When we think of people in the medical profession, we often think of them as "doers." They are healers who spend their time with patients and administering patient care. What we are not aware of is that they also dedicate their time doing research. Research helps advance any field, and medicine is one of the important fields that need constant innovation and advancement. Doctors conduct clinical trials and research to find answers to medical mysteries.
They often have senior medical writers to help them document their research. Senior medical writers are in charge of documenting the research and clinical trial results conducted by medical professionals. They help in analyzing the data and writing about the results in such a way that is technical enough for the medical community but also understandable by the ones outside of the field. Their role is crucial in research because they are in charge of communicating the discoveries and other pertinent information for public consumption.
If you are interested in working in research and have a strong affinity for the medical field, this is a great career for you. You should be able to understand medical terms and ensure that the paper is palatable to all audiences.
Senior Medical Writer Overview
Senior Medical Writer Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior medical writer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $68.5 an hour? That's $142,470 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 4,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Medical Writer Do
There are certain skills that many senior medical writers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, imagination and teamwork.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior medical writer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 26.2% of senior medical writers included clinical trials, while 5.4% of resumes included fda, and 5.1% of resumes included regulatory documents. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior medical writer job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior medical writers actually find jobs in the health care and pharmaceutical industries.
How To Become a Senior Medical Writer
If you're interested in becoming a senior medical writer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 31.3% of senior medical writers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 22.9% of senior medical writers have master's degrees. Even though most senior medical writers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior medical writer. When we researched the most common majors for a senior medical writer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior medical writer resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior medical writer. In fact, many senior medical writer jobs require experience in a role such as medical writer. Meanwhile, many senior medical writers also have previous career experience in roles such as research assistant or medic.
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Senior Medical Writer Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a senior medical writer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as manager, medical writing, progress to a title such as manager, medical writing and then eventually end up with the title manager, medical writing.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Senior Medical Writer
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Randstad SR Medical Writer Clinical SR Medical Writer Clinical | Randstad Randstad | 11/12/2020 11/12/2020 | $125,22011/12/2020 $125,220 |
Phaidon International Senior Medical Writer Senior Medical Writer | Phaidon International Phaidon International | 11/28/2019 11/28/2019 | $90,00011/28/2019 $90,000 |
Randstad Senior Medical Writer Senior Medical Writer | Randstad Randstad | 11/21/2019 11/21/2019 | $203,08611/21/2019 $203,086 |
Metrostaffing Senior Medical Writer Senior Medical Writer | Metrostaffing Metrostaffing | 07/12/2019 07/12/2019 | $145,00007/12/2019 $145,000 |
Piper Companies Senior Medical Writer Senior Medical Writer | Piper Companies Piper Companies | 06/28/2019 06/28/2019 | $110,00006/28/2019 $110,000 |
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Top Colleges for Senior Medical Writers
1. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
2. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
3. University of Houston
Houston, TX • Public
4. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI • Public
5. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
6. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
7. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Public
8. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Public
9. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
10. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Public
Top Skills For a Senior Medical Writer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 26.2% of senior medical writers listed clinical trials on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and imagination are important as well.
- Clinical Trials, 26.2%
- FDA, 5.4%
- Regulatory Documents, 5.1%
- Literature Reviews, 4.5%
- ICH, 4.1%
- Other Skills, 54.7% See All Senior Medical Writer Skills
Best States For a Senior Medical Writer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior medical writer. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, California, Maine, and West Virginia. Senior medical writers make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $104,961. Whereas in California and Maine, they would average $102,931 and $102,321, respectively. While senior medical writers would only make an average of $101,623 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$113,328
Avg. Salary
2. West Virginia
$101,623
Avg. Salary
3. Illinois
$98,388
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Medical Writer Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Medical Writer Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ senior medical writers and discovered their number of senior medical writer opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that inVentiv Health was the best, especially with an average salary of $113,241. Abbott Laboratories follows up with an average salary of $125,616, and then comes Novartis with an average of $120,928. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a senior medical writer. The employers include AbbVie, Quintiles Transnational, and Parexel