Clinical Project Manager
What this job does:
Oversees the planning, execution, and completion of clinical trials. Manages budgets and timelines, leads teams of research associates and site coordinators, ensures all regulatory and ethical requirements are met, and serves as the main contact between the trial sponsor and clinical research sites. Their work directly enables new therapies to reach patients.
This job is similar to these lab/research tasks:
Designing rigorous studies, maintaining data integrity, writing protocols and IRB submissions, managing multi-year projects with defined milestones, navigating the full research lifecycle from hypothesis to publication
Typical starting salary range
$100k to $165k
Salary estimate represented as 25th to 75th percentile. Gathered from recent job postings, Glassdoor.com, and Salary.com
Daily task breakdown
- Team meetings, sponsor communication, and cross-functional coordination (30%)
- Study monitoring, timeline tracking, and enrollment management (25%)
- Regulatory compliance, documentation, and Trial Master File oversight (20%)
- Budget management, vendor oversight, and contract review (15%)
- Risk assessment, issue resolution, and strategic planning (10%)
Skills you'll use in this job:
Clinical trial management; ICH-GCP and FDA regulatory expertise; project management (PMP methodologies); budget development and financial tracking; cross-functional team leadership; vendor/CRO management; CTMS and EDC systems (Medidata Rave, Oracle Clinical); protocol and CRF development; risk management; stakeholder communication; contract negotiation
Talk about these PhD skills in your resume and interview:
Talk about your deep understanding of study design, data integrity, and scientific rigor - essential for managing clinical trials where patient safety is paramount. Highlight your experience managing multi-year research projects with defined milestones, writing protocols and IRB submissions, and critically evaluating scientific data. Emphasize your familiarity with the research lifecycle (hypothesis to design to execution to publication) and any human subjects research, IRB processes, or GCP training.
Alternative job titles to search:
Clinical Trial Manager; Clinical Study Manager; Clinical Operations Project Manager; Clinical Research Project Manager; Senior Clinical Project Manager; Clinical Program Manager; Associate Director of Clinical Operations; Global Clinical Project Manager
*Note:
-Job titles are inconsistent between companies. Try various keywords.
-PhDs tend to undershoot seniority level. Target higher than you think.
