Lineman Job Description: Duties, Requirements, Template & Pay (2026)
A lineman builds and maintains the electrical distribution and transmission system — energised, at height, in weather, and on call when the lights go out. It is the best-paid trade in this library at a $95,320 median, one of the fastest-growing, and one of the few where the apprenticeship is the whole hiring strategy. This page has a lineman job description template you can copy, what the role pays by employer type, and what a posting has to say to reach a journeyman.
Power or telecom? They are different jobs and different money
"Lineman" covers two occupations that BLS separates, and the pay gap is large enough that a vague posting wastes everybody's time.
Electrical power-line installers and repairers — 131,900 people, a median of $95,320, 10% projected growth. High voltage, energised work, transmission and distribution, storm restoration.
Telecommunications line installers and repairers — a median of $66,200. Fibre and copper, aerial and underground, service and installation.
That is a $29,000 difference at the median. A posting titled "Lineman" with no further detail reads to a power lineman as a telecom job and to a telecom tech as out of reach. Put it in the title: "Journeyman Lineman — Distribution" or "Telecom Line Technician — Fiber".
The second thing to name is the classification. Apprentice, groundman, journeyman and foreman are distinct roles with distinct pay and distinct requirements, and in this trade the classification is how candidates self-identify. Say which one you are hiring.
What a lineman does
Builds. Setting poles and anchors, framing, stringing and sagging conductor, installing transformers, reclosers, switches, capacitors and services, and terminating underground cable in vaults and pad-mounted gear.
Maintains and restores. Patrolling and inspecting line, changing out failed equipment, clearing faults, and restoring service after storms — which BLS notes can mean travelling to affected areas and working long hours for several days in a row.
Works energised or clearanced. Rubber gloving, hot sticks, live-line work and the switching, tagging and grounding procedure that makes de-energised work safe. This is where the job's competence and its consequence both live.
Climbs and operates. Climbing with hooks, working from a bucket, and operating digger derricks, bucket trucks and pullers.
Keeps everyone alive. BLS is blunt about the hazards: high-voltage electricity, often at great height, with electrocution from live cables as the central risk, mitigated by insulated protective devices and tools and by fall protection. A posting that treats safety as a bullet point at the bottom tells an experienced lineman something about the company.
Lineman job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and delete what does not apply. It is written for a journeyman distribution lineman; the customization section covers apprentices and groundmen, transmission, utility versus contractor work, substation and telecom.
Job title
[Journeyman / Apprentice] Lineman — [Distribution / Transmission / Substation], [Company name], [Service area, ST]
Summary
[Company name] is hiring a [classification] lineman for our [service area]. The work is [overhead distribution / underground / transmission] on a [utility / contractor] crew of [0], reporting to a [foreman / general foreman]. Schedule is [pattern], [00] hours, with [on-call one week in [0] and storm callouts, paid at [overtime / double time]]. Pay is [$00.00–$00.00] an hour [per the [IBEW Local 000] agreement / plus shift and standby pay], with [per diem of [$000] a day for out-of-town work]. [We supply all tools, PPE, FR clothing and the truck.]
Responsibilities
- Build and maintain overhead and underground distribution: poles, anchors, framing, conductor, services
- Install, change out and troubleshoot transformers, switches, reclosers, regulators and capacitors
- Perform energised work using approved methods [rubber gloving, hot stick] within your classification
- Apply switching, tagging, clearance and grounding procedures exactly, every time
- Climb using hooks and work safely from a bucket at height and in adverse weather
- Operate digger derricks, bucket trucks, pullers and associated equipment
- Locate and clear faults; restore service safely and promptly
- Respond to storm and emergency callouts, including travel and extended shifts
- Complete accurate work records, switching orders and materials reporting
- Hold the safety standard on the crew: briefings, PPE, cover-up and speaking up
Requirements
- [Completed lineman apprenticeship and journeyman status / [00] years as a groundman or apprentice]
- Valid [CDL Class A] driver's licence [or ability to obtain within [00] days — we pay]
- Able to climb, work at height, lift [50] lbs and work outdoors in all weather
- Able to participate in the on-call rotation and respond to storm work with travel
- Able to pass a background check, [DOT physical] and [drug screen]
- Commitment to the safety procedures that make energised work survivable
Preferred
- [IBEW] membership and [Local] transfer
- [Transmission, substation, underground or metering] experience
- CPR/first aid and pole-top and bucket rescue certification — we certify if not
- [Specific equipment or voltage class] experience
- Experience on [storm restoration or mutual aid] crews
Pay and benefits
- [$00.00–$00.00] an hour [per the collective agreement], with overtime after [40/8] and double time [Sundays and holidays]
- [Standby pay of [$000] a week and a [00]-hour minimum per callout]
- [Per diem of [$000] a day plus lodging for out-of-town and storm work]
- [All tools, FR clothing, PPE and truck provided], [boot allowance]
- [Health, dental and vision from day [00]], [pension or 401(k) with [00]% match], [PTO]
- [Paid apprenticeship progression and certification]
How to apply
[Apply here / text LINE to 00000 / call [name] at [number]]. We reply within [24] hours and you can talk to a foreman before you decide.
