How To Become A Research And Development Project Leader: What It Is and Career Path

What is a research and development project leader and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a research and development project leader. For example, did you know that they make an average of $46.29 an hour? That's $96,285 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 4,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreResearch And Development Project LeaderUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $96,285

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.16%

Asian 18.39%

Black or African American 2.71%

Hispanic or Latino 7.43%

Unknown 4.45%

White 66.87%

Gender

female 26.99%

male 73.01%

Age - 48

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 - 48

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a research and development project leader

Explore research and development project leader education requirements

Most common research and development project leader degrees

Bachelor's

66.8 %

Master's

16.0 %

Doctorate

9.8 %

Start to develop specific research and development project leader skills

Skills	Percentages
R	20.13%
Data Collection	6.94%
FDA	6.51%
GMP	6.33%
Product Development	6.16%

Complete relevant research and development project leader training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New research and development project leaders 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 research and development project leader based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real research and development project leader resumes.

Research research and development project leader duties and responsibilities

Lead and prepare for FDA audits / responses.
Manage electronics, software and mechanical engineers responsible for the development of the electromechanical system and disposable treatment catheters.
Support clinical trials, FDA submissions, and product launches.
Coordinate product certification (UL, CE, and CSA) qualifications.

Get research and development project leader experience

Generally, it takes more than 10 years to become a research and development project leader. The most common roles before becoming a research and development project leader include research assistant, internship team lead and research and development engineer.

Prepare your research and development project leader resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your research and development project leader 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 research and development project leader resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable research and development project leader resume templates

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