Lead electricians assign and inspect the work of electricians and trades helpers. They plan and develop work schedules, equipment usage schedules, and procedures for equipment maintenance. They also utilize knowledge, skills, and electrical testing equipment to evaluate systems accurately for maintenance, warranty repairs, design, and other purposes. Lead electricians earn a median sum of $58,000 annually or $27 per hour.
Lead electricians coordinate the daily operation of the electrician's shop. They are responsible for leading and coordinating the work of electrician positions in installing, maintaining, repair, and removing electrical systems. They also lay out and estimate the cost of construction projects and electrical maintenance work related to electrical.
In terms of academic qualifications, lead electricians hold a high school diploma or its equivalent. Although, earning a higher degree may prove advantageous in the long run. They are expected to have some years of experience as an electrician. Some states require that lead electricians have a valid driver's license to practice.
Lead Electrician Overview
Lead Electrician Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lead electrician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.79 an hour? That's $53,643 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 74,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Lead Electrician Do
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a lead electrician, we found that a lot of resumes listed 29.1% of lead electricians included electrical systems, while 10.1% of resumes included hand tools, and 6.9% of resumes included emt. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the lead electrician job title. But what industry to start with? Most lead electricians actually find jobs in the construction and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Lead Electrician
If you're interested in becoming a lead electrician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 9.0% of lead electricians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.1% of lead electricians have master's degrees. Even though some lead electricians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a lead electrician. When we researched the most common majors for a lead electrician, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on lead electrician resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a lead electrician. In fact, many lead electrician jobs require experience in a role such as electrician. Meanwhile, many lead electricians also have previous career experience in roles such as journeyman electrician or apprentice electrician.
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Lead Electrician Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a lead electrician can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as owner, progress to a title such as facilities manager and then eventually end up with the title director of facilities.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Lead Electrician
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
King County Washington Electrician I-Lead (T2C : JCC L46-Electricians) Electrician I-Lead (T2C : JCC L46-Electricians) | King County Washington King County Washington | 01/23/2021 01/23/2021 | $75,31701/23/2021 $75,317 |
Southern California Gas Company Lead Electrician-Storage Lead Electrician-Storage | Southern California Gas Company Southern California Gas Company | 11/25/2020 11/25/2020 | $99,52911/25/2020 $99,529 |
Graphic Packaging Electrician Lead) Electrician Lead) | Graphic Packaging Graphic Packaging | 10/04/2020 10/04/2020 | $64,48810/04/2020 $64,488 |
CCS Construction Staffing Lead Electrician Lead Electrician | CCS Construction Staffing CCS Construction Staffing | 09/09/2020 09/09/2020 | $48,00109/09/2020 $48,001 |
CCS Construction Staffing Lead Electrician Lead Electrician | CCS Construction Staffing CCS Construction Staffing | 08/07/2020 08/07/2020 | $48,00108/07/2020 $48,001 |
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Lead Electrician Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Lead Electrician. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Lead Electrician Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Lead Electrician resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Lead Electrician
- Electrical Systems, 29.1%
- Hand Tools, 10.1%
- EMT, 6.9%
- PLC, 6.0%
- High Voltage, 3.9%
- Other Skills, 44.0% See All Lead Electrician Skills
Best States For a Lead Electrician
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a lead electrician. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Washington, Minnesota, and Hawaii. Lead electricians make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $82,057. Whereas in Washington and Minnesota, they would average $73,465 and $70,742, respectively. While lead electricians would only make an average of $69,840 in Hawaii, 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. Alaska
$82,057
Avg. Salary
2. Wyoming
$68,165
Avg. Salary
3. Montana
$65,897
Avg. Salary