Why is it called "lead developer"? The cynic in me thinks it's to make it more palatable to promote engineers who still want to code. But as this post details, that's the wrong expectation.
I did have to hire people and in the current market that was a very hard task. Especially so when the company in question is not a sexy startup, nor is the stuff they’re working on amazeballs, nor is the market that they’re in one that attracts a lot of people. It took me a lot of time interviewing people and even offering them a job (with a pretty good offer, mind you) only for them to choose another company.
I totally agree that the role seems like way more of a manager than a developer, so "lead developer" is a strange title. Of course titles are pretty strange and generally not very "portable" to begin with.
Also, in IT it's normal to put people in leadership roles without any training or preparation, which in any other field is rightfully considered absolutely insane. FFS even McDonalds doesn't just take the best burger flipper one day and tells him 'yeah so as of tomorrow, you're the boss, good luck'.