Research and development
(r&d) managers
Managers in this unit group plan, organise, co-ordinate and manage resources to undertake the systematic investigation necessary for the development of new, or to enhance the performance of existing, products and services.
- Employees (UK)
- 81k
- Median annual pay
- £54,857
- Exposure score ?
- 0.9/10 Minimal 9.0/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 9.0/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.9/10
- Wage exposure
- £400m £4.00bn
Higher exposure than 49% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.
If you are in this role
Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Prepare study-related documentation, such as protocol worksheets, procedural manuals, adverse event reports, institutional review board documents, or progress reports.
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Code, evaluate, or interpret collected study data.
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Maintain contact with sponsors to schedule and coordinate site visits or to answer questions about issues such as incomplete data.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols.
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Prepare study-related documentation, such as protocol worksheets, procedural manuals, adverse event reports, institutional review board documents, or progress reports.
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Assess eligibility of potential subjects through methods such as screening interviews, reviews of medical records, or discussions with physicians and nurses.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Clinical Research Coordinators" (11-9121.01).
What AI can already do
5 of 33 tasks, unaided
Prepare study-related documentation, such as protocol worksheets, procedural manuals, adverse event reports, institutional review board documents, or progress reports.
Code, evaluate, or interpret collected study data.
Maintain contact with sponsors to schedule and coordinate site visits or to answer questions about issues such as incomplete data.
Register protocol patients with appropriate statistical centers as required.
Develop advertising and other informational materials to be used in subject recruitment.
What still needs a person
28 of 33 tasks
Schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols.
Perform specific protocol procedures such as interviewing subjects, taking vital signs, and performing electrocardiograms.
Assess eligibility of potential subjects through methods such as screening interviews, reviews of medical records, or discussions with physicians and nurses.
Inform patients or caregivers about study aspects and outcomes to be expected.
Record adverse event and side effect data and confer with investigators regarding the reporting of events to oversight agencies.
Monitor study activities to ensure compliance with protocols and with all relevant local, federal, and state regulatory and institutional polices.
Oversee subject enrollment to ensure that informed consent is properly obtained and documented.
Maintain required records of study activity including case report forms, drug dispensation records, or regulatory forms.
Dispense medical devices or drugs, and calculate dosages and provide instructions as necessary.
Identify protocol problems, inform investigators of problems, or assist in problem resolution efforts, such as protocol revisions.
Review proposed study protocols to evaluate factors such as sample collection processes, data management plans, or potential subject risks.
Collaborate with investigators to prepare presentations or reports of clinical study procedures, results, and conclusions.
Track enrollment status of subjects and document dropout information such as dropout causes and subject contact efforts.
Direct the requisition, collection, labeling, storage, or shipment of specimens.
Instruct research staff in scientific and procedural aspects of studies including standards of care, informed consent procedures, or documentation procedures.
Prepare for or participate in quality assurance audits conducted by study sponsors, federal agencies, or specially designated review groups.
Order drugs or devices necessary for study completion.
Arrange for research study sites and determine staff or equipment availability.
Contact outside health care providers and communicate with subjects to obtain follow-up information.
Participate in the development of study protocols including guidelines for administration or data collection procedures.
Interpret protocols and advise treating physicians on appropriate dosage modifications or treatment calculations based on patient characteristics.
Confer with health care professionals to determine the best recruitment practices for studies.
Communicate with laboratories or investigators regarding laboratory findings.
Contact industry representatives to ensure equipment and software specifications necessary for successful study completion.
Review scientific literature, participate in continuing education activities, or attend conferences and seminars to maintain current knowledge of clinical studies affairs and issues.
Organize space for study equipment and supplies.
Solicit industry-sponsored trials through contacts and professional organizations.
Participate in preparation and management of research budgets and monetary disbursements.
Tasks via O*NET "Clinical Research Coordinators" (11-9121.01).
What AI can already do
30 of 33 tasks, with tools
Schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols.
Prepare study-related documentation, such as protocol worksheets, procedural manuals, adverse event reports, institutional review board documents, or progress reports.
Assess eligibility of potential subjects through methods such as screening interviews, reviews of medical records, or discussions with physicians and nurses.
Inform patients or caregivers about study aspects and outcomes to be expected.
Record adverse event and side effect data and confer with investigators regarding the reporting of events to oversight agencies.
Monitor study activities to ensure compliance with protocols and with all relevant local, federal, and state regulatory and institutional polices.
Oversee subject enrollment to ensure that informed consent is properly obtained and documented.
Maintain required records of study activity including case report forms, drug dispensation records, or regulatory forms.
Dispense medical devices or drugs, and calculate dosages and provide instructions as necessary.
Identify protocol problems, inform investigators of problems, or assist in problem resolution efforts, such as protocol revisions.
Review proposed study protocols to evaluate factors such as sample collection processes, data management plans, or potential subject risks.
Collaborate with investigators to prepare presentations or reports of clinical study procedures, results, and conclusions.
Track enrollment status of subjects and document dropout information such as dropout causes and subject contact efforts.
Code, evaluate, or interpret collected study data.
Instruct research staff in scientific and procedural aspects of studies including standards of care, informed consent procedures, or documentation procedures.
Maintain contact with sponsors to schedule and coordinate site visits or to answer questions about issues such as incomplete data.
Prepare for or participate in quality assurance audits conducted by study sponsors, federal agencies, or specially designated review groups.
Order drugs or devices necessary for study completion.
Arrange for research study sites and determine staff or equipment availability.
Contact outside health care providers and communicate with subjects to obtain follow-up information.
Participate in the development of study protocols including guidelines for administration or data collection procedures.
Interpret protocols and advise treating physicians on appropriate dosage modifications or treatment calculations based on patient characteristics.
Confer with health care professionals to determine the best recruitment practices for studies.
Communicate with laboratories or investigators regarding laboratory findings.
Contact industry representatives to ensure equipment and software specifications necessary for successful study completion.
Register protocol patients with appropriate statistical centers as required.
Review scientific literature, participate in continuing education activities, or attend conferences and seminars to maintain current knowledge of clinical studies affairs and issues.
Develop advertising and other informational materials to be used in subject recruitment.
Solicit industry-sponsored trials through contacts and professional organizations.
Participate in preparation and management of research budgets and monetary disbursements.
What still needs a person
3 of 33 tasks
Perform specific protocol procedures such as interviewing subjects, taking vital signs, and performing electrocardiograms.
Direct the requisition, collection, labeling, storage, or shipment of specimens.
Organize space for study equipment and supplies.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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