How to hire a medical safety director

How to hire a medical safety director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step medical safety director hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The medical safety director hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   A medical safety director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, medical safety directors 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.

   This list shows salaries for various types of medical safety directors.

   Type of Medical Safety Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Medical Safety Director	Occupational health and safety specialists analyze many types of work environments and work procedures. Specialists inspect workplaces for adherence to regulations on safety, health, and the environment... Show more	$37-137
   Public Health Internship	A public health internship provides students with a great learning opportunity to put into practice those educational principles and skills learned in the classroom. They will gain a better understanding and appreciation for the duties and responsibilities of full-time professionals in public health... Show more	$12-26
   Safety Manager	A safety manager is someone who ensures that a company is compliant and adhering to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines. Safety managers are responsible for planning and implementing OHS policies and programs... Show more	$23-55

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Safety Data
   • Signal Detection
   • Safety Reports
   • Safety Issues
   • Clinical Development
   • Risk Management
   • Regulatory Authorities
   • Clinical Safety
   • Clinical Trials
   • IND
   • FDA
   • Core Data Sheet
   • Sops
   • Patient Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage interaction and oversight of insurance brokerage, insurance company and third party resources and services.
   • Manage HSE programs for a national corporation specializing in concrete product manufacturing.
   • Investigate accidents and report to MSHA and CAL-OSHA.
   • Distinguish for successfully representing Becton Dickinson through multiple FDA and NSAI audits.
   • Secure ISO certification -developed by internal resources and culture, not outsource.
   • Monitor compliance with EPA standards, conduct all employee-training sessions for compliance with safety and HazCom standards.

   More medical safety director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your medical safety director job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A medical safety director salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a medical safety director in Texas may be lower than in Alaska, and an entry-level medical safety director usually earns less than a senior-level medical safety director. Additionally, a medical safety director with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average medical safety director salary

   $148,525yearly

   $71.41 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level medical safety director salary

   $77,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average medical safety director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$184,902	$89
   2	Washington	$163,153	$78
   3	District of Columbia	$161,981	$78
   4	Colorado	$159,750	$77
   5	Connecticut	$159,573	$77
   6	North Carolina	$157,203	$76
   7	Delaware	$152,725	$73
   8	Massachusetts	$151,121	$73
   9	Maryland	$147,036	$71
   10	Illinois	$142,285	$68
   11	Pennsylvania	$136,669	$66
   12	Ohio	$136,018	$65

   Average medical safety director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Covance	$191,450	$92.04
   2	Genentech	$186,196	$89.52	20
   3	Seagen	$179,198	$86.15
   4	Hoffmann-LA Roche Inc	$174,717	$84.00
   5	Adaptimmune	$171,791	$82.59
   6	Incyte	$171,435	$82.42	2
   7	Alexion Pharmaceuticals	$167,848	$80.70	7
   8	AstraZeneca	$162,524	$78.14	19
   9	Boehringer Ingelheim	$160,058	$76.95
   10	Alkermes	$159,799	$76.83	6
   11	Cytokinetics	$159,204	$76.54	1
   12	Amgen	$153,691	$73.89	19
   13	Supernus Pharmaceuticals	$151,149	$72.67	1
   14	Gilead Sciences	$150,160	$72.19	11
   15	BioMarin	$141,228	$67.90	5
   16	Highmark	$133,811	$64.33	333
   17	Glaxosmithkline	$132,725	$63.81
   18	Lundbeck	$132,031	$63.48
   19	EQRx	$125,778	$60.47
   20	Alpine Immune Sciences	$122,612	$58.95

4. Writing a medical safety director job description

   A medical safety director 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 medical safety director job description:

   Medical safety director job description example

   The Senior Medical Director, Global Medical Safety, oversees the benefit-risk strategy for a portfolio of marketed and clinical development products. The individual must demonstrate agility, the ability to prioritize, and the capability to provide strategic leadership across multiple disease areas and modalities. Must be comfortable working in an entrepreneurial environment to advance compounds' safety and biological understanding through the life cycle. The individual who assumes this position will interact with multiple levels of management within Biogen, external stakeholders in the medical community, and global regulatory authorities and is expected to influence the strategic direction of complex issues for the assigned therapeutic areas.
   
   This individual will also be accountable for performing and overseeing business development evaluations and recommendations from Global Medical Safety. Finally, the individual will be responsible for continuous process improvement within the Global Medical Safety function. Strong communication skills, scientific acumen, and the ability to work in a dynamic matrixed environment are critical traits for an individual in this role.
   What You'll Do:
   
   Responsible for the leadership and oversight of global therapeutic area(s) and management of physicians who serve as the Global Safety Officers (GSO) or Safety MDs for both developmental and marketed compounds in designated therapeutic area (s).
   
   Keep upper management informed of key benefit/risk issues for assigned therapeutic areas.
   
   Serve as operational lead for Safety Monitoring Committees in relevant TA, overseeing preparation and presentation by GSOs to the Safety Committee.
   
   Directly responsible for and oversees the medical safety evaluation of projects for new business development opportunities (e.g., due diligence evaluations).
   
   Develops and maintains relationships with leaders in other Biogen functions, including Clinical Development, Pre-Clinical Safety, Research, and Worldwide Medical.
   
   Oversees accurate and timely completion and reporting of periodic safety reports and safety regulatory responses; oversees risk management plans.
   
   Who You Are:
   
   You are an experienced leader within the Global Medical Safety space who can proactively contribute to continuous improvement in departmental processes and functions. You have proven exposure to performing and overseeing business development evaluations and recommendations while effectively managing and mentoring team members.
   
   #LI-DR1

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right medical safety director for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your medical safety director job on Zippia to find and recruit medical safety director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting medical safety directors requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   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 medical safety director

   Once you have selected a candidate for the medical safety director 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 equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new medical safety director. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

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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