How to hire a developer support engineer

How to hire a developer support engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step developer support engineer hiring guide:

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

What does a developer support engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your developer support engineer job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a developer support engineer for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a developer support engineer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a developer support engineer that fits the bill.

   This list presents developer support engineer salaries for various positions.

   Type of Developer Support Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Developer Support Engineer	Software developers are the creative minds behind computer programs. Some develop the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device... Show more	$40-69
   Datastage Developer	Datastage developers supervise technology design and building. These developers implement various tools and solutions... Show more	$33-54
   Software Developer	A software developer is responsible for designing application systems to support the user and business' needs. Duties of a software developer include testing software codes, performing diagnostic programs and troubleshooting, interpreting system data and establishing efficient parameters, and ensuring the compatibility of the systems... Show more	$32-54

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Java
   • C++
   • Python
   • API
   • Technical Support
   • JavaScript
   • Troubleshoot
   • Developer Support
   • PHP
   • Linux
   • Ruby
   • Web Services
   • Debugging
   • Technical Issues

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Conduct several interviews with management and end-users which lead to finish the database application.
   • Develop user interfaces using JSP, HTML and CSS.
   • Develop UI using HTML, AJAX, Javascript and jQuery and jQueryUI.
   • Develop and maintain XML documentation in conjunction with the QA team to support code changes.
   • Maximize JavaScript capabilities to construct HTML proto-typing of components and pages.
   • Handle development and change requests in UNIX.

   More developer support engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your developer support engineer job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A developer support engineer can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, developer support engineers' average salary in kansas is 39% less than in oregon.
   • Seniority. Entry-level developer support engineers 42% less than senior-level developer support engineers.
   • Certifications. A developer support engineer 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 a developer support engineer's salary.

   Average developer support engineer salary

   $111,050yearly

   $53.39 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level developer support engineer salary

   $84,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 14, 2025

   Average developer support engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$134,731	$65
   2	Oregon	$132,182	$64
   3	Washington	$115,228	$55
   4	New Jersey	$104,061	$50
   5	Wisconsin	$103,747	$50
   6	Delaware	$102,311	$49
   7	Arizona	$101,355	$49
   8	Tennessee	$98,955	$48
   9	Texas	$98,525	$47
   10	Massachusetts	$98,300	$47
   11	Maryland	$98,098	$47
   12	New Hampshire	$96,578	$46
   13	New York	$95,775	$46
   14	Virginia	$94,468	$45
   15	North Carolina	$93,926	$45
   16	Michigan	$92,785	$45
   17	Florida	$92,003	$44
   18	Georgia	$90,247	$43
   19	Colorado	$87,945	$42
   20	South Carolina	$85,495	$41

   Average developer support engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$148,073	$71.19	3,213
   2	Apple	$142,720	$68.62	537
   3	Pacific Investment Management Company LLC	$140,777	$67.68	9
   4	Google	$136,621	$65.68	534
   5	Macy's	$134,980	$64.89	172
   6	Barclays	$130,874	$62.92	5
   7	Twilio	$129,562	$62.29	3
   8	Applied Materials	$127,565	$61.33	31
   9	Citi	$127,246	$61.18	47
   10	PlayStation	$126,424	$60.78	36
   11	Amazon	$125,083	$60.14	1,042
   12	CyberCoders	$124,910	$60.05
   13	Algolia	$124,560	$59.88
   14	Okta	$123,640	$59.44	14
   15	Veeva Systems	$121,344	$58.34	117
   16	Salesforce	$121,047	$58.20	138
   17	Abbott	$118,327	$56.89	54
   18	GoDaddy	$116,456	$55.99
   19	M&T Bank	$115,647	$55.60	24
   20	G-TECH	$113,805	$54.71

4. Writing a developer support engineer job description

   A developer support engineer 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 developer support engineer job description:

   Developer support engineer job description example

   Progress is an experienced, trusted provider of products designed with customers in mind, so they can develop the applications they need, deploy where and how they want, and manage it all safely and securely. We take pride in what we do, always valuing the whole person-at work and in life. Our diverse life experiences enrich our culture because people power progress. And as a
   .NET Developer Support Engineer in Sofia, you can join us in doing what we do best: propelling business forward. In this very technical role, you will be a part of a product team and will be helping customers troubleshoot and develop their applications built with our Document Processing Libraries - .NET-based visual UI controls for editing documents in various formats and components for back-end conversion and generation of documents. As you work hand-in-hand with our customers' engineering teams, you'll be among the first to hear their direct product feedback and will have the chance to influence the product roadmap. We have been developing and supporting products established on the market for 11 years, with tens of thousands of developers regularly using them worldwide. Our components are used internally by numerous Progress teams, which places us right at the core of the company's popular products like Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET AJAX, WPF, WinForms, Sitefinity, Xamarin, Blazor, and Kendo UI.
   What you will do in this role:
   Work directly with customers to help get their job done. Don't forget, our customers are software developers like us, so this could be a fantastic learning experience Debug and investigate customer code, identify bugs and feature requests, and propose workarounds and working solutions Fix simple bugs reported by customers Create technical documentation, translating internal functional specifications to the language of the customers Create marketing and developer-oriented demos, code samples, and knowledge base articles Write clean, maintainable, and readable code according to the team coding standards Think a lot about API design, backward compatibility, and architecture conformance Participate in code and API reviews for the final polishing of the product Work closely with other team members and roles, including developers, to propose functional and API changes, and review functional specifications; QA engineers to confirm the identified issues; product managers to define the scope of the features To be successful, you'll need:
   Experience with .NET and C# Desire to communicate directly with customers (developers like us), mainly in written form Proactive drive for constant product improvement The ability to receive direct feedback from clients Excellent time management skills. Ability to commit to both short-term and long-term goals To feel comfortable with large codebases. You will have to read and debug a lot of code, both our and clients' code Knowledge of software design principles Good written and verbal English Willingness to learn fast What you will get:
   Team of senior engineers who are ready to share their knowledge and help you grow with them The opportunity to work in a product team where your opinion matters A constant stream of challenges to solve Informal and friendly environment A chance to join a company globally recognized for its leading products Hands-on product development with a worldwide effect upon millions of people Dynamic opportunity for professional growth A company with a social and benefits program that allows you to concentrate on your career What we offer in return is the opportunity to join a talented team of bright and friendly people and also to enjoy:
   
   Compensation
   Generous remuneration package Employee Stock Purchase Plan Enrollment Vacation, Family, and Health
   30 days paid annual vacation An extra day off for your birthday 2 additional days off for volunteering Premium healthcare and dental care coverage Additional pension insurance Well-equipped gym on-site with CrossFit equipment and a climbing wall Co-funded Multisport card Daycare Center for your little ones And most importantly, excellent company culture with wonderful colleagues to learn from and collaborate with!
   
   We would be happy to hear from you! Apply now! #LI-AG1 #LI-Hybrid Together, We Make Progress Progress is an inclusive workplace where opportunities to succeed are available to everyone. As a multicultural company serving a global community, we encourage a wide range of points of view and celebrate our diverse backgrounds. Our unique combination of perspectives inspires innovation, connects us to our customers and positively affects our communities. It is only by working together and learning from each other that we make Progress. Join us!

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right developer support engineer 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.

   To find developer support engineer candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting developer support engineers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   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.

   If your interviews with developer support engineer applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you 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 developer support engineer

   Once you've found the developer support engineer candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new developer support engineer. 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 a developer support engineer?