Clinical Research Associate
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Clinical Research Associate is responsible for running clinical trials, usually for an organization undertaking pharmacological drug testing. Will ensure that trials adhere to good clinical practice guidelines for monitoring clinical trials.
Job Outlook
There were 370 Clinical Research Associate job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 8715 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Clinical Research Coordinator / Manager industry, which includes the Clinical Research Associate career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Clinical Research Associate 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 $88,182.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $93,770.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Clinical Research Associate postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $58,056.
Education and Experience
Posted Clinical Research Associate 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 | 14.18% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 68.69% |
| Master's Degree | 11.6% |
| Doctoral Degree | 5.38% |
| Other | 13.92% |
Posted Clinical Research Associate 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 | 52.21% |
| 3 to 5 years | 38.71% |
| 6 to 8 years | 6.68% |
| 9+ years | 2.41% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Clinical Research Associate 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 (56.83%)
- Management (46.39%)
- Communication (44.6%)
- Detail Oriented (24.25%)
- Writing (23.21%)
- Microsoft Office (22.67%)
- Microsoft Excel (22.09%)
- Operations (21.33%)
- Accountability (19.98%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (19.2%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Clinical Trials (67.88%)
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) (25.44%)
- Clinical Research (93.1%)
- Case Report Forms (23.09%)
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC) (23.74%)
- ICH Guidelines (13.08%)
- Clinical Monitoring (16.47%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (44.01%)
- Trial Master File (9.44%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Medical Devices (12.05%)
- Regulatory Requirements (10.89%)
- Auditing (22.35%)
- Regulatory Documents (22.83%)
- Medical Terminology (17.79%)
- Life Sciences (10.26%)
- Clinical Research Coordination (7.45%)
- Biology (12.28%)
- Biotechnology (8.67%)
- Drug Development (4.12%)
- Oncology (19.37%)
- Pharmaceuticals (13.95%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (12.1%)
- Data Integrity (8.45%)
- Data Collection (22.68%)
- Phlebotomy (8.92%)
- Project Management (13.42%)
- Nursing (12.89%)
- Clinical Trial Management Systems (19.78%)
- Informed Consent (26.44%)
- Reconciliation (8.58%)
- Process Improvement (9.25%)
- Medical Records (14.08%)
- Data Entry (14.96%)
- Data Management (15.46%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Coherent Remote File System (CRFS) (7.81%)
- Source Document (3.89%)
- Clinical Investigations (4.51%)
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 (94.07%)
- Case Report Forms (32.01%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Clinical Research Associate skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Clinical Research Assistant
- Clinical Trial Associate
- Oncology Clinical Research Associate
- Oncology Registered Nurse
- CRA Manager
- Clinical Research Study Assistant
- Regional Clinical Research Associate
- Clinical Trials Management Associate
- Clinical Research Fellow
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 Director
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Clinical Project Manager
- Natural Science Research Manager (General)
- Clinical Quality Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Clinical Research Associate jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Icon (928)
- IQVIA (444)
- Actalent (286)
- Johnson & Johnson (285)
- Labcorp Drug Development (220)
- Boston Children's Hospital (178)
- Grifols (162)
- University of Pennsylvania (121)
- Merck (115)
- Beth Israel Lahey Health (113)
North Carolina
- IQVIA (75)
- Labcorp Drug Development (26)
- Actalent (23)
- East Carolina University (21)
- Grifols (12)
- University of North Carolina (12)
- North Carolina State University (11)
- Novasyte (10)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (9)
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation For The Advancement Of Military Medicine (9)
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.