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

What is a help desk team lead and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a help desk team lead. For example, did you know that they make an average of $34.71 an hour? That's $72,204 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 83,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreHelp Desk Team LeadUS Average

Salary

5.6

Avg. Salary $72,204

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 10.53%

Black or African American 12.94%

Hispanic or Latino 15.05%

Unknown 5.30%

White 55.77%

Gender

female 32.78%

male 67.22%

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 team lead

Explore help desk team lead education requirements

Most common help desk team lead degrees

Bachelor's

60.9 %

Associate

23.6 %

Master's

5.4 %

Start to develop specific help desk team lead skills

Skills	Percentages
Technical Support	11.07%
Desk Support	6.70%
Help Desk	5.44%
Remedy	5.26%
SLA	4.49%

Complete relevant help desk team lead training and internships

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

Research help desk team lead duties and responsibilities

Lead testing of pilot VPN software; configure technologies to aid in managing Windows/mainframe accounts.
Assist in managing SQL database ensuring network connectivity, integrity of data and schedule tasks are complete.
Manage the wireless accounts for all user's providing replacements and troubleshoot cell phone issues and billing questions.
Improve efficiency and reduce risk by developing managing concepts and projects for ITIL process development for service delivery.

Get help desk team lead experience

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

Prepare your help desk team lead resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your help desk team lead 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 team lead 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 team lead resume templates

Build a professional help desk team lead 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 team lead resume.