How to hire a clinical data specialist

How to hire a clinical data specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step clinical data specialist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a clinical data specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new clinical data specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a clinical data specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a clinical data specialist, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A clinical data specialist's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, clinical data specialists from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of clinical data specialist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Clinical Data Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Clinical Data Specialist	Statisticians use statistical methods to collect and analyze data and to help solve real-world problems in business, engineering, healthcare, or other fields.	$20-42
   Clinical Data Management Manager	Clinical data management managers perform database development tests to support the clinical studies assigned to them. These managers must have collaboration and communication skills to work smoothly with other internal departments and fellow managers... Show more	$43-82
   Clinical Data Manager	A clinical data manager is primarily responsible for recording and managing the data and results from various clinical trials and projects. Their duties revolve around establishing and maintaining a database, coordinating with team members and other departments to gather relevant information, developing different strategies for data management, mentoring less experienced colleagues, and monitoring the workforce's progress to ensure the accuracy of every data... Show more	$32-66

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Data Collection
   • Patient Care
   • Data Analysis
   • Medical Terminology
   • Informed Consent
   • FDA
   • Regulatory Agencies
   • Data Management
   • SQL
   • Epic
   • Data Quality
   • Electronic Data Capture
   • SAS

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage clinical trial product inventory and disbursement to patients.
   • Manage daily operations to strategically plan protocol studies for tandem oncology patients.
   • Generate SAS code that includes SAS/Macros, SAS/GRAPH, SAS/ACCESS, etc.
   • Create SAS ad-hoc reports as per requirements by the client PASTEC.
   • Provide QC reviews that are complete in accordance with study specific timelines.
   • Provide oversight to and communicate with contract research organizations (CRO) and vendors.

   More clinical data specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your clinical data specialist job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A clinical data specialist salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, clinical data specialists' average salary in arkansas is 58% less than in massachusetts.
   • Seniority. Entry-level clinical data specialists earn 52% less than senior-level clinical data specialists.
   • Certifications. A clinical data specialist with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a clinical data specialist's salary.

   Average clinical data specialist salary

   $62,592yearly

   $30.09 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level clinical data specialist salary

   $43,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average clinical data specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$87,859	$42
   2	Massachusetts	$86,824	$42
   3	Maryland	$84,333	$41
   4	Washington	$76,685	$37
   5	Georgia	$71,490	$34
   6	Nevada	$69,243	$33
   7	North Carolina	$67,087	$32
   8	New York	$66,696	$32
   9	Arizona	$66,130	$32
   10	North Dakota	$65,448	$31
   11	Delaware	$64,351	$31
   12	Pennsylvania	$63,710	$31
   13	New Hampshire	$63,198	$30
   14	Ohio	$63,078	$30
   15	Kentucky	$58,857	$28
   16	South Carolina	$57,777	$28
   17	Louisiana	$57,654	$28
   18	Florida	$56,705	$27
   19	Colorado	$56,494	$27
   20	Texas	$55,678	$27

   Average clinical data specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Abiomed	$114,138	$54.87
   2	Edwards Lifesciences	$112,473	$54.07	34
   3	Stryker	$106,606	$51.25	96
   4	Novartis	$104,106	$50.05	4
   5	Medtronic	$98,838	$47.52	253
   6	PRO Unlimited	$94,523	$45.44
   7	Dean Health Plan	$81,747	$39.30
   8	QuintilesIMS	$81,127	$39.00	265
   9	Mayo Clinic	$77,692	$37.35	89
   10	Clario	$75,314	$36.21
   11	CoolSculpting	$74,082	$35.62
   12	Stanford University	$69,227	$33.28	21
   13	Equality Health	$65,959	$31.71
   14	NeuroCog Trials	$63,916	$30.73
   15	Veracyte	$63,382	$30.47	4
   16	Providence Health & Services	$63,216	$30.39	62
   17	Ballad Health	$62,772	$30.18
   18	Hisun Pharmaceuticals Usa	$62,667	$30.13
   19	Medical Science & Computing, LLC	$62,606	$30.10
   20	American Indian Cancer Foundation	$62,606	$30.10

4. Writing a clinical data specialist job description

   A clinical data specialist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a clinical data specialist job description:

   Clinical data specialist job description example

   We're super into the work we do and the community we've built and think you might be, too!
   
   Why? Well, there's a lot to be proud of! Q-Centrix is a leading healthcare information solutions provider. Our oncology program is the market leader in clinical data management, powered by a tight-knit team of data geniuses, problem solvers, tech enthusiasts, and brilliant quality experts. Our collaborative crew of CTRs leverages their unique expertise and insight2oncology , part of our comprehensive clinical data management platform, to help the nation's top hospitals and healthcare systems unlock the value and purpose of clinical data advancing cancer outcomes and care across the country.
   
