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

What is a help desk manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

The job of a Help Desk Manager is to oversee the efficient delivery of quality technical support service to clients. These clients can either be internal clients who are employees of the same company or external clients who have outsourced their services to them. To do this, the manager must know about the software or hardware systems that are supported. Help Desk Manager diagnoses and attends to issues with networks, hardware, and software. He/She also performs supervisory duties. Also, he/she leads a team of support personnel who troubleshoot and resolve IT issues.

Most employers prefer a minimum of a bachelor's degree in a computer-related field when hiring help desk managers. You must have more than five years of experience in a related support services role and must possess analytical, management, problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills. Most help desk managers earn between $49,000 and $102,000 with an average salary of $70,397 annually.

ScoreHelp Desk ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $96,278

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.41%

Asian 10.50%

Black or African American 12.53%

Hispanic or Latino 15.87%

Unknown 5.35%

White 55.34%

Gender

female 29.69%

male 70.31%

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 manager

Explore help desk manager education requirements

Most common help desk manager degrees

Bachelor's

61.6 %

Associate

21.9 %

Master's

7.5 %

Start to develop specific help desk manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	17.44%
Technical Support	7.27%
Help Desk	4.87%
Desk Support	4.54%
ITIL	4.27%

Complete relevant help desk manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New help desk managers 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 manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real help desk manager resumes.

Gain additional help desk manager certifications

Help desk manager certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific help desk manager certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for help desk managers include IT Information Library Foundations Certification (ITIL) and Management Consultant Professional (MCP).

More About Certifications

Research help desk manager duties and responsibilities

Provide guidance to help desk and manage third party vendors to insure all SLAs are met.
Manage SLA, and provide metrics in order to make technical decisions regarding the allocation of technical resources.
Lead a team of 5 technicians in setting up a separate LAN to support the ship's reactor division.
Lead and contribute to the configuration and maintenance of all server, desktop and laptop hardware, OS and software.

Prepare your help desk manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your help desk manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a help desk manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable help desk manager resume templates

Build a professional help desk manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your help desk manager resume.