RAPS today released the results of its comprehensive global survey of healthcare product regulatory professionals, offering a detailed look at how much they earn, which products they work on, what their work entails, and how their roles within their organizations have evolved. RAPS’ 2018 Global Compensation & Scope of Practice Report for the Regulatory Profession aggregates salary data for more than 2,300 respondents from 64 countries and breaks down median and average salary and total compensation by factors including job title, experience, highest earned degree, certification and size and type of employer. The report was released at RAPS’ Regulatory Convergence conference in Vancouver.

“RAPS conducts the Compensation & Scope of Practice Survey every two years. It is the only survey of its kind, yielding a wide-ranging picture of the global regulatory profession,” said RAPS Executive Director Paul Brooks. “The resulting data is extremely useful to individuals, employers, recruiters and others as a tool for understanding and benchmarking regulatory professionals’ compensation and provides unique insight into multiple aspects of their work and career paths.”

Key findings include:

Compensation and Hiring

• Median total compensation for US-based professionals ranges from $93,000 for associates to $256,500 for vice presidents.
• The average base salary increase from 2016 to 2017 was 4.7%.
• US respondents who have the Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) earn 17.6% more than those without it, on average.
• Respondents based in Europe reported median total compensation from €60,000 for associates to €120,000 for directors.
• Nearly a third (31.6%) of organizations increased their regulatory staff in 2017.
• Almost half (47.5%) expect their employers to hire additional regulatory staff in 2018–19.

Product Focus and Responsibilities

• On average, respondents devote 86% of their time to working on a single, specific type of product (e.g., medical devices, brand-name pharmaceuticals, generic drugs, etc.)
• More than half spend 100% of their time on one type of product.
• 41% work primarily with medical devices.
• 27.3% work primarily with some category of prescription drugs.
• Responsibilities vary by job title but overall, an average of 30% of respondents’ time is spent on postapproval tasks; 21.7% is spent on regulatory intelligence and strategy

Importance and Recognition

• More than 80% of respondents help shape their organizations’ key strategic decisions, business decisions or both.
• Nearly three-quarters (71%) report that senior management is aware of the work they do.
• More than half (56.6%) say senior management regards their work is important to the organization.

Career Path and Motivations

• Most worked in another field before entering the regulatory profession; respondents reported an average of almost 20 years of experience with about 11 of those in regulatory.
• Common feeder professions are quality assurance/quality control (18.4%), R&D (11.6%), life sciences research (6.8%) and engineering (6.6%).
• Asked about important factors influencing their decision to enter the regulatory profession, respondents cited opportunities for advancement, diverse work, ensuring healthcare products’ safety and effectiveness and the need for regulatory professionals as the top reasons.

RAPS members may download the 2018 Global Compensation & Scope of Practice Report for the Regulatory Profession from the Member Knowledge Center. Others can request a copy at https://raps.realmagnet.land/sop.