Labor and Delivery Nurse Job Description Template
Free labor and delivery nurse job description templates: hospital, charge, birth center, travel, and postpartum. Download 5 as one DOCX.
Labor and Delivery Nurse Job Description Templates
5 free templates by setting. Download as DOCX or copy-paste.
A labor and delivery nurse is there for one of the most important moments in a family's life, monitoring mother and baby, supporting the birth, and providing the calm, skilled care that a delivery demands. Most L&D nursing happens in hospital maternity units, but a real and growing slice of maternity care sits in smaller settings: freestanding birth centers, midwifery practices, and OB/GYN practices. The job description should reflect the setting, because the nurse who fits a busy hospital floor is not always the one who fits a calm birth center.
At FirstHR, we build for the smaller care operators, birth centers, midwifery practices, and clinics, that hire and onboard directly without an HR department. The five templates below cover the role by setting: hospital L&D, charge or lead, birth center or small practice, travel, and postpartum or mother-baby. Fill in the brackets and post. For the broader nursing role, the nurse job description templates cover RN, LPN, and NP versions, and the guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals.
What Does a Labor and Delivery Nurse Do?
A labor and delivery nurse cares for mothers and newborns through labor, delivery, and immediate recovery, monitoring vital signs and fetal heart rate, assessing labor progress, administering medications, assisting the care team during delivery, and supporting families. L&D nurses are registered nurses (SOC 29-1141), and the recognized task profile is detailed in the O*NET profile for registered nurses.
For the employer writing the posting, the key point is that the work depends on the setting. A hospital L&D nurse works a busy maternity unit; a birth center RN supports low-risk births alongside midwives; a postpartum nurse focuses on recovery and education. The five templates on this page split by setting so the posting matches the actual job.
Labor and Delivery Nurse Duties and Responsibilities
L&D nurse duties center on four areas: monitoring and assessment, labor and delivery care, newborn and postpartum care, and support and documentation. The setting shifts the emphasis, a hospital floor versus a birth center versus a postpartum unit, but these four categories hold across the role. These are the duties grouped the way the templates use them.
A strong posting grounds these in your specifics: the setting, the birth volume, the certifications you require, and the shift and on-call pattern. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by your setting and the role. All five share the same skeleton, but each emphasizes the responsibilities and qualifications that fit a specific kind of L&D role. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Labor and Delivery Nurse Job Description Templates
Download all five as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: facility overview, job summary, key responsibilities, skills and qualifications, and compensation, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets, especially the license, certification, and shift fields, before you post.
Template 1: Labor and Delivery Nurse (Hospital)
The universal version: monitoring, labor support, delivery assistance, and newborn care in a hospital L&D unit. Start here for a standard L&D nurse role.
Template 2: Charge / Lead L&D Nurse
For a senior nurse leading the unit during the shift. Adds staff assignment, patient-flow management, complex-case support, and serving as the clinical resource.
Template 3: Birth Center / Small Practice L&D Nurse
For a freestanding birth center or midwifery practice. Low-risk births alongside midwives, relationship-centered care, and a small-team setting.
Template 4: Travel L&D Nurse
For a travel-contract role. Adds fast ramp-up, independence, compact licensure, and stipend and assignment-length fields for an experienced L&D nurse.
Template 5: Postpartum / Mother-Baby Nurse
For the recovery side of maternity care. Postpartum recovery, newborn assessments, breastfeeding and newborn-care education, and safe discharge.
Skills, Licenses, and Certifications
L&D nursing is a licensed clinical role, so the posting must state the license and certifications precisely. List what the role genuinely requires, and keep advanced credentials as preferred.
| Type | What to require |
|---|---|
| License | Active RN license in good standing (state board verified) |
| Certifications | BLS and NRP required; ACLS by unit |
| Competency | Electronic fetal monitoring |
| Preferred | BSN, RNC-OB specialty certification |
RN licensure is verified through the state board of nursing, and the NCSBN licensure resources explain how nurse licensure works across states, including the compact license relevant to travel roles. The specialty standards for obstetric nursing are maintained by professional bodies such as AWHONN, and the SHRM guide to writing a job description covers the standard sections. Keep the language neutral and inclusive, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics.
L&D vs Postpartum vs Midwife
The three maternity roles sit at different points of the birth journey, and matching the title to the real need prevents a mis-hire. Here is how they differ.
| Role | Focus | License |
|---|---|---|
| L&D nurse | Labor, delivery, immediate recovery | RN |
| Postpartum / mother-baby nurse | Recovery, newborn care, education | RN |
| Certified nurse-midwife | Can lead low-risk care and delivery | APRN (advanced practice) |
The L&D and postpartum nurses support the birth and recovery; the midwife, an advanced practice registered nurse, can lead the care, particularly in birth centers. Be clear which role you are hiring, since the license, scope, and pay differ. For lower-acuity or clinic settings, the LPN job description templates cover the licensed practical nurse variant.
