused on humanitarian values; and the corporate one with its basic economic values. Another aspect of the analysis is the blurring of social identification of contemporary youth, including “young adults”, the modern generation of young teachers at universities. The results of the study reveal the features of forming a professional identity of young teachers. The most significant feature of the professional identity of a young teacher is the perception of the socially significant profession of a higher school teacher not as a vocation, but as a tool to achieve the desired level and lifestyle.