Requirements: what is required, what is preferred, and what costs you applicants
There are roughly 10,900 openings a year against 131,900 linemen, and demand is growing 10% over the decade. Every journeyman is employed and knows exactly what the market pays. A posting either speaks the trade's language or it is ignored.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Journeyman status | The genuine gate for a journeyman posting, and not one to soften. What is soft is everything around it: if you will take a fourth-step apprentice and top them out, say so, because that is a much larger pool. |
| Apprenticeship | BLS puts the typical path at long-term on-the-job training with apprenticeships commonly around three years. If you run or sponsor a programme, it is the single most valuable thing in your posting — name the length, the pay progression and the intake dates. Utilities that build their own are the ones that stay staffed. |
| CDL | Usually required and usually a real barrier. "Or obtain within 90 days, we pay" keeps good candidates in the process; a hard CDL gate removes groundmen who would otherwise progress. |
| Experience stated in years | Less useful than classification and voltage. "Journeyman with distribution rubber-gloving experience up to 15kV" is precise and checkable; "5+ years" is not. |
| Storm and travel | Disclose it fully — how often, how far, how long, and what it pays. Storm work is a major part of the money in this trade and a major part of the cost to family life. Linemen will judge a vague posting as hiding one or the other. |
| Union or non-union | Say it. It determines the pay scale, the progression and often whether a candidate can take the job at all. Naming the Local is a signal of seriousness. |
| Safety record | Not a candidate requirement but a company one. Experienced linemen ask about your incident record and your cover-up standards in the first interview. A posting that speaks credibly about safety practice, rather than listing 'safety-minded' as a trait, is doing real recruiting work. |
Lineman duties, written for a posting
Describe the system and the crew. Overhead or underground, distribution or transmission, voltage classes, crew size and composition, the service territory and how far the travel goes on a normal day. A lineman reads those and knows whether the work is what they do.
Be specific about energised work. Whether the crew rubber-gloves, works hot stick, or works clearanced only, is a fundamental description of the job and of the company's risk posture. Say it plainly.
Keep the list to nine or ten lines, order it by how much of the year each takes, and give storm response and the safety procedures their own lines. Do not bury the on-call rotation in the benefits section.
How to customize it by employer and classification
Investor-owned and municipal utilities
Your advantages are pay, benefits, a pension in many cases, and a defined territory. Utilities pay a $103,060 median and local government $90,060. Say the scale, the progression and the retirement benefit early — they are what pull linemen off contractor crews.
Line contractors
Higher hours, more travel, often higher gross pay, and more variety. Be explicit about the travel and the per diem, because that is the trade-off candidates are weighing. Specialty trade contractors run a $76,980 median and utility system construction $76,060, so if your gross is higher because of hours, say how many hours.
Apprentices and groundmen
This is the pipeline and it deserves its own posting. Say the entry requirements, the length, the pay steps, whether climbing school is provided, and what topping out is worth. Be honest about the physical demands and the washout rate — candidates respect it and it improves the ones who apply.
Transmission
Higher voltage, more travel, structure work, often extended rotations. Name the voltage classes and the rotation pattern. This is a distinct workforce that plans its year around projects.
Substation and metering
Related but different: relays, breakers, transformers, testing and commissioning. If that is the job, title it that way rather than calling it a lineman role.
Telecom line work
A different occupation at a $66,200 median. Fibre splicing, aerial and underground placement, service work. Title it clearly as telecom — using "lineman" unqualified for a telecom role attracts power linemen who will decline once they see the rate, and costs you the telecom candidates who never saw the ad.
What it costs to reach linemen on social
Skilled trades are among the more expensive audiences we buy. In our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark the skilled trades role family — 35 campaigns — ran a median cost per applicant of $14.14, a middle half of $7.58 to $21.49, a blended figure of $10.74, a 15% apply rate and a 1.07% click-through rate. The wider Skilled Trades and Field Service sector, 335 campaigns, ran an $11.89 median at 18%.
Line work is at the harder end of that range for a structural reason: the qualified population in any one service territory is tiny, and it is fully employed. Two consequences follow. The apply rate carries everything — across all 891 campaigns, under 10% conversion costs $53.77 an applicant and over 20% costs $4.41 — so the posting has to say the rate, the scale, the overtime and what you supply, not "competitive pay and great benefits". And frequency compounds fast in a small audience: past three impressions a month the median cost per applicant roughly doubles, which for a trade this size happens within weeks. Run continuously at a modest budget across a wide geography rather than hard against one county.