How to Write a Labor and Delivery Nurse Job Description
A strong L&D nurse posting takes about fifteen minutes once you settle the setting, the role, the certifications, and the shift. Here is the process the templates are built around. If you are a small center building out your team, the small business hiring guide covers the steps around the posting.
Labor and Delivery Nurse Pay
L&D nurses are registered nurses, and pay follows the RN market with a specialty premium and meaningful shift differentials. The federal data gives a solid anchor.
L&D and other specialty nurses often earn toward the higher end, and night, weekend, and on-call differentials plus travel stipends add to the base. Hospitals generally pay more than birth centers, and travel assignments pay a premium. These are the most recent confirmed federal estimates.
| Setting / role | Pay tendency | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Birth center / small practice | Lower base, lifestyle draw | Relationship-centered |
| Hospital L&D | Around to above the RN median | Plus differentials |
| Charge / lead | Higher end | Leadership premium |
| Travel L&D | Premium weekly + stipends | Contract flexibility |
For setting pay, anchor on the federal RN figure, adjust for your region, setting, and shift, spell out the differentials, and state an honest range, since a growing number of states require one and experienced nurses skip postings without numbers.
Hiring an L&D Nurse at a Birth Center or Small Practice
A hospital hires L&D nurses through a recruiting team and a structured ladder. A freestanding birth center, a midwifery practice, or a small OB practice makes the hire directly, where the clinical director or owner has to match the setting, set the pay, and handle the license verification and onboarding. Here is how to do it well.
After You Hire: Onboarding an L&D Nurse
L&D nurse onboarding should put license verification and the unit ramp-up first, because a nurse cannot provide patient care until the license and certifications are confirmed. The basics come first: verify the RN license on the state board, confirm BLS, NRP, and any unit-specific certifications, run the background checks and health screenings your setting requires, then collect the offer letter, I-9, W-4, new-hire reporting, and policy acknowledgements. After the paperwork comes the unit onboarding: orientation to your protocols and EHR, electronic fetal monitoring expectations, and supervised shifts before independent assignment. For the broader flow, the new hire paperwork guide covers the documents and the healthcare onboarding guide covers the clinical-setting specifics.
The documents around the hire follow the usual sequence: the offer letter template for the terms and differentials, and the onboarding checklist template for the first days of license verification, protocol orientation, and supervised shifts.
FirstHR fits this directly: e-signature for the offer and acknowledgements, an AI onboarding wizard that turns this very job description into a role-specific onboarding plan, document management for licenses and certifications with renewal reminders, training modules for your protocols, an HRIS with an org chart for your center, and a self-service portal. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR; today the platform handles onboarding and document tracking once the candidate signs, which helps a small center or practice bring on a clinical hire cleanly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a labor and delivery nurse do?
A labor and delivery (L&D) nurse cares for mothers and newborns through labor, delivery, and immediate recovery. Core responsibilities include monitoring the mother and baby's vital signs and fetal heart rate, assessing labor progress and recognizing complications early, administering medications and pain relief per orders, assisting physicians and midwives during delivery, supporting C-sections and labor-inducing procedures, providing immediate newborn care, and educating and emotionally supporting families. The L&D nurse documents care in the EHR and works as part of the maternity care team. The exact scope varies by setting: a hospital L&D nurse works a busy maternity unit, a birth center RN supports low-risk births alongside midwives, and a postpartum or mother-baby nurse focuses on recovery and family education. The templates on this page cover these common variations.
What should a labor and delivery nurse job description include?
A strong L&D nurse job description includes a facility summary, the unit and setting, a job summary, 8 to 10 specific responsibilities, the licensing and certification requirements, the shift and on-call schedule, the hourly pay range with differentials, and how to apply. Because this is a licensed clinical role, the most important details are the active RN license requirement, the certifications (BLS and NRP at minimum, often RNC-OB preferred), the electronic fetal monitoring competency, and the experience level or whether you offer a new-grad track. State the setting clearly, since a hospital unit, a birth center, and a postpartum unit are different jobs. Separate true requirements from preferred items like a BSN or specialty certification so you do not screen out capable candidates. Add an honest pay range with differentials and an equal opportunity statement. The five templates here each match a common setting and role.
What licenses and certifications does a labor and delivery nurse need?
