How to become a pile driver or drilling machine operator

Official title: Pile driver/drilling machine operator

Also called: Crawler drill operator, Jet grouting machine operator, Pile drilling machine operator, Pile-driver operator, Piling machine operator, Ÿ Piling machine operator

Pile driver/drilling machine operator operates a power-driven machine equipped with a power hammer or drop-hammer to drive wooden, concrete or steel piles into dry ground or the bottom of a body of water. He/she hoists the pile and lowers it into position for driving, manipulates controls to operate the hammer, makes adjustments to the hoisting engine and hammer and assists in maintaining the machine.

Main tasks

• Operating and monitoring machines for hammering wooden, concrete or steel piles into the ground

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Excavating/Trench digging machine operator
• Dredge operator
• Tunnelling machine operator

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Questions people ask

Will AI change the work of a pile driver or drilling machine operator?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026