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

What is a material lead and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A material lead is responsible for overseeing tasks related to shipping, receiving, storing, and inspecting various materials, equipment, and supplies. They are in charge of maintaining records of all shipments and deliveries, as well as ensuring that all related tasks are done in compliance with the company's safety and quality standards.

Aside from the duties highlighted above, a material lead is also responsible for designing the stockroom layout, supervising employees, communicating with third parties such as vendors and couriers, as well as filling out all required forms. A big part of their job is also ensuring that all documentation and paperwork is complete.

The role of a material lead generally requires only a high school diploma or GED, but many material leads have a bachelor's degree in business, supply chain management, and other related fields. Aside from formal education, a material lead must also have adequate experience in stockroom management, logistics, and quality inspection.

Due to the heavy responsibilities of this role, a material lead is paid a handsome sum of $82,000 per year, which is about $40 per hour.

ScoreMaterial LeadUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $86,429

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.8

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.53%

Asian 6.97%

Black or African American 9.92%

Hispanic or Latino 16.65%

Unknown 4.93%

White 61.02%

Gender

female 26.06%

male 73.94%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

7.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.9

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a material lead

Explore material lead education requirements

Most common material lead degrees

Bachelor's

48.6 %

Associate

17.2 %

High School Diploma

14.3 %

Start to develop specific material lead skills

Skills	Percentages
Continuous Improvement	9.41%
Logistics	8.99%
Materials Management	5.58%
Lean Manufacturing	4.40%
Purchase Orders	4.28%

Complete relevant material lead training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New material leads 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 material lead based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real material lead resumes.

Research material lead duties and responsibilities

Manage materials MRP software systems set-up, sourcing, planning and layout for new product introduction of GACB.
Lead project to establish a Kanban system for hardware to a key station to reduce cycle time and increase efficiency.
Manage re-establishment of material management ERP system.
Manage all incoming domestic and overseas products including MRO and consignment materials.

Get material lead experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a material lead. The most common roles before becoming a material lead include material manager, purchasing manager team lead and material handler.

Prepare your material lead resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your material lead 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 material lead resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable material lead resume templates

Build a professional material lead 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 material lead resume.