   If you subscribe to our philosophy that Better Data Saves Lives™, we hope you'll join our talented and growing team of cancer registry pros in pursuit of improved patient care. In doing so, you'll join a team that has earned Best Place to Work distinctions, many accreditations, and the trust of top cancer programs across the country.
   
   To be honest, we're confident that this is an exceptional opportunity to fill your days with meaningful work while also becoming a part of a smart, collaborative, fun-loving team in a growing company and industry. So, read on and reach out if you're ready to seize this opportunity to fill your days with meaningful work and become a part of a fun-loving team in a growing company and industry.
   Like the way this sounds? Let's talk about the primary responsibilities of this role, in which you will:Become a part of our team during a milestone moment in our growth, benefiting from our deep cancer registry experience and employee-centric leadership.Bring your specialized knowledge and patient story telling skills to our hospital partners through categorizing, coding, summarizing, interpreting, and mining registry/case information from nuanced, unstructured patient medical records. Support our partners' CoC Accreditation process with strong cancer registry operations, creation of policies and procedures, utilization of NCBD quality tools and knowledge of the how all the standards support quality patient care.Perform data collection (abstracting) and reporting on eligible cancer cases under current state mandates and national accrediting agencies.Ensure quality submission of all data in specified registries or measure data repositories, maintaining a high accuracy threshold.Contribute to team best practices, data dictionaries, abstraction guidelines, and other business rule documents while also identifying process improvement opportunities to help streamline tasks and processes.Stay up to date on mandated regulatory/publicly reported data requirements as specified by federal, state, payer, and other agencies.Engage in a variety of educational opportunities, including on-the-job learning guided by our in-house Quality & Education Team along with easily accessible CEUs and paid time for continuing education.Deliver quality solutions to hospital partners across the country, approaching each hospital engagement as an opportunity to apply your expertise with precision.Contribute to our culture of perpetual learning and meaningful collaboration, supporting the development of your colleagues, including early CTRs and Cancer Registry Support Specialists.
   You're our ideal candidate if you…Are the proud owner of a current CTR credential!Are a graduate of a Cancer Information Management program Ability to evaluate concordance with cancer program accreditation and other applicable standards. Possess strong analytical and critical thinking skills to approach problems in a systematic method, synthesizing data and suggesting recommendations.Have exposure to multiple patient medical record systems (EMRs) and clinical databases.Hold high standards for accuracy and are attentive to detail.Call yourself technically savvy and are interested in learning new systems and technology.Organized and adept at managing your time across multiple accounts and shifting timelines and priorities.Deeply value information security and privacy, maintaining high responsibility in keeping PHI secure and confidential (psst… Q-Centrix is SOC2 + HITRUST certified, so we take our cybersecurity seriously!).Applicants for employment with Q-Centrix must be legally able to work in the United States now or in the future without sponsorship.
   Become a valued member of our team and count on us to provide:W2 employment (not contract!) with opportunities we offer a flexible schedule for you to tailor your schedule around your needs in a 100% remote environment (no travel or onsite work required!).Competitive pay growth and advancement opportunities.Paid onboarding while awaiting facility access.Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, 401 (k) with match, generous PTO, parental leave, employer-paid short- and long-term disability, employee wellness resources, paid education time and CEUs, and much, much, more.Opportunities to learn new skills through our in-house quality and education department.Exposure to the best cancer registry software on the market.Positive and collaborative relationships with customers, colleagues, and leadership.Consistent and ongoing workload.
   Brownie points if you have:Experience working at or with a CoC Accredited facility.
   
   At Q-Centrix, we hire people who love learning, value innovation, and believe in our mission and values to improve outcomes in healthcare. We applaud qualified applicants who are accountable and committed to producing quality work. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we support and value diversity, dignity, and respect in our work environment, and are committed to creating an inclusive environment in which everyone can thrive.
   
   We employ people based on the needs of the business and the job, and their individual professional qualifications. Here's what does not impact our employment decisions: race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status, health, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, or any status or characteristic protected by the laws or regulations in locations where we operate. If you are an individual with a qualified disability and you need accommodation during the interview process, please reach out to your recruiter.
   
   We celebrate and embrace these differences and take pride in our commitment to being an equal opportunity team.

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5. Post your job

   To find the right clinical data specialist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with clinical data specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit clinical data specialists who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your clinical data specialist job on Zippia to find and recruit clinical data specialist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit clinical data specialists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview clinical data specialist candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new clinical data specialist

   Once you have selected a candidate for the clinical data specialist position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new clinical data specialist. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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