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 114 Clinical Research Manager job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3575 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Clinical Research 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 $151,631.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $137,429.
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 $127,114.
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 | 77.62% |
| Master's Degree | 47.58% |
| Doctoral Degree | 14.6% |
| Other | 3.72% |
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 | 10.83% |
| 3 to 5 years | 70.53% |
| 6 to 8 years | 14.83% |
| 9+ years | 3.8% |
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 (90.94%)
- Management (68.25%)
- Communication (57.48%)
- Operations (54.91%)
- Leadership (53.93%)
- Coordinating (33.87%)
- Organizational Skills (27.64%)
- Mentorship (25.34%)
- Writing (24.56%)
- Timelines (23.13%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) (31.98%)
- Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (6.63%)
- Project Management (41.47%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (44.56%)
- Clinical Research (89.94%)
- Clinical Trials (73.6%)
- Clinical Trial Management Systems (19.6%)
- Clinical Trial Planning (8.19%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Regulatory Environment (8.16%)
- Strategy Development (10.11%)
- Project Delivery (9.21%)
- Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) (4.5%)
- Effective Communication (3.77%)
- Virtual Environment (8.16%)
- Mitigation (8.53%)
- Statistics (4.19%)
- Site Selection (12.78%)
- Research Experiences (5.67%)
- Resource Allocation (8.53%)
- Risk Management Planning (8.24%)
- Quality Management (2.63%)
- Regulatory Requirements (3.8%)
- Performance Review (9.94%)
- Pharmaceuticals (10.25%)
- Nursing (8.92%)
- Operations Management (5.89%)
- Outsourcing (8.39%)
- Research Methodologies (2.55%)
- Milestones (Project Management) (6.43%)
- Oncology (16.57%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (1.27%)
- Human Subject Research (17.62%)
- Health Sciences (4.02%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (19.6%)
- Financial Management (4.99%)
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC) (4.59%)
- Performance Appraisal (12.97%)
- Performance Management (5.78%)
- Finance (13.65%)
- Case Report Forms (6.57%)
- Cultural Diversity (8.64%)
- Data Collection (17.45%)
- Data Entry (6.83%)
- Data Management (14.79%)
- Regulatory Compliance (13.29%)
- Conflict Resolution (10.74%)
- Pre-Clinical Development (11.98%)
- Clinical Research Coordination (13.71%)
- Customer Relationship Management (15.21%)
- Billing (7.96%)
- Biology (10.28%)
- Data Analysis (8.95%)
- Auditing (21.19%)
- Business Operations (9.8%)
- Workflow Management (13.26%)
- Medical Affairs (6.63%)
- Regulatory Documents (10.65%)
- Regulatory Affairs (8.05%)
- Grant Applications (3.63%)
- Informed Consent (10.68%)
- FDA Regulations (11.42%)
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 Trials (100%)
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
- Oncology Clinical Research Manager
- Clinical Research Project Manager
- Clinical Research Associate
- Clinical Research Site Manager
- Clinical Research Program Manager
- Infectious Disease Nurse Manager
- Research Manager
- Research Program Manager
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 Trial Manager
- Director of Clinical Research
- Clinical Project Manager
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Medical Research 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 & Co. (515)
- Actalent (75)
- University of Pennsylvania (61)
- University of Chicago (61)
- Stanford University (58)
- The Judge Group (57)
- University of Miami (55)
- Medtronic (51)
- University of Minnesota (48)
- Kelly Services (43)
North Carolina
- Duke University (14)
- Atrium Health (13)
- University of North Carolina (13)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (12)
- Merck & Co. (10)
- East Carolina University (8)
- North Carolina State University (6)
- Institute For Medical Research (5)
- Velocity Clinical Research (4)
- McKesson (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.