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 116 Clinical Research Manager job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3688 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 $138,177.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $112,427.
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 $115,203.
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 | 77.33% |
| Master's Degree | 48.18% |
| Doctoral Degree | 15.65% |
| Other | 3.55% |
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 | 10.35% |
| 3 to 5 years | 72.12% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.97% |
| 9+ years | 3.56% |
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 (91.02%)
- Management (68.79%)
- Communication (58.43%)
- Operations (54.75%)
- Leadership (54.01%)
- Coordinating (33.05%)
- Organizational Skills (29.01%)
- Mentorship (26.98%)
- Timelines (24.19%)
- Writing (24.13%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Auditing (20.47%)
- Clinical Trials (74.53%)
- Clinical Research (90.52%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (46.85%)
- Project Management (42.98%)
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) (30.75%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Informed Consent (10.55%)
- Grant Applications (3.41%)
- FDA Regulations (10.74%)
- Regulatory Documents (10.39%)
- Regulatory Affairs (8.19%)
- Workflow Management (13.05%)
- Billing (7.31%)
- Data Entry (6.65%)
- Data Analysis (8.93%)
- Data Management (14.45%)
- Biology (10.88%)
- Customer Relationship Management (17.64%)
- Data Collection (16.9%)
- Clinical Research Coordination (13.38%)
- Finance (13.99%)
- Health Sciences (3.76%)
- Clinical Trial Management Systems (20.91%)
- Regulatory Compliance (12.97%)
- Research Methodologies (2.58%)
- Human Subject Research (17.2%)
- Life Sciences (5.94%)
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC) (4.56%)
- Oncology (16.57%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (18.66%)
- Case Report Forms (6.62%)
- Milestones (Project Management) (6.16%)
- Performance Appraisal (13.63%)
- Financial Management (4.75%)
- Site Selection (14.56%)
- Nursing (8.49%)
- Performance Review (10.77%)
- Pharmaceuticals (9.81%)
- Process Improvement (6.9%)
- Statistics (4.01%)
- Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) (4.34%)
- Research Experiences (5.74%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Clinical Trial Planning (10.03%)
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 (10.63%)
- Clinical Research (95.95%)
- Clinical Trials (79%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (49.67%)
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 Associate
- Oncology Clinical Research Manager
- Clinical Research Supervisor
- Clinical Research Project Manager
- 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
- Director of Clinical Research
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Clinical Trial Manager
- Clinical Project Manager
- 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. (628)
- Actalent (77)
- University of Pennsylvania (63)
- Stanford University (61)
- University of Chicago (60)
- The Judge Group (57)
- University of Miami (54)
- Medtronic (52)
- University of Minnesota (45)
- Kelly Services (44)
North Carolina
- Atrium Health (14)
- University of North Carolina (14)
- Duke University (14)
- Merck & Co. (13)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (12)
- East Carolina University (8)
- Institute For Medical Research (5)
- North Carolina State University (4)
- 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.