An L&D nurse must hold an active RN license in good standing in the state of practice, verified through the state board of nursing. Beyond the license, the standard certifications are BLS (Basic Life Support) and NRP (Neonatal Resuscitation Program), with ACLS sometimes required depending on the unit. Electronic fetal monitoring competency is essential, since interpreting fetal heart-rate patterns is core to the role. For experienced nurses, the RNC-OB (inpatient obstetric nursing) certification is a recognized specialty credential worth listing as preferred. A BSN is increasingly preferred, though many L&D nurses practice with an ADN plus experience. When writing the posting, require the RN license, BLS, and NRP, and list the BSN and RNC-OB as preferred, since requiring every credential up front narrows your candidate pool in a competitive nursing market.
What is the difference between an L&D nurse, a postpartum nurse, and a midwife?
These three roles sit at different points of the birth journey. A labor and delivery (L&D) nurse cares for the mother and baby during labor, delivery, and immediate recovery, monitoring, supporting the birth, and assisting the care team. A postpartum or mother-baby nurse takes over after delivery, focusing on recovery, newborn care, breastfeeding and newborn-care education, and a safe discharge. A certified nurse-midwife (CNM) is an advanced practice registered nurse who can manage low-risk pregnancies and deliveries independently, including prenatal care, the delivery itself, and postpartum care, particularly in birth centers and midwifery practices. The L&D and postpartum nurses support the birth and recovery; the midwife can lead the care. When you write the posting, be clear which role you are hiring, since the license, scope, and pay differ significantly, especially for the advanced-practice midwife role.
Do small practices and birth centers hire L&D nurses?
Yes, though most L&D nursing is concentrated in hospital maternity units. The smaller settings that hire perinatal and L&D nurses are freestanding birth centers and midwifery practices, which support low-risk, out-of-hospital births and have grown steadily in recent years, along with OB/GYN practices that handle prenatal and postpartum care. These settings are typically midwife-led and often advertise for a birth center RN or perinatal nurse rather than a classic hospital L&D nurse, and the work is relationship-centered with lower volume than a hospital floor. If you are a birth center or small practice, the birth center template on this page is written for your setting, so you can post a role that reflects the calm, family-centered care that distinguishes you from a large hospital unit.
How much does a labor and delivery nurse make?
L&D nurses are registered nurses, and pay follows the RN market with a premium for the specialty and for shift differentials. Based on federal data from May 2024, registered nurses had a median annual wage of about $93,600, with the lowest ten percent earning under about $66,030 and the highest ten percent over about $135,320. L&D and other specialty nurses often earn toward the higher end, and night, weekend, and on-call differentials, plus travel-contract stipends, can add significantly to the base. Pay varies widely by region and setting, with hospitals generally paying more than birth centers, and travel assignments paying a premium for flexibility. For setting pay, anchor on the federal RN figure, adjust for your region, setting, and shift, spell out the differentials, and state an honest range, since a growing number of states require one and experienced nurses skip postings without numbers.
How do I write a birth center or travel L&D nurse job description?
Lead with the setting and what makes it distinct. For a birth center, state that the role supports low-risk births alongside midwives in a calm, relationship-centered setting, include the on-call rotation and the close family contact, and frame the work as relationship-centered care rather than high-volume hospital nursing, since that is what draws nurses to birth centers. For a travel role, lead with the assignment: the length, the location, the weekly pay and stipends, the fast ramp-up expectation, and the compact or state licensure required, since travel nurses screen on contract terms first. In both cases, state the RN license and BLS/NRP requirements clearly. The birth center and travel templates on this page are written for these cases, so you can start from the right one rather than editing a hospital description to fit.
What happens after I hire a labor and delivery nurse?
The signed offer starts a verification and onboarding sequence that gates the start date, because a nurse cannot provide patient care until the license and certifications are confirmed. Verify the RN license on the state board of nursing, confirm BLS, NRP, and any unit-specific certifications, and run the background checks and health screenings your setting requires. Collect the offer letter, I-9, W-4, state new-hire reporting, and policy acknowledgements. Then onboard to the unit: orientation to your protocols and EHR, electronic fetal monitoring expectations, and supervised shifts before independent assignment. FirstHR fits this directly: e-signature for the offer and acknowledgements, an AI onboarding wizard that turns the job description into a role-specific onboarding plan, document management for licenses and certifications with renewal reminders, training modules for your protocols, an HRIS with an org chart, and a self-service portal. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR; today the platform handles onboarding and document tracking once the candidate signs, which helps a small center or practice bring on a clinical hire cleanly.