Infrastructure administrator vs systems administrator lead

The differences between infrastructure administrators and systems administrator leads can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an infrastructure administrator and a systems administrator lead. Additionally, a systems administrator lead has an average salary of $99,956, which is higher than the $93,079 average annual salary of an infrastructure administrator.

The top three skills for an infrastructure administrator include troubleshoot, linux and windows server. The most important skills for a systems administrator lead are linux, project management, and windows server.

Infrastructure administrator vs systems administrator lead overview

	Infrastructure Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Yearly salary	$93,079	$99,956
Hourly rate	$44.75	$48.06
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	100,799	132,285
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does an infrastructure administrator do?

Infrastructure administrators are information technology (IT) professionals who are responsible for implementing and maintaining the telecommunication and data systems of an organization. These administrators must coordinate the implementations of IT procedures and policies of the organization as well as perform daily monitoring, maintenance, and backups. They are required to assist in network troubleshooting and provide end-user support about their hardware and software problems. Infrastructure administrators must also implement policies regarding security, network usage, and disaster recovery.

What does a systems administrator lead do?

A systems administrator lead is responsible for planning, designing, and implementing procedures for critical enterprise systems. Typical duties of systems administrators include managing the day-to-day operations of a company's computer and network systems, developing new application and system implementation plans, and establishing guidelines for installing and managing the organization's computer operating systems. In addition, you are expected to ensure the security of computer systems by preventing unauthorized use, user abuse, and acts of nature.

Infrastructure administrator vs systems administrator lead salary

Infrastructure administrators and systems administrator leads have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Infrastructure Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Average salary	$93,079	$99,956
Salary range	Between $66,000 And $129,000	Between $77,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	PayPal	Kabam
Best paying industry	Finance	Telecommunication

Differences between infrastructure administrator and systems administrator lead education

There are a few differences between an infrastructure administrator and a systems administrator lead in terms of educational background:

	Infrastructure Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Stanford University

Infrastructure administrator vs systems administrator lead demographics

Here are the differences between infrastructure administrators' and systems administrator leads' demographics:

	Infrastructure Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 90.4% Female, 9.6%	Male, 84.6% Female, 15.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 13.9% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.7% White, 63.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between infrastructure administrator and systems administrator lead duties and responsibilities

Infrastructure administrator example responsibilities.

Manage allocate SAN storage and HBA configuration.
Manage, upgrade, and troubleshot ShoreTel VOIP network.
Manage all SSL certificates as well as internal and external DNS services for the organization.
Used SCCM to manage resources, software distribution, inventory, build software packages, and troubleshoot fail installs.
Authore and maintain shell and Perl scripts to automate administration tasks for infrastructure management.
Resolve network issues using DHCP, and DNS.

Systems administrator lead example responsibilities.

Manage all Citrix user connections and issues, print network, server environment and supplies.
Manage printers on the print servers and re-serve IP addresses for devices from the DHCP servers.
Manage software development group SharePoint portal.
Save company many hours of manual testing and developing by engineering Java applications to automate tedious tasks.
Manage development, manufacturing, test and delivery of custom broadband RF electronic test systems for military and aerospace customers.
Perform day-to-day management of system applications and services (NTP, DNS, LDAP, etc .).

Infrastructure administrator vs systems administrator lead skills

Common infrastructure administrator skills

Troubleshoot, 10%
Linux, 7%
Windows Server, 6%
OS, 4%
PowerShell, 4%
SAN, 4%

Common systems administrator lead skills

Linux, 6%
Project Management, 6%
Windows Server, 5%
System Performance, 5%
Technical Support, 5%
Database, 5%

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Infrastructure Administrator vs Systems Administrator Lead

Updated January 8, 2025

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