Clinical Research Director
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Clinical Research Director is responsible for the overall research strategy of an organization undertaking clinical trials, usually pharmacological drug testing.
Job Outlook
There were 27 Clinical Research Director job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 905 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Clinical Research Coordinator / Manager industry, which includes the Clinical Research Director career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Clinical Research Director 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 $157,669.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $157,669.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Clinical Research Director postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $131,939.
Education and Experience
Posted Clinical Research Director 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 | 38.45% |
| Master's Degree | 39.78% |
| Doctoral Degree | 45.3% |
| Other | 1.88% |
Posted Clinical Research Director 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 | 6.39% |
| 3 to 5 years | 38.36% |
| 6 to 8 years | 29.18% |
| 9+ years | 26.07% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Clinical Research Director 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 (80.55%)
- Leadership (56.91%)
- Operations (54.7%)
- Communication (53.15%)
- Management (49.39%)
- Planning (31.27%)
- Presentations (23.98%)
- Interpersonal Communications (20.44%)
- Coordinating (19.34%)
- Problem Solving (19.12%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Clinical Research (92.66%)
- Clinical Trials (75.37%)
- Pre-Clinical Development (31.64%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (25.65%)
- Oncology (22.71%)
- Project Management (20.56%)
- Drug Development (23.16%)
- Pharmaceuticals (28.14%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- FDA Regulations (6.55%)
- Biomarkers (9.94%)
- Regulatory Documents (13.22%)
- Informed Consent (6.21%)
- Regulatory Affairs (17.63%)
- Key Opinion Leader Development (8.81%)
- Target Product Profiles (3.5%)
- Auditing (14.24%)
- Medical Affairs (6.67%)
- Medical Research (7.46%)
- Regulatory Compliance (10.62%)
- Business Development (9.49%)
- Immunology (10.96%)
- Biostatistics (8.81%)
- Investigator's Brochure (7.34%)
- Clinical Study Design (8.14%)
- Biology (10.17%)
- Clinical Study Reports (12.2%)
- Data Collection (7.01%)
- Data Management (11.53%)
- Clinical Trial Management Systems (9.49%)
- Pharmacovigilance (13.9%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (13.67%)
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC) (3.5%)
- Finance (12.88%)
- Clinical Trial Protocols (4.75%)
- Commercialization (4.41%)
- Infectious Diseases (3.95%)
- Human Subject Research (9.27%)
- Patient Safety (9.6%)
- Data Analysis (11.3%)
- Risk Management (9.94%)
- Life Sciences (4.18%)
- Research Methodologies (4.41%)
- Health Sciences (6.89%)
- Scientific Literature (4.07%)
- ICH Guidelines (3.95%)
- Marketing (11.19%)
- Nursing (10.17%)
- Cumulative Translation Adjustment (CTA) (6.44%)
- New Product Development (12.66%)
- Process Improvement (9.04%)
- Risk Analysis (10.17%)
- Clinical Pharmacology (11.98%)
- Translational Research (10.17%)
- Effective Communication (3.39%)
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) (17.63%)
- Lifecycle Management (9.04%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Common Technical Document (5.65%)
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 Research (95.35%)
- Clinical Trials (77.56%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (26.4%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Clinical Research Director skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Director of Clinical Research
- Clinical Research Site Manager
- Ophthalmologist
- Clinical Research Scientist
- Research Investigator
- Clinical Research Physician
- Associate Director of Research
- Director of Clinical Informatics
- Director of Research
- Director of Cardiovascular Services
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
- Natural Science Research Manager (General)
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Clinical Quality Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Clinical Research Director jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Sanofi (110)
- Merck KGaA Darmstadt Germany (46)
- University of Pennsylvania (31)
- Merck & Co. (22)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb (19)
- University of California (14)
- Pfizer (13)
- Wake Research Corporation (12)
- Actalent (11)
- Stanford University (11)
North Carolina
- Wake Research Corporation (6)
- N.I.H (3)
- North Carolina State University (3)
- Actalent (2)
- Wake Forest Baptist Health (2)
- 9249-7221 Québec (1)
- Institute For Medical Research (1)
- University of North Carolina (1)
- Shattuck Labs (1)
- Sanofi (1)
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.