The other thing the data supports is recruiting for the apprenticeship rather than only the journeyman seat. Apprentice-level campaigns reach a far larger audience at a far lower cost, and the trade's own arithmetic — 10,900 openings a year, 10% growth, a three-year programme — says the utilities that will be staffed in five years are the ones running intakes now.
Hiring across the trades? See the electrician, equipment operator and crane operator job descriptions, and skilled trades recruiting for the hiring side.
Writing the ad version
The description is the document. The advertisement is read on a phone in a truck. It needs the classification, the rate and whose scale it is, the travel and storm expectation, and what you supply. Our campaign data puts the best-converting length at 201–400 words, and in this trade the shorter end works.
Four questions on the form: classification, distribution or transmission, CDL held, and start date. A journeyman who is asked for an employment history before a conversation will close the tab, and at this scarcity that tab is expensive.
What linemen earn, by employer
Electrical power-line installers and repairers had a median of $45.83 an hour, $95,320 a year in May 2025 — the highest of any role in this job description library. The employer spread is nearly $36,000 a year.
| Industry | Median annual pay (May 2025) |
|---|---|
| Federal government | $111,900 |
| Utilities | $103,060 |
| Local government (excluding education and hospitals) | $90,060 |
| Specialty trade contractors | $76,980 |
| Utility system construction | $76,060 |
That spread is the hiring map. A line contractor at $76,980 is competing for the same journeyman as a utility at $103,060, and it generally does so on hours, travel and variety rather than on base rate — which is exactly why the overtime and per diem arrangement has to be in the posting rather than in the offer call.
Employment is projected to grow 10% between 2025 and 2035 — much faster than average — with about 10,900 openings a year. Grid investment, electrification and an ageing workforce are all pushing the same direction, and the trade cannot expand faster than its apprenticeships can. Every utility and contractor is now competing for the same small number of journeymen, which means the ones who will be staffed in five years are the ones training apprentices today and saying so in their postings.
Frequently asked questions
What does a lineman do?
A lineman builds and maintains the electrical distribution and transmission system: setting poles and anchors, framing, stringing and sagging conductor, installing and changing out transformers, switches, reclosers and services, terminating underground cable, locating and clearing faults, and restoring service after storms. The work is done at height, in all weather, and frequently on energised equipment using approved methods.
How much do linemen make?
Electrical power-line installers and repairers had a median of $45.83 an hour, or $95,320 a year, in May 2025. By employer, federal government pays a median of $111,900, utilities $103,060, local government $90,060, specialty trade contractors $76,980 and utility system construction $76,060. Telecommunications line installers are a separate occupation at a $66,200 median.
What qualifications does a lineman need?
A high school diploma or equivalent plus long-term on-the-job training, usually through an apprenticeship of around three years. Most roles require a CDL, the ability to climb and work at height, and the capacity to pass a DOT physical. Journeyman status is the standard requirement for a fully qualified line position.
What is the difference between a power lineman and a telecom lineman?
They are separate occupations with a large pay gap. Electrical power-line installers work on high-voltage distribution and transmission at a $95,320 median; telecommunications line installers work on fibre and copper at a $66,200 median. A posting that says only "lineman" is read as the other one by both audiences, so the title should say which.
What should a lineman job description include?
The classification — apprentice, groundman, journeyman or foreman — whether the work is distribution, transmission or underground, the voltage classes, crew size, the service territory and normal travel, whether the crew works energised and by what method, the rate and whose scale it is on, the overtime, standby and storm arrangement with per diem, what tools and truck you supply, and the CDL position.
Is being a lineman a good career?
By the numbers it is the strongest trade in this library: a $95,320 median, 10% projected growth to 2035 and about 10,900 openings a year, with an apprenticeship rather than a degree as the entry route. It is also genuinely dangerous — BLS names high-voltage electricity and work at great height as the central hazards — and it involves on-call, storm travel and extended shifts away from home.
How long does it take to become a lineman?
Apprenticeships are common and typically run about three years, following a period as a groundman in many programmes. Because the trade cannot grow faster than its apprenticeships, employers that sponsor or run a programme — and say so in their postings, with the pay steps and intake dates — are the ones filling journeyman seats reliably five years later.
Why is it hard to hire linemen?
Because 10% growth on a base of 131,900 means roughly 10,900 openings a year chasing a workforce that is fully employed and knows its market rate precisely, and because the qualified population inside any one service territory is very small. Pay alone rarely settles it — contractors and utilities compete on hours, travel, per diem, equipment and safety culture, all of which belong in the posting.
Other job description templates
Hiring linemen?
The description is the document. Reaching a journeyman in a service territory that has very few of them is the job. That is what we run.
Pay, employment, outlook, apprenticeship and hazard information: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Line Installers and Repairers (May 2025 wage data, 2025–35 projections). Cost-per-applicant, apply-rate and frequency figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, 891 campaigns and 1,334 campaign-months.