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Infrastructure architect vs lead systems engineer

The differences between infrastructure architects and lead systems engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an infrastructure architect has an average salary of $119,786, which is higher than the $119,705 average annual salary of a lead systems engineer.

The top three skills for an infrastructure architect include cloud, azure and amazon web services. The most important skills for a lead systems engineer are systems engineering, architecture, and infrastructure.

Infrastructure architect vs lead systems engineer overview

Infrastructure ArchitectLead Systems Engineer
Yearly salary$119,786$119,705
Hourly rate$57.59$57.55
Growth rate5%5%
Number of jobs102,531186,392
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age4443
Years of experience-2

What does an infrastructure architect do?

An infrastructure architect specializes in designing and establishing information systems to optimize business procedures and company operations, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and assessments to identify company needs, evaluate existing systems to determine its strengths and weaknesses, and present recommendations to senior officers or executives. Furthermore, an infrastructure architect must spearhead the integration and innovation of systems and technologies, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.

What does a lead systems engineer do?

A lead systems engineer is responsible for maintaining the safety and security of the systems infrastructure and improving the stability of the operating systems to support business operations. Lead systems engineers install and upgrade software applications and ensure that the technical strategies meet the quality standards and business requirements. They also enhance the performance of the existing systems, configuring features for optimization. A lead systems engineer must have excellent communication and technical skills, especially in supporting the end-users with technical failures and identifying accurate resolutions.

Infrastructure architect vs lead systems engineer salary

Infrastructure architects and lead systems engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Infrastructure ArchitectLead Systems Engineer
Average salary$119,786$119,705
Salary rangeBetween $94,000 And $152,000Between $90,000 And $158,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateOregonCalifornia
Best paying companyGrubhubMeta
Best paying industryHospitalityAutomotive

Differences between infrastructure architect and lead systems engineer education

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

Infrastructure ArchitectLead Systems Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common majorComputer ScienceElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeStanford UniversityCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Infrastructure architect vs lead systems engineer demographics

Here are the differences between infrastructure architects' and lead systems engineers' demographics:

Infrastructure ArchitectLead Systems Engineer
Average age4443
Gender ratioMale, 93.4% Female, 6.6%Male, 88.1% Female, 11.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.4% Asian, 12.5% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage11%9%

Differences between infrastructure architect and lead systems engineer duties and responsibilities

Infrastructure architect example responsibilities.

  • Improve LDAP ACI management which give the project ability to manage ACI's via grouper rather than case by case basis.
  • Manage global voice communications both traditional and VoIP telephony.
  • Manage all UNIX environments, installations, configurations and implementations.
  • Leverage SharePoint to automate business processes and track historical data.
  • Manage Cisco ASA firewalls and Microsoft ISA firewalls in production environment providing secure configurations and monitoring of the firewall logs.
  • Research cloud computing to help determine company direction and potential applications to migrate to a cloud-base infrastructure.
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Lead systems engineer example responsibilities.

  • Lead multiple audits for manufacturing/management processes to meet ISO and CMMI requirements.
  • Create, share and manage LUN's using EqualLogic, EMC and StoreSimple.
  • Convert legacy batch scripts to PowerShell scripts, and automate them using FIM management agents.
  • Manage QA teams in local and distribute international locations.
  • Manage security, which includes monitoring and controlling database access, assigning permissions to application owners.
  • Accomplish responsibility to configure, administer and support new infrastructure solutions on Microsoft platforms to meet enterprise level requirements.
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Infrastructure architect vs lead systems engineer skills

Common infrastructure architect skills
  • Cloud, 11%
  • Azure, 9%
  • Amazon Web Services, 7%
  • Linux, 7%
  • Cloud Computing, 5%
  • Switches, 5%
Common lead systems engineer skills
  • Systems Engineering, 10%
  • Architecture, 10%
  • Infrastructure, 6%
  • DOD, 5%
  • System Design, 4%
  • C++, 4%

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