Free Radiation Therapist Job Description Templates
Free radiation therapist job description templates: staff, small clinic, hospital, entry-level, senior, and technologist, with FLSA guidance.
Radiation Therapist Job Description Templates
6 free templates by setting. Download as DOCX or copy-paste.
The radiation therapist job description carries more weight than most clinical postings, because the person you hire delivers radiation treatment to cancer patients and works with high-energy equipment and radioactive sources under strict safety rules. Whether you are a small freestanding radiation oncology center making a key clinical hire or a hospital department filling a staff role, the posting has to communicate the exact credentials, the setting, and a real safety mandate. The generic templates from the big job boards give you one thin block of duties that reads the same for a two-machine clinic and a large cancer center, and they gloss over the credentialing and FLSA details that matter most.
At FirstHR, we build for the practices behind those hires, including small and independent radiation oncology clinics that handle hiring without a dedicated HR department. The six templates below cover the real versions of the role: general staff therapist, small or independent clinic, hospital or health system, entry-level, senior or chief, and the synonym title radiation therapy technologist. Each carries the ARRT credential, the setting, and the non-exempt classification the role needs. Fill in the brackets and post. For the fundamentals behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description covers the basics.
What Does a Radiation Therapist Do?
A radiation therapist delivers prescribed radiation treatments to cancer patients, operating the linear accelerator, administering the dose, monitoring patients, and following strict radiation safety protocols as part of the oncology team. The O*NET profile for radiation therapists frames the core: positioning patients, calibrating and operating the machine, delivering the prescribed dose, and maintaining records while following radiation protection principles.
The defining feature for an employer is the credentialing and the title precision. The role is also called a radiation therapy technologist or radiation oncology technologist, all the same job, and it is distinct from a radiologic technologist who does diagnostic imaging and a medical dosimetrist who calculates dose. The setting also changes the job: a small clinic therapist wears many hats, while a hospital therapist works across multiple machines in a larger team. For adjacent clinical roles in a small practice, the medical assistant templates and the nurse job description templates cover those seats with the same structure.
Radiation Therapist Duties and Responsibilities
Radiation therapist duties center on treatment delivery, patient care, safety and compliance, and the records and teamwork that hold the oncology team together. The setting shifts the weights, a small clinic therapist carries a broad version while a hospital therapist is more specialized, but the four categories hold. These are the duties grouped the way the templates use them.
A strong posting selects the responsibilities from each area that match your setting rather than listing every possible task. Safety belongs near the center, not the bottom, because a radiation oncology role lives in radiation protection and dose accuracy. 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 setting and level. The clinical core, delivering prescribed treatment safely and accurately, runs through all six, but the setting and the level differ enough that the matched version always reads more credibly to a candidate. Use this guide to choose.
6 Free Radiation Therapist Job Description Templates
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: employer overview, job summary, key responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications, compensation, and how to apply, with the ARRT credential, state license, setting, and non-exempt classification as structured fields. Fill in the brackets and confirm the requirements for your setting before posting.
Template 1: General / Staff Radiation Therapist
The universal base for any employer: delivering prescribed treatments, operating the linear accelerator, patient care, records, and radiation safety, with the non-exempt classification built in.
Template 2: Small / Independent Radiation Oncology Clinic
The owned version: a hands-on, broad-role posting for a small freestanding center where the therapist works directly with the oncologist, physicist, and dosimetrist and helps keep the clinic compliant.
Template 3: Hospital / Health System Radiation Therapist
The high-volume version: a multidisciplinary department running multiple linear accelerators, with QA, accreditation, and advanced techniques like IMRT, IGRT, and SBRT.
Template 4: Entry-Level Radiation Therapist
The starter version: for a recent radiation therapy graduate or newly registered therapist working under senior guidance and growing into a full, independent role.
Template 5: Senior / Chief Radiation Therapist
The leadership version: leading and mentoring the therapist team, owning safety and quality standards, and serving as the senior clinical point alongside the oncologist and physicist.
Template 6: Radiation Therapy Technologist
The same role under an alternate title, with a note that it is not a rad tech or a dosimetrist. Use this when your posting needs to say technologist.
Radiation Therapist vs Rad Tech vs Dosimetrist
Before you post, settle which role you actually need, because radiation therapist, radiologic technologist, and medical dosimetrist are routinely confused and carry different credentials, work, and pay. Picking the right title keeps the posting accurate and the candidates relevant.
| Role | What they do | Credential |
|---|---|---|
| Radiation Therapist (RTT) | Deliver radiation treatment to cancer patients | ARRT in Radiation Therapy |
| Radiation Therapy Technologist | Same role, alternate title | ARRT in Radiation Therapy |
| Radiologic Technologist (rad tech) | Diagnostic imaging: X-ray, CT, MRI | ARRT in Radiography |
| Medical Dosimetrist | Calculate radiation dose and treatment plan | Dosimetry certification (CMD) |
Use radiation therapist or radiation therapy technologist when you need someone to deliver treatment. If the work is diagnostic imaging, you need a rad tech, and if it is dose calculation, you need a dosimetrist. Naming the role precisely in the posting prevents a flood of mismatched applicants and sets clear expectations.
