Free Physical Therapist Job Description Templates
Free physical therapist job description templates: outpatient, PTA, pediatric, sports, and home health. Download as DOCX and customize for your clinic.
Physical Therapist Job Description Templates
5 free templates by setting. Download as DOCX or copy-paste.
A physical therapist (PT) evaluates patients, builds treatment plans, and delivers the hands-on care that restores movement and reduces pain. Below are five free job description templates for the role, plus the licensing, pay, and wording guidance to finish them. If I were hiring a PT for a small clinic, this posting is where I would take the most care.
For a private practice, an outpatient clinic, or a home health agency, the PT is the central clinical hire, and a tough one to fill in a market where qualified PTs are in short supply. The job description you write sets the scope, screens for the right credentials, and doubles as a recruiting pitch in a competitive field.
At FirstHR, we build for small clinics and practices where the owner or clinical director handles hiring and onboarding directly. The templates cover the most common versions of the role by setting: outpatient, physical therapist assistant, pediatric, sports and orthopedic, and home health. Fill in the bracketed fields, adjust to match your clinic, and post.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template that matches your setting and the role you are filling. The core structure is the same across all five, but each one emphasizes the clinical scope, credentials, and language that fit a specific kind of physical therapy role. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Physical Therapist Job Description Templates
Download all five as separate Word files in one ZIP, or copy individual templates. Each one covers the job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications and licensing, compensation, and how to apply, and Template 1 adds a clinic overview. Fill in the brackets before you post.
Template 1: Outpatient Physical Therapist
The standard, all-purpose version for any private or outpatient clinic. Evaluates patients, develops treatment plans, and delivers hands-on care, with full licensing requirements. Start here if the role fits a general clinic setting.
Template 2: Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA)
For hiring an assistant who delivers treatment under a supervising PT. Associate degree, a PTA license or certification, and an explicit supervision relationship. Use this when you need clinical support beneath your physical therapists.
Template 3: Pediatric Physical Therapist
For clinics treating infants, children, and adolescents. Adds developmental assessment, IEP collaboration, family-centered care, and play-based techniques. Use this for a pediatric or developmental practice.
Template 4: Sports / Orthopedic Physical Therapist
For sports and orthopedic clinics. Adds musculoskeletal focus, return-to-play protocols, manual therapy, biomechanical analysis, and OCS or SCS certification as a plus. Use this for an athletics-focused practice.
Template 5: Home Health Physical Therapist
For home health agencies. Adds in-home visits, a driver's license and transportation, geriatric focus, assistive devices, and plan-of-care compliance. Use this for a role delivering care in patients' homes.
What Is a Physical Therapist?
A physical therapist (PT) is a licensed clinician who helps patients restore movement, manage pain, and recover function after injury, surgery, or illness. The role centers on evaluating patients, diagnosing movement problems, designing individualized treatment plans, and delivering hands-on care. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, every state requires a PT license, and new PTs need a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree.
The work varies widely by setting. An outpatient PT treats a broad mix of orthopedic and post-surgical patients, a pediatric PT focuses on developmental care, a sports PT on return-to-play, and a home health PT delivers care in patients' homes. That is why the job description should describe the role for your specific setting rather than copy a generic one.
Physical Therapist Duties and Responsibilities
Physical therapist duties fall into four broad areas. A strong job description selects the specific responsibilities from each area that apply to your setting rather than listing every possible task. These are the responsibilities most often expected of the role.
For a specialized role, the duties shift toward the relevant focus, such as developmental care for pediatrics or in-home plans of care for home health.
What to Include in a Physical Therapist Job Description
Every strong physical therapist job description includes the same core sections: a clinic overview, a job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications and licensing, compensation, and how to apply. The templates above are built around them, and Template 1 shows the clinic overview. What makes each section work is concrete wording, so here is the difference between vague and specific bullets.
| Weak bullet | Strong bullet |
|---|---|
| Treat patients | Evaluate patients and develop individualized treatment plans |
| Provide therapy | Deliver therapeutic exercises, manual therapy, and modalities |
| Keep records | Document patient progress and outcomes in the EMR |
| Work with patients | Educate patients and families on home exercise programs |
| Must be qualified | DPT degree, current state license, and passing NPTE score |
Specific, clinically accurate duties attract qualified candidates and signal a serious employer. Keep the language neutral and inclusive too, since the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics.
Requirements and Licensing
Physical therapy is a licensed profession, so the requirements section is not optional boilerplate. It is the core filter for your applicants. A PT entering the field needs a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree and a state license, which requires passing the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE).
Beyond the core license, many clinics require current CPR or Basic Life Support (BLS) certification and value board certifications by specialty, such as OCS for orthopedics, SCS for sports, and PCS for pediatrics.
Before you post, also check whether the role qualifies as exempt from overtime. A full-time PT can be salaried and exempt under the learned professional exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), but only when paid at least $684 a week on a salary or fee basis (some states set a higher floor) and the primary duty requires advanced knowledge.
Review the Department of Labor professional exemption rules when you set pay, especially for per-visit home health arrangements.
Physical Therapist vs Physical Therapist Assistant
A physical therapist assistant extends a physical therapist's capacity by carrying out treatment plans, but only the physical therapist can evaluate patients and design those plans. The two roles are often confused, yet they also differ in credentials and pay. Knowing the difference helps you hire at the right level and write a compliant job description, since supervision requirements are set by state law.
| Physical Therapist (PT) | PT Assistant (PTA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Education | Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Associate degree (accredited) |
| Scope | Evaluates and creates treatment plans | Delivers treatment under PT supervision |
| License | State PT license + NPTE | State PTA license or certification + NPTE for PTAs |
| Median pay (BLS, May 2025) | $102,760 | $68,380 |
When you hire a PTA, make the supervision relationship explicit so the scope is clear and compliant from day one.
