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 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.

Learn more about what a Lead Driver does

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.

Learn More About How To Become a Lead Driver

Lead Driver Career Paths

Average Salary for a Lead Driver

Lead Drivers in America make an average salary of $43,769 per year or $21 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $68,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $27,000 per year.
Average Lead Driver Salary
$43,769 Yearly
$21.04 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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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.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Lead Driver Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California29,102$51,988
2Texas27,258$40,749
3Illinois22,003$49,937
4Ohio20,422$50,259
5Georgia18,377$42,525
6Pennsylvania17,449$52,203
7Virginia13,824$52,167
8New York13,004$55,035
9Indiana10,107$47,765
10North Carolina9,642$41,737
11Missouri8,836$43,397
12Michigan8,071$46,830
13Tennessee7,999$39,409
14South Carolina7,921$39,393
15Alabama7,463$34,952
16Kentucky7,313$42,702
17Florida6,248$36,438
18Maryland6,067$54,116
19Kansas6,033$35,506
20Wisconsin5,953$46,608
21Minnesota5,746$56,101
22Iowa5,560$44,557
23Oklahoma5,551$38,712
24Louisiana5,316$30,710
25Arizona4,605$43,785
26Mississippi4,521$35,271
27Arkansas4,519$38,033
28New Jersey3,884$57,378
29West Virginia3,678$50,636
30Washington3,673$52,612
31Colorado3,610$41,468
32Nebraska3,211$44,186
33Oregon3,080$47,587
34Massachusetts3,044$49,516
35New Mexico2,453$36,850
36Utah2,078$45,623
37Connecticut2,032$49,996
38Idaho1,765$43,158
39Nevada1,714$49,768
40South Dakota1,689$45,886
41Delaware1,650$53,848
42North Dakota1,449$53,417
43Montana959$48,637
44New Hampshire861$57,953
45Maine799$47,529
46Rhode Island753$56,557
47Wyoming600$46,490
48Vermont588$55,578
49Alaska248$57,087
50Hawaii178$54,355

Lead Driver Education

Lead Driver Majors

30.1 %

Lead Driver Degrees

High School Diploma

40.5 %

Associate

21.4 %

Bachelors

18.0 %

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.

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Lead Driver diversity

Lead Driver Gender Distribution

Male
Male
87%
Female
Female
13%

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

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1. Junos Routing, Operations, and Maintenance

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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

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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...

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FULL COURSE- How to Become a Truck Dispatcher, how to book loads for semi-trucks and start your own Dispatch Company...

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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

Total Lead Driver Jobs: 3,678
Highest 10% Earn:
$82,000
Location Quotient:
2.07

2. North Dakota

Total Lead Driver Jobs: 1,449
Highest 10% Earn:
$77,000
Location Quotient:
1.34

3. Ohio

Total Lead Driver Jobs: 20,422
Highest 10% Earn:
$80,000
Location Quotient:
1.71
Full List Of Best States For Lead Drivers

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Top Lead Driver Employers

Most Common Employers For Lead Driver

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1UPS$58,262$28.0116
2Republic Services$54,780$26.3421
3Waste Management$48,813$23.4772
4Knight Transportation$46,747$22.4766
5Railcrew Xpress$45,586$21.9217
6Aramark$44,107$21.2117
7Golden Gate Partners Inc$40,694$19.5622
8Staples$40,692$19.5636
9Roush$40,347$19.4024
10Clutter$40,326$19.3980

Lead Driver Videos