Clinical Trial Manager
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Clinical Trial Manager is responsible for planning and managing all aspects of an organization's program of clinical trials, usually for an organization undertaking pharmacological drug testing.
Job Outlook
There were 247 Clinical Trial Manager job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3287 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Clinical Research Manager industry, which includes the Clinical Trial Manager career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Clinical Trial 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 $161,450.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $155,765.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Clinical Trial Manager postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $129,901.
Education and Experience
Posted Clinical Trial 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 | 75.94% |
| Master's Degree | 32.13% |
| Doctoral Degree | 14.33% |
| Other | 2.59% |
Posted Clinical Trial 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 | 14.36% |
| 3 to 5 years | 50.36% |
| 6 to 8 years | 26.82% |
| 9+ years | 8.46% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Clinical Trial 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.
- Management (76.54%)
- Operations (58.81%)
- Communication (54.58%)
- Leadership (46.39%)
- Timelines (44.9%)
- Research (34.01%)
- Planning (31.49%)
- Problem Solving (30.21%)
- Microsoft Excel (25.31%)
- Detail Oriented (25.31%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Clinical Trials (98.66%)
- Clinical Research (52.21%)
- Pharmaceuticals (38.98%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (50.02%)
- Project Management (44.86%)
- Clinical Trial Management Systems (36.78%)
- Auditing (21.13%)
- Site Selection (14.06%)
- Drug Development (20.89%)
- Life Sciences (26.17%)
- Regulatory Documents (10.09%)
- Oncology (24.21%)
- Finance (13.39%)
- Biology (12.23%)
- Trial Master File (12.05%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Informed Consent (25.74%)
- Data Management (21.96%)
- Pre-Clinical Development (16.96%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (19.79%)
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) (10.67%)
- Biotechnology (19.09%)
- Process Improvement (19.61%)
- Customer Relationship Management (6.47%)
- Regulatory Affairs (5.22%)
- Business Operations (2.38%)
- Milestones (Project Management) (13.3%)
- Pharmacovigilance (1.8%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (8.69%)
- Conflict Management (2.56%)
- Data Analysis (5.92%)
- Good Documentation Practices (2.78%)
- Vendor Management (11.25%)
- ICH Guidelines (18.18%)
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC) (13.11%)
- Clinical Study Reports (9.91%)
- Root Cause Analysis (1.22%)
- Risk Management (12.14%)
- Corrective And Preventive Action (CAPA) (7.9%)
- Invoicing (11.99%)
- Regulatory Requirements (12.63%)
- Case Report Forms (10.09%)
- Clinical Monitoring (7.44%)
- Project Planning (5.31%)
- Clinical Study Design (6.77%)
- Program Process Monitoring (1.98%)
- Marketing (8.14%)
- FDA Regulations (7.65%)
- Mitigation (8.87%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Electronic Trial Master File (2.1%)
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 (99.81%)
- Drug Development (21.14%)
- Oncology (24.5%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Clinical Trial Manager skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Clinical Trial Coordinator
- Clinical Trial Associate
- Clinical Trial Operations Manager
- Study Manager
- Local Trial Manager
- Sample Manager
- Ophthalmologist
- Pathways Intern
- Study Start Up Specialist
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 Project Manager
- Clinical Research Manager
- Clinical Research Associate
- Director of Clinical Research
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Biostatistics Manager / Director
- Drug Safety Specialist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Clinical Trial Manager jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Merck & Co. (133)
- Medpace (108)
- Actalent (104)
- Sumitomo Pharma (102)
- Johnson & Johnson (97)
- IQVIA (90)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (60)
- Beacon Hill Staffing Group (54)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb (52)
- Bausch Health (52)
North Carolina
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (30)
- Worldwide Clinical Trials (30)
- IQVIA (21)
- Syneos Health (16)
- Actalent (13)
- Atrium Health (10)
- inVentiv Health (8)
- Pfizer (6)
- Quintiles (6)
- Icon (5)
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.