The Russian academic sector is characterised by the absence of a strong academic market, high level of university inbreeding and differentiation. Universities can be divided into teaching- and research-oriented. Different aims of universities make them create different incentive schemes for faculty. We focus on estimating the determinants of “success” of Russian faculty in different types of universities. We measure success as the percent deviation of an individual’s wage from the average university wage to account for the competition inside, rather than outside universities. According to our results, both types of universities require publishing activity from faculty, but research-oriented universities pay great attention to the top journals. Time spent on teaching is a significant success determinant at any type of university – research-oriented and teaching-oriented ones. However, faculty need to spread their time between teaching and research carefully, otherwise they can be penalised relative to their colleagues. Holding a formal administrative post does not guarantee financial success, while performing informal administrative duties leads to financial success in teaching-oriented universities. The results may suggest that some Russian universities should revise their missions to focus more on teaching, given that research is already concentrated in leading universities. This would prevent the Russian higher education sector from becoming overly research- oriented and ensure attention to the volume and quality of education.