top of page
PhD Jobs Related to:
Research Operations and Oversight
*This list is non-exhaustive, meant to be a starting point, and will be added to regularly. Jobs may overlap with other PhD skill categories.
Grants Manager
Manages the financial and administrative lifecycle of research grants at a university, hospital, or research institute. Handles pre-award activities like budget development and proposal submission, and post-award activities including financial reporting, compliance monitoring, subcontract management, and closeout.
IRB Coordinator
Manages the review and approval process for human subjects research at a university, hospital, or research institution. Reviews research protocols for regulatory compliance, advises investigators on federal regulations and ethical requirements, and tracks study amendments, renewals, and adverse events.
Regulatory Affairs Scientist / Specialist
Serves as the bridge between a company developing drugs, devices, or biological products and the government agencies (like the FDA) that approve them. Day-to-day, prepares detailed submission documents, interprets complex regulations, and develops strategies to get products approved efficiently. Coordinates closely with R&D, clinical, and manufacturing teams to ensure products meet all safety and legal standards before reaching patients.
Project Manager
Coordinates complex scientific or drug development projects from start to finish, ensuring teams stay on schedule, within budget, and aligned with regulatory requirements. Day-to-day involves running meetings, tracking milestones, managing budgets, communicating across departments, and troubleshooting roadblocks. Serves as the organizational glue that keeps multi-team R&D initiatives moving forward.
Clinical Project Manager
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.
Lab Manager
Keeps a research laboratory running smoothly by overseeing daily operations, such as ordering supplies, maintaining equipment, training new personnel, and ensuring safety and regulatory compliance. Serves as the organizational backbone of the lab, coordinating project timelines, managing budgets, and often contributing to experimental design and data analysis alongside the principal investigator.
Research Safety Officer
Ensures that laboratories and research facilities operate safely and comply with all applicable regulations. Day-to-day, conducts lab inspections, trains researchers on proper handling of hazardous materials, investigates incidents, maintains safety documentation, and serves as the bridge between research teams and regulatory agencies. Works to prevent accidents by developing protocols and assessing risks for new experiments.
Quality Assurance Specialist
Ensures that drugs, biologics, and medical devices are manufactured and tested according to strict safety and regulatory standards. Spends the day reviewing documentation, conducting internal audits, investigating quality issues, and training lab and manufacturing staff on proper procedures. Serves as a guardian of product quality and data integrity, preventing contaminated or ineffective products from reaching patients.
Research Operations Manager
Keeps a research institute, lab, or department running smoothly behind the scenes. Oversees budgets, ensures the organization meets safety and regulatory requirements (such as IRB and IACUC protocols), manages staff, maintains facilities and equipment, and coordinates across teams so that scientists can focus on their research. Serves as the operational backbone translating research strategy into day-to-day execution.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Manages the day-to-day running of clinical trials at a research site, such as recruiting and consenting patients, collecting data, scheduling study visits, and ensuring every procedure follows strict regulatory and ethical guidelines. Acts as the primary contact between study participants, investigators, and sponsors. It is a hands-on role combining patient interaction with meticulous documentation and regulatory compliance.
Research Administrator
Manages the business side of research, such as helping scientists find funding, prepare grant proposals, manage budgets, and stay compliant with federal and institutional regulations. Handles the paperwork, finances, and logistics that keep research projects funded, legal, and on track from application through closeout. Serves as the crucial bridge between researchers and funding agencies.
Program Officer
Serves as the scientific steward of research grants at a funding agency or foundation, such as managing portfolios of funded projects, guiding applicants through the funding process, participating in peer review, and helping shape the strategic direction of research funding in their scientific domain. Decides what science gets funded and monitors its progress, serving as the link between funders and the research community.
EHS Manager
Leads the environmental health and safety program for an organization, ensuring that workplaces, especially laboratories and research facilities, meet all safety regulations and environmental standards. Develops safety policies, trains employees, conducts inspections and audits, investigates incidents, manages hazardous materials programs, and serves as the organization's primary liaison with regulatory agencies like OSHA and the EPA.
Research Compliance Specialist
Ensures that all research at a university, hospital, or research institute follows ethical, legal, and regulatory rules. Reviews research protocols involving human subjects, animals, or hazardous materials; conducts audits to catch problems before regulators do; and trains researchers on how to stay compliant. Serves as a bridge between researchers and the federal and institutional committees (IRB, IACUC, IBC) that oversee research integrity.
Business Operations Analyst / BizOps
Serves as the connective tissue between scientific teams and business leadership in a life sciences organization, using data and process analysis to help the organization run more efficiently. Gathers and analyzes operational data (budgets, timelines, resource utilization, pipeline metrics), identifies bottlenecks in workflows, and presents actionable recommendations to management. Spends significant time in cross-functional meetings coordinating between R&D, regulatory, commercial, and finance teams.
Get PhD Careers Updates
Is there a job title missing you'd like to see on this list?
Drop me a message on LinkedIn --->
bottom of page