Clinical Operations Manager

What is Clinical Operations Management?

A clinical operations manager oversees the clinical trials of the company. A clinical trial is a study conducted with volunteers in a clinical environment to answer the important question about a drug or a medical device: does it actually work?

What does a clinical operations manager do? A day in the life

As a clinical operation manager, you might be involved in the study design and study documentation preparation together with the medical doctors, engineers and statisticians. You will submit this documentation to the local authorities and will interact with them until the study is approved. Once the study is approved you will oversee patient recruitment, you will manage the timeline and you will be the person of reference on the interface between your company, medical personnel on-site and the local authorities to ensure that everything works great and everyone is happy. You will ensure that the patients are well informed and safe. You will ensure that the collected data are of good quality. You will interact with a lot of people and you will also have to work alone when you prepare the study documentation or prepare the weekly planning and you need to be focused.

Types of clinical operations managers

Depending on the size and the complexity of the study your level of superiority and tasks might change. There could be multiple clinical operations managers and a chief executive if the company runs many trials in parallel of the trial takes place in different countries.

How much does a clinical operations manager earn?

90 000 – 120 000 CHF in Switzerland depending on your superiority level and the company profile.‍

Top skills needed: tech and soft

Understanding of the good clinical practices (GCP) and ethics (your company might pay you a course for that), empathy for the patients, understanding of the sciences behind the medical device or drug that is being tested, good writing skills, excellent communication and listening skills to interact with the doctors, engineers and local authorities, ability to plan and anticipate.