How To Become A Lead Producer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lead producer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Johnathan Paul

A lead producer may work in different types of industries, such as food production, entertainment, and manufacturing. They serve as the main overseer and leader for the production team, which means they are responsible for supervising staff, developing strategies for workplace optimization, and ensuring that all team members are working up to par with company policies.

Moreover, lead producers are typically responsible for making sure that the production team follows legal compliance regulations. That said, they must be well-versed with the laws that are relevant to their industry, be it about food safety, industrial safety, and quality control.

The minimum requirement to become a lead producer is a high school diploma or GED, but completing a bachelor's or associate's degree in a relevant field can be a great advantage. Furthermore, many lead producers start as entry-level staff, which means that an adequate amount of experience is a general prerequisite for this role.

Lead producers spend most of their time on the production floor monitoring operational processes. They typically work a regular forty-hour-week schedule, and on average, earn about $40,000 a year, depending on their industry.

What general advice would you give to a lead producer?

Johnathan Paul

Adjunct Professor, University of North Texas

My number one piece of advice for soon-to-be or recent graduates is never to stop learning. I always strive to tell my students to be as diverse as possible. Don't just know one thing; in today's market, you need to know how to do several things. Diversify your tool palette. This will help you in the long run and may lead you to a career path you didn't realize existed.

ScoreLead ProducerUS Average

Salary

6.1

Avg. Salary $77,717

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.2

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 6.34%

Black or African American 7.83%

Hispanic or Latino 14.39%

Unknown 5.57%

White 65.71%

Gender

female 32.15%

male 67.85%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

9.2

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a lead producer

Explore lead producer education requirements

Most common lead producer degrees

Bachelor's

61.3 %

High School Diploma

13.5 %

Associate

13.4 %

Start to develop specific lead producer skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	28.19%
Food Safety	22.98%
Sales Floor	16.68%
Cleanliness	8.47%
Inventory Control	5.15%

Complete relevant lead producer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lead producers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a lead producer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lead producer resumes.

Research lead producer duties and responsibilities

Manage image and video assets for KCOY website using Worldnow CMS.
Manage the compression of a massive amount of high quality HD files for post.
Hire and manage production resources including producers, audio engineers, writers, and QA contractors.
Manage on air giveaways and daily advertising metrics

Get lead producer experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a lead producer. The most common roles before becoming a lead producer include producer, associate producer team lead and internship.

Prepare your lead producer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lead producer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a lead producer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable lead producer resume templates

Build a professional lead producer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your lead producer resume.