How To Become A Help Desk Leader: What It Is and Career Path

What is a help desk leader and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average help desk leader salary is $56,781. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a help desk leader. Help desk leaders with a IT Information Library Foundations Certification (ITIL) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 83,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreHelp Desk LeaderUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,781

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.41%

Asian 10.50%

Black or African American 12.18%

Hispanic or Latino 16.10%

Unknown 5.37%

White 55.44%

Gender

female 32.77%

male 67.23%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.4

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a help desk leader

Explore help desk leader education requirements

Most common help desk leader degrees

Bachelor's

58.6 %

Associate

26.9 %

High School Diploma

6.4 %

Start to develop specific help desk leader skills

Skills	Percentages
Technical Support	7.55%
Troubleshoot	6.34%
Remedy	5.98%
Help Desk	5.39%
Desk Support	4.65%

Complete relevant help desk leader training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New help desk leaders learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a help desk leader based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real help desk leader resumes.

Research help desk leader duties and responsibilities

Lead a support team in the global transition of a new VPN remote access tool.
Develop within SharePoint and manage the SharePoint environment.
Improve efficiency and reduce risk by developing managing concepts and projects for ITIL process development for service delivery.
Streamline processes using SharePoint to save department time and money.

Get help desk leader experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a help desk leader. The most common roles before becoming a help desk leader include technical support specialist, help desk analyst team lead and information systems technician.

Apply for help desk leader jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a help desk leader job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do help desk leaders rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Help desk leader reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2022

Pros

Working with The people

Cons

There was nothing to like. Everyone was polite an hard workers

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2020