Radiation Therapist Qualifications and Credentials to Include
Radiation therapist qualifications combine formal education with firm clinical credentials, which makes specificity essential: the posting either names the real degree, certification, and license requirements, or it draws candidates who cannot legally do the work. The difference shows in how the requirements are written.
| Vague requirement | Specific requirement |
|---|---|
| Degree in healthcare | Associate's or bachelor's degree in radiation therapy |
| Certification required | ARRT certification in Radiation Therapy (ARRT-RT) |
| License required | State license in radiologic technology where required |
| CPR certified | Current BLS / CPR certification |
| Technical skills | Experience with linear accelerator and [IMRT / IGRT / SBRT] |
Keep every requirement job-related and neutral, because the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that express a preference based on protected characteristics. State the credentials as firm requirements and ask for proof in the application, and the ARRT radiation therapy credential page explains the certification candidates must hold.
How to Write a Radiation Therapist Job Description
A strong radiation therapist posting takes about twenty minutes once you settle the setting, the credentials, and the classification. Here is the process the templates are built around. If you are building out a small clinical team, the small business hiring guide covers the steps around the posting itself.
Radiation Therapist Salary
Radiation therapist pay is high for an allied health role, and it varies by setting, region, experience, and shift. The federal data gives a useful anchor for setting a competitive range.
Many roles are paid hourly, which matters for overtime since many therapists are non-exempt. Pay runs higher in high-demand metropolitan areas and varies across hospitals, physician offices, and outpatient centers. For an employer setting the rate, anchor on local market pay for your setting, publish a range, and remember that because the role is often non-exempt, overtime adds to the true cost of the position. The limited number of openings each year means competition for credentialed therapists is real, so a competitive rate and a clear, credential-specific posting help you compete.
What Hiring a Radiation Therapist Takes
A large hospital hires radiation therapists through a recruiting team, with HR handling credentialing, classification, and onboarding. A small or independent radiation oncology center makes the same clinical hire with far less infrastructure, often with the practice manager or owner-physician writing the posting and onboarding the therapist personally. Here is how to write the posting, and plan the hire, for that reality.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one, and once a radiation therapist accepts, the same document becomes the basis for the offer and a thorough onboarding, because a clinical radiation role carries heavier credentialing and safety requirements than most hires. Start with the paperwork spine: the signed offer letter, the I-9 and W-4, and state new hire reporting, collected per the new hire paperwork guide. Then the clinical onboarding this role demands: verifying the ARRT credential and state license, a radiation safety orientation under ALARA principles, dosimetry badge issuance and monitoring, HIPAA training, BLS confirmation, and orientation to your specific linear accelerator and treatment systems.
Because this hire carries real regulatory weight, a missed license verification or safety step is a genuine liability for a small clinic. The documents around the hire follow the usual sequence: the offer letter template for the terms, and a structured onboarding template to turn the first weeks into a repeatable, compliant plan. FirstHR connects the HR side of it: e-signature for the offer letter and policy acknowledgments, document storage for ARRT certificates, state licenses, dosimetry records, and BLS cards, training modules to deliver and record radiation safety and HIPAA training, and a structured onboarding checklist, in one place built for clinics that hire without an HR department.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a radiation therapist do?
A radiation therapist delivers prescribed radiation treatments to cancer patients as part of the oncology team. Federal data describes the role as administering doses of radiation to patients who have cancer or other serious diseases. The work covers four areas: treatment delivery, including operating the linear accelerator and administering the prescribed dose accurately and safely; patient care, including positioning patients, verifying treatment setup, and monitoring patients during treatment; safety and compliance, including following radiation safety and ALARA principles and maintaining dosimetry badge monitoring; and records and teamwork, including maintaining accurate treatment records and working with the radiation oncologist, physicist, and dosimetrist. The role is also known as a radiation therapy technologist or radiation oncology technologist, which are alternate titles for the same job. It requires an associate's or bachelor's degree in radiation therapy, ARRT certification, and a state license in most states.
What should a radiation therapist job description include?
A strong radiation therapist job description includes a job summary, key responsibilities across treatment delivery, patient care, safety, and teamwork, required credentials, and compensation. Be precise about the title, since radiation therapist, radiologic technologist, and medical dosimetrist are three different jobs that get confused. State the credentials clearly: an associate's or bachelor's degree in radiation therapy, ARRT certification in radiation therapy, a state license where required, and current BLS or CPR certification. Specify the setting and equipment, since a small clinic and a large hospital department run differently. Include a pay range and the FLSA classification, and note that many radiation therapists are non-exempt and owed overtime despite a high salary. The templates in this article give you the full structure to customize by setting, including a version written for small independent radiation oncology clinics.
What are the main duties and responsibilities of a radiation therapist?
