How To Become An Infrastructure Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is an infrastructure manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Matthew Liotine Ph.D.

Company employees use different computer programs and software to do their job. As such, it is important that companies use secure and updated programs to ensure efficiency and avoid security risks. Companies that are very dependent on such programs must especially ensure that the team in charge of taking care of the information technology infrastructure is skilled. They should have a competent infrastructure manager.

Infrastructure managers create IT-related plans, design infrastructure, implement systems, and evaluate the infrastructure itself. They should also be able to do maintenance work and should be skilled in doing troubleshooting. They should also be able to review if the current lineup of software and programs is still aligned with what the company needs at the current time. Infrastructure managers must also have great foresight, and they should be able to identify possible areas for improvement.

If you enjoy working in an information technology-related field, this is a good career path for you. Of course, you need to be able to prove your skills and should have leadership capabilities in order to be an infrastructure manager.

What general advice would you give to an infrastructure manager?

Matthew Liotine Ph.D.

Clinical Professor and Director of Master of Science in Supply Chain and Operations Management, University of Illinois at Chicago

Most employers tell me that soft skills are equally, if not more important, than technical skills or domain knowledge. This translates into external/internal customer-facing skills, such as communication, team collaboration, writing, presentation, problem-solving, and being resourceful. (Many graduates overlook writing as a vital skill, but they fail to realize that in the course of their jobs, they will likely be required to write lots of memos and tons of emails.) The need to perfect these skills within the confines of a virtual world has become even more challenging and amplified with COVID. I teach in the information systems discipline, and when you view student resumes, many people look the same on paper. The soft skills will make a candidate stand out head and shoulders above the rest. That's why the candidate should pay attention to the screening interviews that they will undergo during the hiring process since employers will use these interviews to vet these skills.

ScoreInfrastructure ManagerUS Average

Salary

8.1

Avg. Salary $119,630

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 12.59%

Black or African American 6.80%

Hispanic or Latino 10.21%

Unknown 5.22%

White 64.98%

Gender

female 9.01%

male 90.99%

Age - 47

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 - 47

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an infrastructure manager

Explore infrastructure manager education requirements

Most common infrastructure manager degrees

Bachelor's

65.4 %

Master's

14.7 %

Associate

14.6 %

Start to develop specific infrastructure manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Cloud	11.38%
Project Management	8.79%
Incident Management	4.31%
VMware	4.26%
SAN	3.88%

Complete relevant infrastructure manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New infrastructure 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 an infrastructure manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real infrastructure manager resumes.

Gain additional infrastructure manager certifications

Infrastructure 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 infrastructure manager certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for infrastructure managers include IT Information Library Foundations Certification (ITIL) and Project Management Professional (PMP).

More About Certifications

Research infrastructure manager duties and responsibilities

Define managed services, draft SLAs, and develop and manage new vendor partnerships.
Project manage the cross-divisional technology team that implement the first centralize Citrix XP farm in the firm.
Manage a team of 10 providing support for the UNIX fleet of 300 servers for all headquarters applications.
Create proposal to move hosting environment from a manage service provider to a local co-location facility build on VMware ESX.

Prepare your infrastructure manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your infrastructure 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 an infrastructure 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 infrastructure manager resume templates

Build a professional infrastructure 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 infrastructure manager resume.