Clinical Research Manager
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Clinical Research Manager is responsible for managing the day-to-day research operations of an organization undertaking clinical trials, usually pharmacological drug testing.
Job Outlook
There were 85 Clinical Research Manager job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2557 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Clinical Research Coordinator / Manager industry, which includes the Clinical Research Manager career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Clinical Research Manager 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 $140,023.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $122,946.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Clinical Research Manager postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $111,109.
Education and Experience
Posted Clinical Research Manager 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 | 65.74% |
| Master's Degree | 38.68% |
| Doctoral Degree | 9.07% |
| Other | 3.91% |
Posted Clinical Research Manager 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 | 13.9% |
| 3 to 5 years | 66.12% |
| 6 to 8 years | 17.12% |
| 9+ years | 2.85% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Clinical Research Manager 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 (77.71%)
- Management (59.87%)
- Communication (49.2%)
- Operations (47.91%)
- Leadership (44.66%)
- Coordinating (30.58%)
- Writing (23.5%)
- Problem Solving (23.31%)
- Organizational Skills (21.2%)
- Planning (19.95%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Clinical Trials (68.78%)
- Clinical Research (95.82%)
- Project Management (31.82%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (38.75%)
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) (27.48%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- FDA Regulations (12.9%)
- Grant Applications (2.47%)
- Informed Consent (9.84%)
- Regulatory Documents (9.6%)
- Business Operations (6.33%)
- Regulatory Affairs (6.85%)
- Budget Development (4.82%)
- Workflow Management (12.35%)
- Medical Research (2.55%)
- Customer Relationship Management (10.91%)
- Biology (7.69%)
- Accounting (4.62%)
- Data Analysis (7.89%)
- Auditing (19.71%)
- Pre-Clinical Development (6.93%)
- Clinical Research Coordination (13.82%)
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC) (5.81%)
- Data Entry (7.53%)
- Data Management (15.61%)
- Clinical Trial Management Systems (16.85%)
- Data Collection (17.16%)
- Regulatory Compliance (11.43%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (18.32%)
- Human Subject Research (15.13%)
- Finance (9.32%)
- Case Report Forms (7.85%)
- Performance Appraisal (9.64%)
- Life Sciences (5.77%)
- Financial Management (4.86%)
- Oncology (16.09%)
- Milestones (Project Management) (5.26%)
- Resource Allocation (6.21%)
- Nursing (10.71%)
- Site Selection (8.12%)
- Performance Review (8.2%)
- Quality Management (2.79%)
- Pharmaceuticals (9.84%)
- Research Experiences (5.14%)
- Process Improvement (6.73%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Clinical Trial Planning (4.7%)
- Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (4.3%)
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.
- Clinical Trial Planning (6.77%)
- Clinical Trials (99.08%)
- Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (6.2%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Clinical Research Manager skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Clinical Research Supervisor
- Clinical Research Project Manager
- Clinical Research Site Manager
- Clinical Research Program Manager
- Oncology Clinical Research Manager
- Clinical Research Data Manager
- Clinical Research Associate
- Research Manager
- Clinical Research Coordinator
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 Associate
- Clinical Research Director
- Clinical Trial Manager
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Clinical Project Manager
- Natural Science Research Manager (General)
- Clinical Quality Manager
- Biomedical Scientist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Clinical Research Manager jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Merck KGaA Darmstadt Germany (156)
- Actalent (67)
- The Judge Group (52)
- University of Pennsylvania (49)
- Stanford University (48)
- University of California (39)
- University of California-San Francisco (35)
- Kelly Services (35)
- University of Chicago (34)
- University of Minnesota (30)
North Carolina
- Archway Physician Recruitment (14)
- Duke University (8)
- East Carolina University (6)
- North Carolina State University (4)
- Atrium Health Floyd (3)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (3)
- Institute For Medical Research (3)
- University of North Carolina (3)
- Flatiron Health (3)
- Wake Forest Baptist Health (3)
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!
- Health Physics Graduate Certificates
- Microbiology Undergraduate Certificates
- Textile Chemistry Master's Degrees
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.