Radiation therapist duties fall into four areas. Treatment delivery: operating and monitoring the linear accelerator and imaging, and administering the prescribed radiation dose accurately and safely per the treatment plan. Patient care: positioning patients, verifying treatment setup against the plan, monitoring patients during treatment, and reassuring them through a difficult process. Safety and compliance: following radiation safety and ALARA principles, maintaining dosimetry badge monitoring, and supporting HIPAA and accreditation requirements. Records and teamwork: maintaining accurate treatment records, doses, and settings, supporting quality assurance and equipment checks, and collaborating with the radiation oncologist, physicist, and dosimetrist. In a small clinic, one therapist carries a broad version of all four, while in a large hospital department the role is more specialized across multiple machines and a larger team. A strong posting selects the responsibilities that match your setting rather than listing every possible task.
What is the difference between a radiation therapist, a radiologic technologist, and a dosimetrist?
These are three distinct roles that are easy to confuse. A radiation therapist, also called a radiation therapy technologist, delivers prescribed radiation treatment to cancer patients using a linear accelerator and holds the ARRT certification in radiation therapy. A radiologic technologist, often called a rad tech, performs diagnostic imaging such as X-ray, CT, or MRI, not radiation treatment, and is a separate occupation with a lower median wage. A medical dosimetrist calculates the precise radiation dose and treatment plan, typically holds a bachelor's degree plus specialized dosimetry certification, and earns a higher median wage than a therapist. For hiring, the distinction matters because the credentials and the work are different: use radiation therapist or radiation therapy technologist when you need someone to deliver treatment, rad tech when you need diagnostic imaging, and dosimetrist when you need dose calculation. Naming the role precisely in the posting prevents a flood of mismatched applicants.
Is a radiation therapist exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
Often non-exempt, despite a high salary, which makes this a common and costly classification mistake. Exemption under the learned professional rule generally requires advanced knowledge acquired through a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction, and Department of Labor guidance on technologists indicates that an associate's degree plus a certification exam does not automatically meet that standard. Because many radiation therapists hold an associate's degree and are paid hourly, they should often be classified as non-exempt and are entitled to overtime for hours worked over 40, regardless of how high the annual pay is. The six-figure salary does not by itself make the role exempt. Treating a non-exempt therapist as exempt to avoid paying overtime is a serious wage-and-hour risk, especially for a small clinic without HR support. The safe approach is to treat the role as non-exempt unless a careful, documented review of the specific duties and salary clearly supports exemption, and to confirm rather than assume.
How much does a radiation therapist make?
Radiation therapist pay is high for an allied health role. Federal data reports a median annual wage of $101,990 as of May 2024, with the lowest 10 percent earning less than $77,860 and the highest 10 percent earning more than $141,550, which works out to a median of about $49 per hour. Pay varies by setting, region, experience, and shift, with hospitals, physician offices, and outpatient centers paying differently, and metropolitan areas with high demand often paying more. Many roles are paid hourly, which matters for overtime since many therapists are non-exempt. Employment of radiation therapists is projected to grow about 2 percent from 2024 to 2034, slower than average, with roughly 900 openings each year, mostly to replace those who retire or move on. For an employer setting the rate, anchor on local market pay for your setting, publish a range, and remember that because the role is often non-exempt, overtime adds to the true cost of the position.
What qualifications and credentials does a radiation therapist need?
Most radiation therapist roles require an associate's or bachelor's degree in radiation therapy, certification by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists in radiation therapy, and a state license in the many states that license radiologic technology. Current BLS or CPR certification is commonly required as well. Federal data notes that radiation therapists typically need an associate's or bachelor's degree and that most states require licensure or certification, which often includes passing a national certification exam. Beyond credentials, the role needs strong technical skill with the linear accelerator and treatment systems, careful attention to detail for accurate dose delivery, physical stamina, and the interpersonal skill to support cancer patients through treatment. For an employer, the practical move is to state the ARRT certification and state license as firm requirements, ask for proof of credentials in the application, and verify them before the first day, since this is a regulated clinical role.
What happens after I hire a radiation therapist?
Once your radiation therapist accepts, the job description becomes the basis for the offer and onboarding, and onboarding a clinical radiation role is heavier than most because of the credentialing and safety requirements. Start with the paperwork spine: the signed offer letter, the I-9 and W-4, and state new hire reporting. Then the clinical onboarding that this role demands: verifying the ARRT credential and state license, a radiation safety orientation under ALARA principles, dosimetry badge issuance and monitoring setup, HIPAA training, and BLS or CPR confirmation, plus orientation to your specific linear accelerator and treatment systems. Because this hire carries real regulatory weight, a missed license verification or safety step is a genuine liability for a small clinic. FirstHR handles the HR onboarding side for small radiation oncology centers: e-signature for the offer letter and policy acknowledgments, document storage for ARRT certificates, state licenses, dosimetry records, and BLS cards, training modules to deliver and record radiation safety and HIPAA training, and a structured onboarding checklist, all in one place built for clinics that hire without a dedicated HR department.