Physical Therapist Salary
Physical therapists are among the higher-paid clinical roles in a small practice. Set your range using government data as a baseline, then adjust for setting, specialty, location, and experience.
Always publish a salary range. Physical therapists are in short supply, so a competitive range and benefits that matter to clinicians, like continuing education support and a manageable caseload, help your posting compete. Pay ranges are also required in a growing number of states. For per-visit home health roles, state the per-visit rate and mileage clearly.
How to Write a Physical Therapist Job Description
A strong physical therapist job description is quick to write if you follow a clear structure. Here is the process the templates are built around.
Hiring a Physical Therapist for a Small Clinic
A large hospital system has recruiters, credentialing staff, and clinical educators. A small private practice or outpatient clinic does not. The owner or clinical director writes the posting, verifies licenses, and onboards the new clinician directly, often while still treating their own patients. Here is how to write the posting for that reality.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same document becomes the basis for the offer and onboarding. Clinical onboarding has extra steps that a general role does not, since a PT should not see patients until credentials are verified and compliance training is complete.
A structured onboarding gets a new clinician seeing patients safely and confidently, which matters in a small clinic where every hire counts and credentialing cannot be skipped. FirstHR connects the offer, document storage, e-signatures, and onboarding workflow in one place so a small clinic can manage the full process from one system.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a physical therapist do?
A physical therapist evaluates patients, diagnoses movement problems, and develops and delivers treatment plans to restore function, improve mobility, and reduce pain. Day to day, that means assessing each patient's condition, building an individualized plan, delivering therapeutic exercises, manual therapy, and modalities, tracking progress in the medical record, and educating patients and families on home programs. PTs work with people recovering from injury, surgery, or chronic conditions across settings like outpatient clinics, pediatrics, sports and orthopedics, and home health. In a small clinic, the PT also collaborates with physicians and may supervise physical therapist assistants.
What are the duties and responsibilities of a physical therapist?
A physical therapist's responsibilities group into four areas. The first is evaluation and planning: assessing each patient and writing an individualized treatment plan with measurable goals. The second is treatment, meaning therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, and modalities, with the plan adjusted as the patient progresses. The third is documentation and compliance, which covers progress notes in the electronic medical record (EMR) and the clinical and billing requirements a clinic has to meet. The fourth is collaboration with physicians, care teams, patients, and families, plus supervising physical therapist assistants (PTAs) where that applies. The weighting changes with the setting: pediatric work centers on development and families, sports work on getting athletes back to play, and home health on plans of care delivered at home.
What qualifications does a physical therapist need?
A new physical therapist needs three credentials: a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), a passing score on the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), and a state license. The license is mandatory in every state, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and earning it includes passing a qualifying exam. Many clinics also require current CPR or Basic Life Support certification. For specialty roles, board certification is a plus: the PCS in pediatrics, the OCS in orthopedics, and the SCS in sports. List the degree, the license, and the exam as firm requirements in your posting, since they are mandatory and screen out unqualified applicants from the start.
What is the difference between a physical therapist and a physical therapist assistant?
The main difference is scope. A physical therapist (PT) assesses patients, diagnoses movement problems, and sets the treatment plan, while a physical therapist assistant (PTA) carries out that plan under a PT's direction and supervision and does not evaluate patients or write plans on their own. Their education differs as well: new PTs need a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, while a PTA completes an associate degree from an accredited program. Every state requires PTs to be licensed and PTAs to be licensed or certified, and each role takes its own version of the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE). Because state law sets the scope of practice and the supervision rules, a PTA posting should name who supervises the assistant. Pick the PT or PTA template to match the hire.
How much does a physical therapist make?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), physical therapists earned a median annual wage of $102,760. The bottom tenth earned less than $77,140 and the top tenth more than $135,140, while physical therapist assistants had a median of $68,380. Actual pay depends on setting, location, experience, and specialty. Demand is strong: BLS projects employment of physical therapists to rise 12 percent between 2025 and 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with roughly 13,400 openings a year. Because PTs are in short supply, a competitive salary range and benefits like support for continuing education units (CEUs) help your posting stand out.
Do I need a license to hire a physical therapist?
The clinician needs the license, not you as the employer, but verifying it is your responsibility. Every physical therapist needs a current license, and earning one takes a DPT degree, a passing NPTE score, and meeting state requirements. In states that belong to the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact, a PT licensed in another member state can practice under a compact privilege instead of a local license. As the employer, you should confirm the license or privilege is active and in good standing before the PT treats patients, and keep documentation on file. The same applies to PTAs, who hold their own license or certification. Make a current license a stated requirement in the job description, and verify credentials during onboarding before the first patient visit.
What happens after I hire a physical therapist?
Once a PT says yes, the job description you posted shapes both the written offer and the onboarding plan. A clinical hire needs extra steps before the first patient. Check and file proof of the state license, a passing NPTE score, and current CPR or Basic Life Support certification. Run HIPAA and compliance training, set up access to your electronic medical record system, and walk the new PT through how your clinic documents and bills its care. Gather the signed paperwork too, including the PT's acknowledgment of clinic policies. A structured start lets a new clinician treat patients safely and with confidence, and a small clinic has little room for a hire that goes wrong. FirstHR handles the offer, document storage, e-signatures, and onboarding workflow in one place.