Director of Clinical Research
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Director of Clinical Research is responsible for the overall research strategy of an organization undertaking clinical trials, usually pharmacological drug testing.
Job Outlook
There were 49 Director of Clinical Research job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2087 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Clinical Research Manager industry, which includes the Director of Clinical Research career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Director of Clinical Research jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $219,204.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $219,204.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Director of Clinical Research postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $170,888.
Education and Experience
Posted Director of Clinical Research jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 29.9% |
| Master's Degree | 41.69% |
| Doctoral Degree | 57.45% |
| Other | 0.91% |
Posted Director of Clinical Research jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 4.64% |
| 3 to 5 years | 35.75% |
| 6 to 8 years | 24.98% |
| 9+ years | 34.62% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Director of Clinical Research positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Research (78.77%)
- Leadership (68.28%)
- Operations (48.68%)
- Management (47.48%)
- Communication (47.01%)
- Innovation (33.25%)
- Presentations (26.88%)
- Ethical Standards And Conduct (22.76%)
- Planning (20.84%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (18.83%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Early Clinical Development (9.58%)
- Pharmaceuticals (26.26%)
- Project Management (12.62%)
- Oncology (29.05%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (20.05%)
- Drug Development (26.6%)
- Pre-Clinical Development (41.03%)
- Clinical Research (76.09%)
- Clinical Trials (73.3%)
- Key Opinion Leader Development (19.8%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Project Delivery (4.16%)
- Medical Monitoring (2.49%)
- Clinical Pharmacology (9.58%)
- Literature Reviews (7.53%)
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) (10.71%)
- Lifecycle Management (6.36%)
- Translational Medicine (8.31%)
- Translational Research (14.03%)
- Statistics (10.22%)
- Strategic Leadership (8.41%)
- Scientific Literature (3.13%)
- Rheumatology (2.98%)
- Research And Development (4.4%)
- Regulatory Requirements (7.24%)
- Pulmonology (4.79%)
- Neurology (3.62%)
- New Product Development (11.69%)
- Research Methodologies (4.11%)
- Risk Management (4.11%)
- Matrix Management (7.04%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (6.89%)
- Life Sciences (5.57%)
- Health Sciences (3.23%)
- Patient Safety (7.63%)
- Marketing (12.03%)
- Internal Medicine (7.58%)
- Performance Management (1.71%)
- Finance (6.26%)
- Drug Discovery (4.6%)
- Pharmacovigilance (11.1%)
- Economics (3.96%)
- Dermatology (5.97%)
- Data Collection (8.26%)
- Data Management (7.19%)
- Data Quality (1.08%)
- Commercialization (7.82%)
- Communications Protocols (4.45%)
- Public Health (7.04%)
- Procurement (1.17%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (5.97%)
- Immunology (8.9%)
- Clinical Practices (7.82%)
- Clinical Study Design (8.46%)
- Clinical Study Reports (15.94%)
- Hematology (9.58%)
- Biotechnology (14.33%)
- Biology (7.19%)
- Biostatistics (10.07%)
- Business Development (15.75%)
- Data Analysis (14.67%)
- Auditing (10.86%)
- Program Development (7.33%)
- Medical Devices (6.75%)
- Workflow Management (7.19%)
- Clinical Leadership (11.59%)
- Strategic Decision Making (2.69%)
- Medical Affairs (14.38%)
- Regulatory Documents (10.86%)
- Biomarkers (9.49%)
- Regulatory Affairs (13.99%)
- Grant Applications (2.25%)
- Informed Consent (4.35%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Randomized Clinical Trials (2.84%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Drug Development (77.05%)
- Project Management (36.54%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Director of Clinical Research skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Outcomes Manager
- Clinical Oncology Specialist
- Clinical Research Site Manager
- Clinical Research Scientist
- Director of Research
- Research Principal
- Oncology Research Scientist
- Principal Scientist
- Hematologist/Oncologist
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Clinical Research Manager
- Clinical Trial Manager
- Clinical Research Associate
- Clinical Project Manager
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Biostatistics Manager / Director
- Medical Science Liaison
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Director of Clinical Research jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Merck & Co. (118)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (95)
- Sanofi (93)
- Johnson & Johnson (71)
- Cardinal Health (61)
- Sumitomo Pharma (51)
- Cornerstone Search Group (33)
- GlaxoSmithKline (32)
- University of Pennsylvania (32)
- Deborah Heart And Lung Center (32)
North Carolina
- Atrium Health (7)
- North Carolina Central University (3)
- Actalent (2)
- Novant Health (2)
- Hydrogen Group (2)
- East Carolina University (2)
- Shattuck Labs (2)
- Duke University (2)
- Cornerstone Search Group (2)
- Saga Diagnostics Ab (2)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.