How To Become A Job Captain: What It Is and Career Path

What is a job captain and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

As a job captain, you might not get to hear people say "Aye, aye, Captain" when you're on the job. Nevertheless, working as a job captain can be very rewarding, particularly if you like the idea of overseeing an architectural or building project from beginning to end.

In this position, your primary task will be to ensure that a building project keeps moving and is on schedule. Some of the tasks you'll be expected to oversee include design deliverables, construction documentation, construction administration tasks, and other daily maintenance duties.

If you want to be a successful job captain, you'll need to have a thorough understanding of how a building is put together and be good at keeping track of a wide range of details. You'll also be expected to produce, manage, and coordinate construction documentation.

To get into this field, you'll typically need a Bachelor's degree in drafting or architecture. If you want to stand out, even more, consider getting a Master's degree and architecture licensure.

ScoreJob CaptainUS Average

Salary

5.6

Avg. Salary $71,047

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.2

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.32%

Asian 14.53%

Black or African American 2.42%

Hispanic or Latino 12.67%

Unknown 4.00%

White 66.06%

Gender

female 20.79%

male 79.21%

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

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a job captain

Explore job captain education requirements

Most common job captain degrees

Bachelor's

65.6 %

Associate

16.2 %

Master's

14.2 %

Start to develop specific job captain skills

Skills	Percentages
Revit	26.03%
Autocad	13.96%
Design Development	5.80%
Construction Administration	5.70%
CAD	4.15%

Complete relevant job captain training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New job captains 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 job captain based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real job captain resumes.

Research job captain duties and responsibilities

Manage complex implementations for medium to large healthcare organizations that directly impact patient care, revenue stream and regulatory compliance.
Provide and support creation of contract documents using Revit and AutoCAD for each project.
Perform design development in Revit.
Coordinate all documentation associate with construction, RFI s, change orders and document submissions.

Prepare your job captain resume

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

Choose From 10+ Customizable Job Captain Resume templates

Build a professional Job Captain 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 Job Captain resume.

Apply for job captain jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a job captain job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do job captains rate their job?