What does an incident manager do?
As the name entails, the job of an incident manager revolves around the incident management process. Your duties and responsibilities may vary depending on the sector, but typically include defining the process on how your team should work with handling incidents, keeping a report of incidents, logging all service request and incident details. Additionally, you will be responsible for investigating all service requests and incidents and identifying, scheduling, and performing incident reviews. As an incident manager, it also your responsibility to guide the incident process analysts and coordinators.
Incident manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real incident manager resumes:
- Open, manage, rout and close remedy tickets.
- Manage entire B2B production portfolio, without any issues.
- Manage UAT testing which are comprised of thirty plus team members.
- Manage a team and portfolio of production support, projects and processes.
- Lead a project to migrate from a synchronize terminal base messaging protocol to MQ base messaging.
- Manage ITSM and TFS cases to ensure SLA are met and provide updates twice weekly to customer.
- Suggest process improvement areas base on ITIL methodology and make recommendations to improve customer satisfaction.
- Edit Java code for efficiency and new functionality.
- Produce monthly KPIs and high level recommendations for management board.
- Facilitate and support lessons learned reviews and track RCA and remediation items.
- Attend senior management meetings to provide program updates and metrics on KPIs.
- Engage external service vendors to facilitate return to service to meet contractual SLAs.
- Interpret OSHA and other regulatory agency standards, audits and corrective action plans.
- Update and maintain the record database of all incidents with the highest level of detail.
- Maintain constant lines of communication and troubleshooting efforts in order to drive prompt resolution and RCA.
Incident manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Incident Managers are proficient in Incident Response, Infrastructure, and ITIL. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Math skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Incident Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Incident Response, 12%
Lead efforts to advance the maturity of the security incident response program and increase capabilities related to investigations and forensics.
- Infrastructure, 8%
Defined processes for managing Critical National Infrastructure confidential organization successfully managing outages that could potentially impact human life.
- ITIL, 7%
Reported all customer-impacting events to customers in a timely and professional manner while complying with documented ITIL processes.
- Metrics, 5%
Audited major service interruption tickets for appropriate prioritization, technical and business domain accuracy, and service level metrics.
- Problem Management, 5%
Created, maintained and published Problem Management processes through detailed documentation that was validated regularly through a review process.
- Service Management, 4%
Fine-tuned service management processes that deals with unplanned service interruptions.
Common skills that an incident manager uses to do their job include "incident response," "infrastructure," and "itil." You can find details on the most important incident manager responsibilities below.
Math skills. Another essential skill to perform incident manager duties is math skills. Incident managers responsibilities require that "architectural and engineering managers use calculus and other mathematics to develop new products and processes." Incident managers also use math skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "performed open problem follow ups and prepared monthly call statistics for management as they related to service level agreements goal accomplishments. "
Analytical skills. This is an important skill for incident managers to perform their duties. For an example of how incident manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "architectural and engineering managers evaluate information to solve problems." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an incident manager: "analyzed and reported on incident, problem, change, request management and other in-scope service management related processes. ".
Communication skills. A big part of what incident managers do relies on "communication skills." You can see how essential it is to incident manager responsibilities because "architectural and engineering managers must effectively convey information and expectations related to projects." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical incident manager tasks: "monitored all incident elevations to completion; sent periodic communications to incident requestors on incident resolution status. "
Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for an incident manager to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what incident managers relies on this skill, since "architectural and engineering managers keep track of many workers, schedules, and budgets simultaneously." How this skill relates to incident manager duties can be seen in an example from an incident manager resume snippet: "developed relationships with business operations, business resiliency, risk management, & technology support teams which improved organizational continuity. "
The three companies that hire the most incident managers are:
- Micro Focus (US), Inc.100 incident managers jobs
- KPMG LLP92 incident managers jobs
- Trellix51 incident managers jobs
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Compare different incident managers
Incident manager vs. Engineering group leader
An engineering supervisor is responsible for monitoring the engineering operations of an organization, developing strategic processes and techniques to improve staff's performance, and facilitating training and programs to maximize productivity. Engineering supervisors evaluate technology procedures and reports to identify and design new opportunities that would generate more resources for revenues and profits. They also meet with clients and handle their business requirements and specifications, informing them of other services that the company offers. An engineering supervisor resolves project complaints and implements business plans to achieve high-quality deliverables.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between incident managers and engineering group leader. For instance, incident manager responsibilities require skills such as "incident response," "infrastructure," "itil," and "metrics." Whereas a engineering group leader is skilled in "project management," "r," "architecture," and "product development." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Engineering group leaders earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $108,721. On the other hand, incident managers are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $96,270.engineering group leaders tend to reach similar levels of education than incident managers. In fact, engineering group leaders are 2.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Incident manager vs. Engineering supervisor
An engineering director or director of engineering is an individual who manages a team of engineering managers and coordinates all the engineering activities within the organization. Engineering directors work closely with the organization's executives to develop new strategies to reduce unnecessary costs and time to complete their projects. They must understand and interpret complex sets of data such as profits, losses, or value of liabilities to identify problems and come up with solutions. Engineering directors must also ensure that safety protocols are implemented in the workforce.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real incident manager resumes. While incident manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "incident response," "infrastructure," "itil," and "metrics," engineering supervisors use skills like "hvac," "plumbing," "project management," and "preventive maintenance."
Engineering supervisors may earn a higher salary than incident managers, but engineering supervisors earn the most pay in the automotive industry with an average salary of $114,222. On the other hand, incident managers receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $96,270.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Engineering supervisors tend to reach similar levels of education than incident managers. In fact, they're 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Incident manager vs. Engineering director
A systems engineering manager is responsible for monitoring the efficiency of the company's technology systems and network infrastructure. System engineering managers inspect the output deliverables of computer systems, identifying process improvement techniques to improve optimal performance and maintain high-quality results. They handle the department's budget and allocate adequate resources to support project management operations and requirements. A systems engineering manager must have excellent knowledge of the technology industry, handling technical complexities, and configuring system management tools.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an incident manager is likely to be skilled in "incident response," "itil," "metrics," and "problem management," while a typical engineering director is skilled in "architecture," "aws," "project management," and "customer service."
Engineering directors make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $164,120. On the other hand, incident managers are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $96,270.Most engineering directors achieve a higher degree level compared to incident managers. For example, they're 6.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Incident manager vs. Manager, systems engineering
Even though a few skill sets overlap between incident managers and managers, systems engineering, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an incident manager might have more use for skills like "incident response," "metrics," "problem management," and "service management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of managers, systems engineering require skills like "systems engineering," "architecture," "dod," and "project management. "
In general, managers, systems engineering earn the most working in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $131,371. The highest-paying industry for an incident manager is the finance industry.In general, managers, systems engineering hold similar degree levels compared to incident managers. Managers, systems engineering are 2.4% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of incident manager
Updated January 8, 2025
