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

What is a shipping lead and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a shipping lead. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.6 an hour? That's $38,691 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -38,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreShipping LeadUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,691

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.74%

Asian 7.36%

Black or African American 10.68%

Hispanic or Latino 21.18%

Unknown 4.20%

White 55.83%

Gender

female 21.48%

male 78.52%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a shipping lead

Explore shipping lead education requirements

Most common shipping lead degrees

High School Diploma

44.8 %

Associate

21.5 %

Bachelor's

18.9 %

Start to develop specific shipping lead skills

Skills	Percentages
Shipping Receiving	12.13%
Logistics	11.75%
Safety Procedures	9.43%
RF	5.28%
Inventory Control	4.74%

Complete relevant shipping lead training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New shipping 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 shipping lead based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real shipping lead resumes.

Research shipping lead duties and responsibilities

Manage international shipping - coordinate documentation, commercial invoices, letters of credit, NAFTA, certificates of origin.
Maintain compliance with company policies, safety standards, good housekeeping practices, ISO, OSHA, and other government regulations.
Used FedEx, WorldShip, Endicia, and DHL to ship worldwide.
Maintain hazmat records as necessary.

Get shipping lead experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a shipping lead. The most common roles before becoming a shipping lead include forklift operator, material handler team lead and cashier.

Prepare your shipping lead resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your shipping 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 shipping 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 shipping lead resume templates

Build a professional shipping 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 shipping lead resume.