The vast majority of goods that are shipped across the United States are moved by truck. Such a huge industry requires thousands of truck drivers and logistical workers that make sure goods get to where they need to be. A lead driver is one such logistical worker crucial in the shipping industry.
A lead driver probably has prior experience as a truck driver, but their main duties go way beyond driving. They supervise truck drivers and take care of logistical tasks that help truckers do their jobs, such as writing dispatch reports, managing communications, and controlling the accuracy of shipments.
Lead drivers also have an important responsibility to the truckers that they manage. They help train new drivers to follow safety procedures and make sure that all trucks are actually fit for use. Trucking is an important but also dangerous industry, and a lead driver needs to be a highly attentive, safety-oriented person to manage a smooth shipping operation and keep their drivers safe.
What is a Lead Driver?
What Does a Lead Driver Do
There are certain skills that many lead drivers 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 hearing ability, physical health and hand-eye coordination.
How To Become a Lead Driver
If you're interested in becoming a lead driver, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 18.0% of lead drivers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.4% of lead drivers have master's degrees. Even though some lead drivers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Lead Driver Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of owner/operator you might progress to a role such as owner/manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title general manager of operations.
Average Salary for a Lead Driver
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Lead Driver
The role of a lead driver includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general lead driver responsibilities:
- Oversees a group of drivers on a daily basis to ensure routes are being serviced in a timely manner; reports down time or other concerns to appropriate management; assists in planning
- Obtaining and reviewing driver itinerary, checking route numbers
- Assist warehouse supervisor with receiving of advanced freight assist with all truck moves, including tractor-trailers
There are several types of lead driver, including:
Driver Supervisor
Role:
The shelves would be empty without a fleet of truck drivers delivering goods across the country, and these vital shipping companies would not run without driver supervisors. While truck drivers are responsible for getting from point A to point B, the driver supervisor makes sure everybody knows where point B is, among other things.
The driver supervisor coordinates the shipping and transportation needs for a company. This can involve scheduling drivers, coordinating routes, supervising loading and unloading, and dealing with any problems as they pop up. The driver supervisor also has to be good with people as they work with a team of drivers and train new hires.
This may come as a surprise, but above all, the driver supervisor needs to be a stickler for safety. Truck driving may seem like a fun job in movies and music, but it is a very dangerous one. The driver supervisor makes sure all DOT procedures are followed and that all drivers and their cargo reach their destinations safe and sound.
- Average Salary: $38,495
- Degree: High School Diploma
States With The Most Lead Driver Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active lead driver jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where lead drivers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Lead Driver Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 29,102 | $51,988 |
| 2 | Texas | 27,258 | $40,749 |
| 3 | Illinois | 22,003 | $49,937 |
| 4 | Ohio | 20,422 | $50,259 |
| 5 | Georgia | 18,377 | $42,525 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | 17,449 | $52,203 |
| 7 | Virginia | 13,824 | $52,167 |
| 8 | New York | 13,004 | $55,035 |
| 9 | Indiana | 10,107 | $47,765 |
| 10 | North Carolina | 9,642 | $41,737 |
| 11 | Missouri | 8,836 | $43,397 |
| 12 | Michigan | 8,071 | $46,830 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 7,999 | $39,409 |
| 14 | South Carolina | 7,921 | $39,393 |
| 15 | Alabama | 7,463 | $34,952 |
| 16 | Kentucky | 7,313 | $42,702 |
| 17 | Florida | 6,248 | $36,438 |
| 18 | Maryland | 6,067 | $54,116 |
