Healthcare & Life Sciences

Clinical Research Coordinator Job Description

A Clinical Research Coordinator organises approved study activity at a site, protecting participants while maintaining protocol, data, investigational product, and regulatory records.

Define study phase, therapeutic area, delegated duties, consent authority, site model, credential, and on-call requirements.

Use the template Prepare the intake meeting

Candidate-facing template

Edit the description for your organisation

Replace bracketed details, remove anything that is not genuinely required, and obtain the appropriate internal approval before advertising.

Ready-to-edit job description

Copying excludes all recruiter notes below.

Clinical Research Coordinator

Location
[Location or working arrangement]
Employment type
[Full-time, part-time, temporary, or fixed-term contract]
Reports to
[Principal Investigator and Research Manager as applicable]

About the role

[Organisation name] is seeking a Clinical Research Coordinator for [studies or therapeutic area]. You will organise authorised study visits, support informed consent, maintain accurate source and trial records, coordinate safety and sample processes, and prepare the site for monitoring and review.

What you will be responsible for

  • Schedule and conduct delegated study activities after verifying approvals, eligibility, consent, and visit requirements.
  • Maintain source documents, case report data, essential files, deviations, training, and delegation records.
  • Coordinate specimens, investigational products or devices, safety information, monitors, laboratories, and participant follow-up.

What success looks like

  • Participant rights, safety, consent, privacy, and withdrawal choices remain protected.
  • Study data and essential documents are timely, attributable, complete, and traceable.

Essential qualifications

  • Clinical research, healthcare, laboratory, study administration, or regulated-data experience relevant to the duties.
  • Knowledge of good clinical practice, consent, protocol, safety, privacy, and documentation expectations.
  • Strong participant communication, scheduling, detail, escalation, and multidisciplinary coordination.

Preferred qualifications

  • Current recognised good clinical practice training and local research credentials.
  • Experience in [phase, therapeutic area, study system, sample process, or sponsor model].

Tools and working knowledge

  • Electronic data capture and clinical trial management systems
  • Electronic health record, randomisation, safety, regulatory, and document platforms
  • Approved specimen, investigational product, scheduling, and monitoring tools

Compensation: [Add approved range, currency, fixed-term basis, overtime or on-call, benefits, travel, and training support.]

[Organisation name] will discuss reasonable adjustments for participant visits, document review, travel, and work.

How to apply

Apply through [secure method] with an anonymised example of a study visit, deviation, or data issue you managed.

Performance expectations

What good performance looks like

Use these outcomes to replace vague activity lists with the evidence the hiring manager expects to see after the person joins.

Visits occur within protocol windows with documented eligibility, consent, delegation, and follow-up.

Queries, deviations, safety information, and missing data are escalated through the correct route.

Hiring-manager intake

Questions to settle before advertising

Record specific answers so sourcing, screening, and interview decisions use the same definition of the role.

  1. 1

    Which studies, phases, populations, sites, protocols, and visit volumes apply?

  2. 2

    Which clinical procedures and consent discussions may the coordinator perform locally?

  3. 3

    What ethics, regulator, sponsor, investigator, pharmacy, laboratory, and monitoring responsibilities apply?

Evaluation criteria

Evidence to use in a Clinical Research Coordinator scorecard

Agree the criteria before interviews begin, then score examples against the same evidence standard.

Participant protection
Prioritises consent, comprehension, safety, privacy, voluntariness, and clinical escalation.
Treats recruitment or retention targets as more important than participant choice.
Protocol and data control
Checks current approval, version, delegation, source, timing, deviation, and traceability.
Corrects records without preserving the audit trail or reporting the deviation.

Structured interview

Clinical Research Coordinator interview questions and strong signals

Ask the same core questions in the same order, then use follow-ups to understand the candidate’s individual contribution.

1

What would you do if a participant appeared eligible but one criterion was unclear?

Strong answer signal

Pauses enrolment, checks source and current protocol, consults the authorised investigator, and documents.

2

Tell me about a protocol deviation you managed.

Strong answer signal

Protects safety, reports promptly, records facts, assesses impact, and prevents recurrence.

Related titles

Check the scope behind the title

Clinical Trial Coordinator — often used interchangeably for site-level trial coordination.
Research Nurse — may perform clinical research duties under a regulated nursing scope.

Common hiring mistakes

Problems to remove before publishing

Combining coordinator, research nurse, data manager, monitor, pharmacist, and investigator duties without delegation clarity.

Omitting participant contact, specimens, travel, on-call, fixed-term funding, and emotional demands.

Continue the hiring workflow

Related roles and recruiter resources

Related job descriptions

Healthcare Administrator Registered Nurse Medical Assistant

Helpful recruiter resources

AI Candidate Screening Software

Structure regulated experience evidence for qualified review.

Recruitment Pipeline Management

Coordinate checks, assessment, panels, and decisions.

Interview Question Generator

Draft protocol and participant-safety questions.

How to Identify Genuine Skills

Probe attributable regulated work carefully.

Source and review notes

How this template was prepared

Language
International English
Prepared by
ATZ CRM Editorial Team
Review
ATZ CRM Recruitment Editorial Review
Last reviewed
2026-08-05

O*NET: Clinical Research Coordinators

Reference for occupation tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, and work activities.

ESCO: occupations and skills

Reference for internationally recognised occupation and skills terminology.

Local health profession regulator

Confirm current registration, scope, supervision, safeguarding, and credential requirements for the role location.

Qualifications, compensation, licences, working conditions, and equal-opportunity wording must be checked for the role and location before use.

Recruiter questions

Clinical Research Coordinator job description FAQs

What should a Clinical Research Coordinator job description include?

State studies, phase, population, site, delegated duties, consent, procedures, systems, credentials, schedule, safety, and regulatory responsibilities.

Can a coordinator obtain informed consent?

Authority varies by protocol, ethics approval, delegation, profession, and jurisdiction. Confirm requirements for each study and site.