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

What is a lead drafter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lead drafter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.85 an hour? That's $47,538 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -6,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreLead DrafterUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,538

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.3

Growth Rate -3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 7.02%

Black or African American 3.09%

Hispanic or Latino 11.66%

Unknown 5.20%

White 72.33%

Gender

female 16.44%

male 83.56%

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

4.3

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.9

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.0

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a lead drafter

Explore lead drafter education requirements

Most common lead drafter degrees

Associate

65.1 %

Bachelor's

22.6 %

High School Diploma

5.1 %

Start to develop specific lead drafter skills

Skills	Percentages
Construction Drawings	18.21%
Autocad	17.99%
Engineering Drawings	16.06%
Aided Design	14.26%
Product Line	9.68%

Complete relevant lead drafter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 4-10 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lead drafters 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 drafter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lead drafter resumes.

Research lead drafter duties and responsibilities

Lead and train a drafting team in order to transfer all hand drawn layouts to a digital copy using AutoCAD.
Maintain ECO's numbers and BOM's.
Create and revise BOM's as required per drawings and specifications.
Program and operate CNC routers, including maintenance and general care of the machine.

Get lead drafter experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a lead drafter. The most common roles before becoming a lead drafter include drafter, design drafter team lead and computer aided design designer.

Prepare your lead drafter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lead drafter 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 drafter 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 Drafter Resume templates

Build a professional Lead Drafter 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 Drafter resume.

Apply for lead drafter jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a lead drafter 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 lead drafters rate their job?