You can lead from the lowest-paid spot on the schedule. The new hires will still ask you where things are.

Influence follows usefulness rather than title. Whoever knows where things are, how the machine behaves and who to ask becomes the real centre of a workplace, whatever the rota says about rank. Nobody decides this, it simply accumulates, and it is usually obvious to everyone except the person it is happening to.

Learn the answers people keep needing and make yourself easy to approach for them. Show the new person one thing before they have to ask. You will feel the shift well before any job title reflects it.