What does a Clinical Project Manager do?

A clinical project manager specializes in developing and organizing clinical trials. Their responsibilities revolve around planning and coordinating with all necessary personnel and experts, scheduling meetings, and preparing necessary documentation, ensuring compliance with all laws and regulations. Moreover, a clinical project manager must devise strategies and train all staff, develop protocols and guidelines, coordinate with vendors and suppliers, evaluate staff and verify documentation, and assist in all activities to ensure that every process aligns with the project's agenda. Should there be any issues or concerns, a clinical project manager must conduct corrective measures right away.
Clinical project manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical project manager resumes:
- Develop, manage, motivate and ensure professional development of project staff (13 CRAs).
- Manage domestic and international oncology clinical study sites.
- Manage multiple pharmaceutical studies ensuring compliance with FDA guidelines.
- Manage the operational aspects and execution of clinical studies focusing on oncology.
- Supervise rotating team of CRA's contract with the CRO, educating on therapeutic area, and ensuring ICH GCP compliance.
- Ensure GCP / ICH regulatory compliance on studies, preventing study deviations and provide swift resolutions to possible violations.
- Coordinate site initiation meetings, prepare IRB documents, develop documents and routing slips, and review protocols and consent forms.
- Provide training via recurring sessions how to Manoeuvre the SharePoint template to i3 companies.
- Initiate actions to ensure all assign investigative sites are in compliance with protocol and GCP.
- Champion an incentive program to encourage use of services and bring more patients in for consulting.
- Collaborate with sponsors, reader groups, stakeholders, vendors, clients, project staff and patients.
- Work closely with internal team and CRO to ensure timely completion of studies, locking of database and statistical analysis.
- Create CRFs for screening/enrollment/follow-up visits.
- Handle direct communication with IRB for complete submission and maintenance of essential regulatory documents.
- Provide direct supervision of clinical support staff and vendor qualification, selection, oversight and management.
Clinical project manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Clinical Project Managers are proficient in Manage Cross, Patients, and Clinical Research. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Leadership skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Project Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Manage Cross, 12%
Develop and maintain project schedule, identify and track milestones and identify and manage cross-functional dependencies.
- Patients, 9%
Collaborated with sponsors, reader groups, stakeholders, vendors, clients, project staff and patients.
- Clinical Research, 8%
Manage Clinical research associate resignations and releases by working with clinical resourcing to ensure primary sites are covered and reassigned.
- Project Management, 7%
Presented on a monthly basis to senior management regarding departmental development and the status of ongoing project management initiatives.
- Clinical Trials, 5%
Headed Clinical Trial Material Coordination and Communication team for effective planning of upcoming and existing clinical trials within Eli Lilly.
- Oversight, 5%
Ensured appropriate clinical safety assessment and risk management of compounds, conducted real-time medical oversight of ongoing trials.
"manage cross," "patients," and "clinical research" are among the most common skills that clinical project managers use at work. You can find even more clinical project manager responsibilities below, including:
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a clinical project manager to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "natural sciences managers lead research teams and therefore need to work well with others in order to reach common goals." Clinical project managers often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "based on depth of experience and superb interpersonal skills, selected to train and mentor new clinical trials specialists. "
Leadership skills. Another essential skill to perform clinical project manager duties is leadership skills. Clinical project managers responsibilities require that "natural sciences managers must be able to organize, direct, and motivate others." Clinical project managers also use leadership skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided leadership in redesign projects related to the coordination, design/redesign, delivery and management of patient care services. "
Problem-solving skills. This is an important skill for clinical project managers to perform their duties. For an example of how clinical project manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "natural sciences managers use scientific observation and analysis to find answers to complex technical questions." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a clinical project manager: "ensured gcp / ich regulatory compliance on studies, preventing study deviations and provided swift resolutions to possible violations. ".
Time-management skills. For certain clinical project manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "time-management skills." The day-to-day duties of a clinical project manager rely on this skill, as "natural sciences managers must be able to perform multiple administrative, supervisory, and technical tasks while ensuring that projects remain on schedule." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what clinical project managers do: "assisted in designing protocols regarding primary and secondary outcome variables, follow-up schedules, and data collection timelines. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for clinical project manager responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of clinical project managers all the time, as "natural sciences managers must be able to communicate clearly with a variety of audiences, such as scientists, policymakers, and the public." An excerpt from a real clinical project manager resume shows how this skill is central to what a clinical project manager does: "lead discussion meetings for preparation of briefing document and special protocol assessment communications with fda. "
The three companies that hire the most clinical project managers are:
- Organon475 clinical project managers jobs
- QuintilesIMS138 clinical project managers jobs
- Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings130 clinical project managers jobs
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Clinical project manager vs. Senior research associate
A Senior Research Associate works closely with research team members to implement research ideas. They diagnose, solve system/software problems, and install application software according to research needs.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, clinical project manager responsibilities require skills like "manage cross," "clinical research," "oversight," and "clinical operations." Meanwhile a typical senior research associate has skills in areas such as "crispr," "molecular biology," "cell culture," and "flow cytometry." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Senior research associates earn the highest salaries when working in the government industry, with an average yearly salary of $89,446. On the other hand, clinical project managers are paid more in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $103,836.senior research associates tend to reach similar levels of education than clinical project managers. In fact, senior research associates are 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 8.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Clinical project manager vs. Research nurse
A research nurse specializes in conducting studies and scientific research for healthcare and medical development. They may work for medical facilities, private clinics, learning institutions, and government agencies. It is their duty to design research strategies and procedures, gather and analyze samples through various scientific methods, coordinate with other experts, and develop treatment and healthcare plans to optimize patient services and outcomes. Moreover, a research nurse typically works with a team of researchers, which requires an active communication line while adhering to the organization's policies and regulations.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, clinical project manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "manage cross," "clinical research," "project management," and "clinical trials." Meanwhile, a research nurse has duties that require skills in areas such as "research projects," "clinical care," "vital signs," and "human subjects." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Research nurses may earn a lower salary than clinical project managers, but research nurses earn the most pay in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $61,182. On the other hand, clinical project managers receive higher pay in the pharmaceutical industry, where they earn an average salary of $103,836.In general, research nurses achieve lower levels of education than clinical project managers. They're 9.8% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 8.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical project manager vs. Research coordinator
A research coordinator is responsible for assisting the development of research data from clinical trials and laboratory investigations under the supervision of a lead researcher or a research supervisor. In some cases, research coordinators conduct field investigations and analyze existing research materials upon understanding the scope and limitations of the study. They enter their findings and useful resources on the research database for reference to the research team. A research coordinator must have excellent communication skills, both written and oral, especially on gathering data and coordinating with other researchers for the progress and updates of the study.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, clinical project managers are more likely to have skills like "manage cross," "clinical research," "project management," and "oversight." But a research coordinator is more likely to have skills like "research projects," "data entry," "human subjects," and "research data."
Research coordinators make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $52,963. On the other hand, clinical project managers are paid the highest salary in the pharmaceutical industry, with average annual pay of $103,836.research coordinators typically earn similar educational levels compared to clinical project managers. Specifically, they're 4.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical project manager vs. Study coordinator
Study coordinators oversee the entire process of clinical research from its inception to its completion. The coordinators make certain that human subjects are safe and well-protected. They identify the eligibility of the subject through clinical record screening and medical information extracting. It is their responsibility to maintain the regulatory documents based on the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They should develop skills and knowledge in clinical trials, study protocol, and patient care.
Types of clinical project manager
Updated January 8, 2025