How to hire an application administrator

How to hire an application administrator, step by step

Here's a step-by-step application administrator hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an application administrator job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new application administrator
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an application administrator do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring an application administrator, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   An application administrator's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, application administrators from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list presents application administrator salaries for various positions.

   Type of Application Administrator	Description	Hourly rate
   Application Administrator	Computer networks are critical parts of almost every organization. Network and computer systems administrators are responsible for the day-to-day operation of these networks.	$35-65
   Systems Administrator Lead	A systems administrator lead is responsible for planning, designing, and implementing procedures for critical enterprise systems. Typical duties of systems administrators include managing the day-to-day operations of a company's computer and network systems, developing new application and system implementation plans, and establishing guidelines for installing and managing the organization's computer operating systems... Show more	$37-62
   Windows System Administrator	A Windows System Administrator maintains the systems and servers of a Windows operating system. They evaluate and modify the system's performance.	$28-50

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Troubleshoot
   • Linux
   • Technical Support
   • Java
   • SQL Server
   • Application Support
   • PowerShell
   • Windows Server
   • SharePoint
   • Data Integrity
   • Unix
   • Application Issues
   • Management System
   • Salesforce

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage IIS folders and services.
   • Implement new back up systems for test and production, write UNIX shell scripts to automate and validate daily backups.
   • Manage databases and servers, tune queries, set up jobs, assist software engineers by integrating T-SQL with proprietary applications.
   • Manage various consultants providing Salesforce development services.
   • Manage and troubleshoot applications/database systems in order to validate work orders.
   • Create, manage, update layout/content/database for corporate website using Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

   More application administrator duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your application administrator job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An application administrator can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, application administrators' average salary in montana is 41% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level application administrators 47% less than senior-level application administrators.
   • Certifications. An application administrator with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an application administrator's salary.

   Average application administrator salary

   $100,258yearly

   $48.20 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level application administrator salary

   $73,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average application administrator salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$121,072	$58
   2	Washington	$107,324	$52
   3	Delaware	$103,828	$50
   4	Massachusetts	$102,963	$50
   5	Texas	$101,541	$49
   6	Maryland	$101,058	$49
   7	Florida	$99,962	$48
   8	Louisiana	$99,487	$48
   9	Virginia	$97,692	$47
   10	North Carolina	$97,575	$47
   11	Tennessee	$96,449	$46
   12	Georgia	$94,671	$46
   13	Pennsylvania	$92,951	$45
   14	Arizona	$91,416	$44
   15	Missouri	$90,770	$44
   16	New York	$90,511	$44
   17	Indiana	$89,171	$43
   18	District of Columbia	$86,888	$42
   19	Michigan	$86,173	$41
   20	Illinois	$82,566	$40

   Average application administrator salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Cloudflare	$135,415	$65.10	3
   2	Macy's	$132,858	$63.87	3
   3	Costco Wholesale	$129,972	$62.49	3
   4	Advent Software	$128,046	$61.56
   5	NVIDIA	$127,842	$61.46	13
   6	Biogen	$127,527	$61.31	1
   7	VMware	$127,515	$61.31
   8	RSM US	$126,802	$60.96	3
   9	Wind River	$126,366	$60.75
   10	Belk	$123,304	$59.28
   11	Ashley HomeStore	$123,295	$59.28	2
   12	Zoox	$121,672	$58.50	10
   13	Staples	$121,525	$58.43	2
   14	L.L.Bean	$120,928	$58.14
   15	Equinix	$120,444	$57.91
   16	Amelia	$119,549	$57.48	23
   17	Avanade	$119,536	$57.47
   18	Gap Inc.	$119,321	$57.37
   19	City National Bank	$119,139	$57.28	7
   20	Silicon Labs	$119,007	$57.21

4. Writing an application administrator job description

   An application administrator job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of an application administrator job description:

   Application administrator job description example

   Who We Are
   Point32Health is a leading health and wellbeing organization, delivering an ever-better personalized health care experience to everyone in our communities. At Point32Health, we are building on the quality, nonprofit heritage of our founding organizations, Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, where we leverage our experience and expertise to help people find their version of healthier living through a broad range of health plans and tools that make navigating health and wellbeing easier.
   
   We enjoy the important work we do every day in service to our members, partners, colleagues and communities.
   
   Job Summary
   The primary purpose of this job family is to do the fundamental system administration required to ensure that the application functions properly. By serving as the lead of the given application, overseeing ongoing application performance, and following through on periodic application enhancements to successful implementation, the position includes, but is not limited to, providing the foundation upon which business-critical applications run. The lead application administrator assists with company operations by enhancing the functionality of business applications via system enhancements. They also assist in the identification and resolution of business application issues by conducting an analysis to determine the root cause of the problem, then defining and implementing the best solution.
   
