How to hire a desktop support lead technician

How to hire a desktop support lead technician, step by step

Here's a step-by-step desktop support lead technician hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a desktop support lead technician, 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

   A desktop support lead technician's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, desktop support lead technicians 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.

   The following list breaks down different types of desktop support lead technicians and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Desktop Support Lead Technician	Description	Hourly rate
   Desktop Support Lead Technician	Computer support specialists provide help and advice to people and organizations using computer software or equipment. Some, called computer network support specialists, support information technology (IT) employees within their organization... Show more	$17-48
   Technician Support Team Leader	The Technician Support Team Leader is tasked with leading and training the technical support team. As a team leader, you will be required to organize scheduled staff reviews and communicate new procedures and policies with them... Show more	$30-58
   Technician Support Tier	A technician support tier focuses on providing technical support to clients or employees within a company. Typically working in a team setting, a technician support tier addresses technical problems and troubleshoots to identify the root of the issues and perform necessary corrective measures or repairs... Show more	$18-37

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Desktop Support
   • Remote Desktop
   • PC
   • Computer System
   • Troubleshoot
   • Technical Support
   • Network Printers
   • SCCM
   • Mac
   • OS
   • Remedy
   • Asset Management
   • Windows XP
   • Software Issues

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead weekend conversion team for client workstation migration from Novell to NT.
   • Manage incoming tasks and incidents in remedy and troubleshooting.
   • Deploy and implement Citrix Xen.
   • Learned to use SCCM to deploy software packages.
   • Configure, deploy and repair desktops and laptop workstations.
   • Support remote network access problems with dial up and VPN users.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your desktop support lead technician job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A desktop support lead technician salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, desktop support lead technicians' average salary in nebraska is 50% less than in new jersey.
   • Seniority. Entry-level desktop support lead technicians earn 63% less than senior-level desktop support lead technicians.
   • Certifications. A desktop support lead technician with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a desktop support lead technician's salary.

   Average desktop support lead technician salary

   $61,560yearly

   $29.60 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level desktop support lead technician salary

   $37,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

4. Writing a desktop support lead technician job description

   A desktop support lead technician 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. Below, you can find an example of a desktop support lead technician job description:

   Desktop support lead technician job description example

   SAIC is currently seeking a motivated, career and customer service oriented Lead Desktop Support Technician to support a project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
   
   The Lead Desktop Support Technician Lead will supervise a team of Desktop Support Technicians requiring a high level of customer service and technical proficiency to more than 1,800 users, both on-site and at regional offices. The Lead Desktop Support Technician will be responsible for managing and delivering professional, high quality services directly to the customer, providing both remote and in-person support. The candidate must have strong communication skills, be capable of reporting to all levels of management and attend meetings to present information when required.
   Primary Responsibilities Include:
   
   + Provide support to Desktop Support Technicians who are diagnosing, troubleshooting, and supporting user issues.
   
   + Coordinate customer and support issues to ensure timely distribution of knowledge and productivity and positive impact on customer satisfaction.
   
   + Monitor intake of incidents and route to desktop technicians. Assign incidents based on skills and work capacity.
   
   + Recommends systems modifications to reduce user problems. Possesses and applies expertise across key tasks and high impact assignments. Plans and leads major technology assignments. Evaluates performance results and recommends major changes affecting short-term project growth and success. Functions as a technical expert across multiple project assignments. May supervise others.
   
   + Manages inventory of all desktop equipment, whether consumables or items tracked in the Asset Management database.
   
   + Hardware Asset Support (Non-Mobile Devices) for additional Hardware requirements. Troubleshoots and resolves escalated Incidents and Service Requests; document new or frequently exercised resolution strategies in a Knowledge Based articles and send to Tier I for upload to the KBA repository. Configure, install and troubleshoot FERC approved software including operating system (OS). Deploy and support FERC standard workstation images and approved software. Manually install and upgrade desktop software for individual instances/users as needed.
   
   + Timely follow up with customers to ensure problems are resolved successfully and satisfactorily
   
   + Strong ability to provide creative solutions to customer problems
   
   + Troubleshoot user workstation configuration issues. Monitor usage of licensed software to ensure that FERC has the appropriate amount and type of licenses. Provide round-the-clock, on-call services as needed to resolve VIP incidents escalated to Tier II occurring outside of Standard Business Hours. Assist Users with COTS IT Software questions and concerns. Where needed, escalate for resolution with higher Tiers support.
   
   + Resolve technical problems and answer queries by telephone or self-service ticket in support of internal and/or outside customer computer hardware, software, network, system/application access, and telecommunications systems. Diagnoses, identifies, isolates, and analyzes problems utilizing historical database records. May route calls to product line specialists, application, or system support specialists.
   
   + Maintains and updates records and tracking databases. Alerts management to recurring problems and patterns of problems.
   
   + Other duties as assigned
   
   **Qualifications**
   
   Required:
   
   + Bachelor's Degree and 5+ years' experience or equivalent experience and education
   
   + HDI Desktop Advanced Support Technicians (DAST) certification
   
   + Experience managing teams and distributing workload, preferably within the Federal Government
   
   + In-depth Desktop Support (Preferably on a Federal Contract)
   
   + Significant Experience supporting Windows 10, O365 products, Active Directory and MDM solutions
   
   + Experience installing and troubleshooting Apple products ranging from MAC OS X, iPhones, iPads, and hardware.
   
   + Previous experience using ITSM tools for ticket tracking
   
   + Ability to travel up to 10%
   
   + Ability to share On-Call Rotations
   
   + Able to obtain a Public Trust
   
   Desired:
   
   + Dell technician certification
   
   Covid Policy: SAIC does not require COVID-19 vaccinations or boosters. Customer site vaccination requirements must be followed when work is performed at a customer site.
   REQNUMBER: 2214067
   
   SAIC is a premier technology integrator, solving our nation's most complex modernization and systems engineering challenges across the defense, space, federal civilian, and intelligence markets. Our robust portfolio of offerings includes high-end solutions in systems engineering and integration; enterprise IT, including cloud services; cyber; software; advanced analytics and simulation; and training. We are a team of 23,000 strong driven by mission, united purpose, and inspired by opportunity. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $6.5 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For information on the benefits SAIC offers, see Working at SAIC. EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability

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5. Post your job

   To find the right desktop support lead technician for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with desktop support lead technicians they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit desktop support lead technicians who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your desktop support lead technician job on Zippia to find and recruit desktop support lead technician candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit desktop support lead technicians, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a desktop support lead technician applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • 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 desktop support lead technician

   Once you have selected a candidate for the desktop support lead technician position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is 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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