Quick answer: A bank teller processes customer transactions at a branch counter: deposits, withdrawals, loan payments, transfers, and requests to cash checks. Tellers verify identity, balance a cash drawer every shift, spot fraud, and point customers toward the right bank products.

Most employers hire for the role with a high school diploma or equivalent plus paid teller training. The BLS reports a median wage of $43,030 per year (May 2025).

Teller postings pull in a lot of applicants, and most of them look the same on paper: some retail or cashier experience, a friendly summary, a claim of attention to detail. The hard part is not writing the bank teller job description. It is writing one specific enough that the right people apply, then finding out which of them can actually count cash accurately and hold the line on a suspicious transaction. This page covers both.

What a bank teller does

A bank teller is the person customers deal with most often at a branch. Any bank teller job description should reflect that the duties of this job center on three things: moving money accurately, protecting the bank and the customer from fraud, and giving people a good enough experience that they come back.

On a normal day, a teller opens a cash drawer, verifies the starting balance, and serves a steady line of walk in and drive up customers. Between transactions they answer account questions, order checks, process cashier’s checks, and flag customers who might benefit from a savings account, a credit card, or a conversation with a personal banker. At close, they count out, reconcile, and explain any variance.

Educating customers is a bigger part of the role than most postings admit. Tellers show people how to use mobile deposit, explain holds on a deposited check, and walk older customers through common scams. A teller who explains a hold clearly heads off an angry phone call later.

Bank teller duties and responsibilities

A strong bank teller job description lists duties in the order the teller will actually spend time on them. Responsibilities include:

• Process deposits, withdrawals, transfers, loan payments, and requests to cash checks, accurately and in line with bank policy
• Verify customer identity and signatures before every transaction, following Know Your Customer and Bank Secrecy Act procedures
• Open, count, and balance the cash drawer at the start and end of each shift; report and document any variance
• Identify counterfeit currency, altered checks, and suspicious activity, and escalate to a supervisor or the BSA officer
• File currency transaction reports and other required documentation
• Answer questions about accounts, fees, holds, and online banking, educating customers on self service tools
• Refer customers to personal bankers, loan officers, or other specialists when their needs go beyond the teller line
• Promote bank products and services when a customer’s situation makes the product relevant
• Keep the teller station secure and follow opening, closing, and robbery procedures
• Support vault and ATM balancing and other branch operations as assigned

Branch teller job description: what changes

A branch teller job description covers the same core work as a bank teller job description. The title usually signals one of two things: the bank uses “branch” to distinguish in person tellers from contact center or digital staff, or the role floats between several branches in a region.

If you are hiring a branch teller, add these points to the posting:

• Which branches the teller will cover, and whether travel between them is paid
• Drive up window, safe deposit box, or vault duties specific to that location
• Branch hours, including Saturday rotations
• Whether the role includes lead teller or teller trainer responsibilities, such as coaching new hires through teller training

Use the same title your internal system uses. Candidates search for “bank teller” and “teller” far more than any internal job code, so keep one of those words in the posting title even if the internal title is “Customer Service Representative I.”

Requirements and skills

The BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry level education for tellers, with short term on the job training. Requiring a bachelor’s degree shrinks your applicant pool without improving the hire. Ask for it only if the role is a stepping stone into a management trainee track.

Minimum requirements for a bank teller job description:

• High school diploma or equivalent
• One year of cash handling or customer service experience (retail, hospitality, or food service all count)
• Ability to pass a background check and credit check
• Availability for the branch schedule, including some Saturdays

Skills that separate strong tellers:

• Cash accuracy under time pressure, with a record of balanced drawers
• Basic math without relying on a calculator for every step
• Fraud awareness: noticing when a transaction, document, or customer story does not fit
• Clear, patient communication with customers who are rushed, confused, or upset
• Comfort with core banking software and a willingness to learn new systems
• Discretion with personal and financial information

Most banks provide paid teller training in the first two to four weeks, covering the core system, cash procedures, compliance, and security. Say so in the posting. It tells career changers they do not need banking experience to apply.

Work environment and pay

The work environment is a bank branch, a supermarket branch, or a drive up window. Tellers stand for much of the shift, work behind a secured counter, and follow strict security procedures. Hours usually follow branch hours, so expect weekday shifts plus some Saturday mornings. Many banks offer both full time and part time teller schedules.

The BLS reports a median annual wage of $43,030 for tellers as of May 2025, about $20.69 per hour. Pay varies by region and by bank. The BLS also projects teller employment to decline 13 percent from 2025 to 2035, as more routine transactions move to mobile and ATMs. For employers, that means the tellers you keep handle a higher share of complex, exception heavy transactions, which makes screening for judgment more important, not less.

Copy ready bank teller job description template

Copy this bank teller job description, then edit the bracketed fields. It works as a branch teller job description too: just add the branch details listed above.

Job title: Bank Teller [or Branch Teller]

Location: [Branch name, city] [List additional branches if the role floats]

Schedule: [Full time or part time], [weekday hours], [Saturday rotation]

About the role: [Bank name] is hiring a Bank Teller to serve customers at our [branch] location. You will process transactions, keep your cash drawer balanced, protect customers from fraud, and help people find the right services. We provide paid teller training, so banking experience is not required.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Process deposits, withdrawals, transfers, loan payments, and cash checks accurately
• Verify customer identity and follow all Bank Secrecy Act and security procedures
• Balance your cash drawer at the start and end of every shift
• Identify and escalate counterfeit, fraudulent, or suspicious transactions
• Answer account questions and educate customers on digital banking tools
• Refer customers to personal bankers and other specialists when appropriate

Requirements:

• High school diploma or equivalent
• [One year] of cash handling or customer service experience
• Ability to pass background and credit checks
• Availability for [branch schedule]

Pay and benefits: [$X to $Y per hour], [benefits summary]

How to apply: [Application link]. Qualified applicants will complete a short skills assessment.

How to screen bank teller applicants

Publishing the bank teller job description is step one. Teller reqs attract high volume, and resumes tell you little about the skills that matter most. A few practical steps make screening faster and fairer:

1. Test cash and math accuracy directly. A short, timed assessment on counting, change making, and transaction balancing shows more than any resume line about “attention to detail.”
2. Use situational questions for fraud and service judgment. Ask what the candidate would do when a customer insists on cashing a check with mismatched ID. Our bank teller interview questions cover what strong answers sound like.
3. Screen asynchronously. One way video interviews let candidates answer at their own pace, and let branch managers review responses without juggling schedules.
4. Verify identity and integrity. For a role built around trust and cash, confirm the person taking the assessment is the person you hire. Glider’s AI proctoring and ID Verify match photo ID, live selfie, location, and voice across each stage, and flag issues for a recruiter to review before an offer.

Glider’s skill assessment platform lets teams build role specific tests for tellers and other branch roles, and the high volume hiring workflow is built for reqs that pull hundreds of applicants. Hiring for adjacent roles? See the personal banker job description and retail banker job description, or browse the full job description library.

FAQs

Ready to fill your next teller req with candidates who can actually balance a drawer? Start with the template above, then see how Glider assesses and verifies branch talent before it reaches your manager’s calendar.