How To Become A Regulatory Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a regulatory specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Businesses have to comply with all laws, regulations, and policies from the federal level down to the local level. Unfortunately, compliance is not always easy to ensure, which is why businesses hire regulatory specialists to help them stay compliant with all laws and regulations that are applicable to them.

The work duties of a regulatory specialist revolve around evaluating business processes, functions, and requirements to ensure compliance. They conduct audits regularly, review the business documents, analyze transactions and procedures, as well as handle the renewal of permits or licenses. Furthermore, they are also typically responsible for submitting requirements to regulatory agencies.

The two main requirements for this role are an educational background in business or something related to the industry, and prior work experience, depending on the employer's preferences. In terms of soft skills, a regulatory specialist must be communicative, observant, impartial, and detail-oriented to perform their duties well.

In the US, the average salary of a regulatory specialist is around $64,000 per year, which is roughly $31 per hour.

ScoreRegulatory SpecialistUS Average

Salary

5.5

Avg. Salary $70,575

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

4.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.83%

Asian 8.14%

Black or African American 11.59%

Hispanic or Latino 15.45%

Unknown 4.46%

White 59.54%

Gender

female 70.10%

male 29.90%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a regulatory specialist

Explore regulatory specialist education requirements

Most common regulatory specialist degrees

Bachelor's

62.1 %

Associate

13.9 %

Master's

13.9 %

Start to develop specific regulatory specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
FDA	10.27%
Regulatory Compliance	8.09%
Regulatory Agencies	7.39%
Regulatory Submissions	5.14%
Customer Service	4.82%

Complete relevant regulatory specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New regulatory specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a regulatory specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real regulatory specialist resumes.

Research regulatory specialist duties and responsibilities

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Stay abreast of developments in GCP and federal regulations regarding clinical research.

Prepare your regulatory specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your regulatory specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a regulatory specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable regulatory specialist resume templates

Build a professional regulatory specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your regulatory specialist resume.