   It is necessary for this individual to successfully work with analysts, other members of IT, vendor(s) and business partners to satisfy end-user, functional, and business requirements. The lead application administrator is also in charge of providing technical assistance for the application, which includes troubleshooting performance, enrollment, claims processing, payment cycles, and integration difficulties. The lead application administrator may also serve as a subject matter expert (SME) on projects or liaise with implementation programs.
   
   Key Responsibilities/Duties - what you will be doing
   Acts as the primary point of contact and internal consultant for vendor(s), analysts, business end-users (as appropriate), developers, and other support teams in the organization for the application(s), ensuring that applications run smoothly, and that applications and environments are optimized for maximum performance and reliability Ensuring that tickets are regularly worked, and progress is communicated to business/stakeholders, including all tiers of production support. Assists other team members in performing this work as necessary. Report progress on issues and problems according to the standing process for this work Designs, documents, and implements operating rules, standards, and procedures pertaining to the management, security, maintenance, and use of the assigned application to ensure that the application is optimally supported;Works collaboratively with vendor, BAM, and application development team in the planning, documentation, implementation, and deployment of proposed upgrades, enhancements, and additional modules to expand the functionality and/or performance of the application, ensuring that proposed enhancements do not compromise the integrity of the application.Establishes daily operational and maintenance standards for the application, and performs scheduled and preventative maintenance and configuration per these standards, to ensure that the application operates according to standards in production environment
   
   Qualifications - what you need to perform the job
   Bachelor's Degree in computer science, information science, management information systems, or equivalent field Masters preferred6-10 years work experience Demonstrates strong, well-rounded communication skills.Ability to communicate and negotiate with end users to ensure that end user needs are balanced with the integrity and performance standards of the applications.Leverages strong working relationships and credibility with colleagues to increase team effectiveness.Possesses the ability to write SQL queries in both SQL Server and Oracle environments.Possesses the ability to communicate technical information to the business, adjusting messaging to fit the needs of the audience.Communication with team members and colleagues as a mentor and leader, requiring strong leadership communication skills, including ability to influence and mobilize team members to meet project objectives without direct supervisory responsibility, communicate difficult messages directly and tactfully and provide feedback to team members to increase effectiveness.Directs the work of more junior Application Administrators. Leads and oversees team members without direct supervisory responsibilities through technical mentoring, communication, and influencing skills.Reviews work of team members and provides feedback Responsible for delegation of tasks to team members.Ability to successfully manage difficult issues and conflict Tasks extend across applications and platforms. Ensures that application changes are propagated properly across platforms.Fully competent in all aspects of application administration - able to analyze, estimate, and implement enhancement requests that improve end-user functionality, system stability, and maintainability.Supports critical, high-impact business applications with significant risk associated with failure.Assigned the most complex application vendor management - communicating requirements to vendor, reviewing vendor work, managing production issues with vendor, following up with vendor to ensure that all tasks and assignments are completed Possesses the experience and expertise to respond quickly in a high-pressure environment to needs for system upgrades and application patches with limited lead time.Demonstrates flexibility in responding to business/end-user requests and requirements.Excellent triage and decision-making skills and ability to react with composure to high impact production issues, research root cause and return systems to fully functional state with minimal disruption.Meticulous attention to detail and excellent follow through skills to maintain highly complex configurations across multiple environments.Flexibility to work off hours to maintain systems outside of their peak operating windows.Significant experience combined with a strong understanding of application administration.Understanding of the role the application serves in the total business solution Understanding of the job scheduling implications both within and outside of the application
   
   #LI-Hybrid
   #LI-JS1
   
   Working Conditions and Additional Requirements
   Required to participate in on-call requests.May require occasional weekend work as deadlines require.
   
   Disclaimer
   The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this position. Management retains the discretion to add to or change the duties of the position at any time.
   
   Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
   Point32Health is committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do-from product design to the workforce driving that innovation. Our DEI strategy is deeply connected to our core values and will evolve as the changing nature of work shifts. Programming, events, and an inclusion infrastructure play a role in how we spread cultural awareness, train people leaders on engaging with their teams and provide parameters on how to recruit and retain talented and dynamic talent. We welcome all applicants and qualified individuals, who will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.
   
   COVID Policy
   Please note: As of January 18, 2022, all employees - including remote employees - must be fully vaccinated. This position will require the successful candidate to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19. Point32Health is an equal opportunity employer, and will consider reasonable accommodation to those individuals who are unable to be vaccinated consistent with federal, state, and local law.

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5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right application administrator for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your application administrator job on Zippia to find and attract quality application administrator candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit application administrators, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview application administrator candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new application administrator

   Once you've decided on a perfect application administrator candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new application administrator. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire an application administrator?