| 19 | Kansas | 6,033 | $35,506 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | 5,953 | $46,608 |
| 21 | Minnesota | 5,746 | $56,101 |
| 22 | Iowa | 5,560 | $44,557 |
| 23 | Oklahoma | 5,551 | $38,712 |
| 24 | Louisiana | 5,316 | $30,710 |
| 25 | Arizona | 4,605 | $43,785 |
| 26 | Mississippi | 4,521 | $35,271 |
| 27 | Arkansas | 4,519 | $38,033 |
| 28 | New Jersey | 3,884 | $57,378 |
| 29 | West Virginia | 3,678 | $50,636 |
| 30 | Washington | 3,673 | $52,612 |
| 31 | Colorado | 3,610 | $41,468 |
| 32 | Nebraska | 3,211 | $44,186 |
| 33 | Oregon | 3,080 | $47,587 |
| 34 | Massachusetts | 3,044 | $49,516 |
| 35 | New Mexico | 2,453 | $36,850 |
| 36 | Utah | 2,078 | $45,623 |
| 37 | Connecticut | 2,032 | $49,996 |
| 38 | Idaho | 1,765 | $43,158 |
| 39 | Nevada | 1,714 | $49,768 |
| 40 | South Dakota | 1,689 | $45,886 |
| 41 | Delaware | 1,650 | $53,848 |
| 42 | North Dakota | 1,449 | $53,417 |
| 43 | Montana | 959 | $48,637 |
| 44 | New Hampshire | 861 | $57,953 |
| 45 | Maine | 799 | $47,529 |
| 46 | Rhode Island | 753 | $56,557 |
| 47 | Wyoming | 600 | $46,490 |
| 48 | Vermont | 588 | $55,578 |
| 49 | Alaska | 248 | $57,087 |
| 50 | Hawaii | 178 | $54,355 |
Top Skills For a Lead Driver
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, 27.7% of lead drivers listed dot on their resume, but soft skills such as hearing ability and physical health are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Lead Driver Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Lead Driver templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Lead Driver resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Lead Driver diversity
Lead Driver Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among lead drivers, 13.3% of them are women, while 86.7% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among lead drivers is White, which makes up 58.1% of all lead drivers.
- The most common foreign language among lead drivers is Spanish at 70.6%.
Online Courses For Lead Driver That You May Like
1. Junos Routing, Operations, and Maintenance
In this course, we will explain basic routing concepts including routing policy, routing and forwarding tables, routing instances, and Junos OS routing configuration basics. This course will also explain the concepts and configuration basics of user authentication, the various types of interfaces found on network devices, archiving configurations, configuring and analyzing system logging and tracing, and configuring SNMP for collecting and organizing information about managed devices. Other...
2. Health Care Delivery in Healthcare Organizations
Have you ever needed health care and thought that there must be better ways to get or deliver health care? For example, have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way to get a diagnostic test or treatment at home? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to deliver health care? If you have, this course is for you. Course content includes an overview of health care delivery including healthcare consumerism, the patient's...
3. Truck Dispatcher Training (STEP BY STEP, work independently)
FULL COURSE- How to Become a Truck Dispatcher, how to book loads for semi-trucks and start your own Dispatch Company...
Best States For a Lead Driver
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a lead driver. The best states for people in this position are New Hampshire, New Jersey, Alaska, and Rhode Island. Lead drivers make the most in New Hampshire with an average salary of $57,953. Whereas in New Jersey and Alaska, they would average $57,378 and $57,087, respectively. While lead drivers would only make an average of $56,557 in Rhode Island, 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. West Virginia
$50,636
Avg. Salary
2. North Dakota
$53,417
Avg. Salary
3. Ohio
$50,259
Avg. Salary
How Do Lead Drivers Rate Their Jobs?
Top Lead Driver Employers
Most Common Employers For Lead Driver
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UPS | $58,262 | $28.01 | 16 |
| 2 | Republic Services | $54,780 | $26.34 | 21 |
| 3 | Waste Management | $48,813 | $23.47 | 72 |
| 4 | Knight Transportation | $46,747 | $22.47 | 66 |
| 5 | Railcrew Xpress | $45,586 | $21.92 | 17 |
| 6 | Aramark | $44,107 | $21.21 | 17 |
| 7 | Golden Gate Partners Inc | $40,694 | $19.56 | 22 |
| 8 | Staples | $40,692 | $19.56 | 36 |
| 9 | Roush | $40,347 | $19.40 | 24 |
| 10 | Clutter | $40,326 | $19.39 | 80 |
Lead Driver Videos
