How to hire a leader tier

How to hire a leader tier, step by step

Here's a step-by-step leader tier hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a leader tier job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new leader tier
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the leader tier you need to hire. Certain leader tier roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect leader tier also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of leader tiers.

   Type of Leader Tier	Description	Hourly rate
   Leader Tier	Computer support specialists provide help and advice to people and organizations using computer software or equipment. Some, called computer network support specialists, support information technology (IT) employees within their organization... Show more	$16-84
   Help Desk Analyst	Help Desk Analysts generally provide technical support by assisting customers with their system issues. These analysts are expected to be highly knowledgeable about application processes and basic troubleshooting... Show more	$12-25
   Information Technology/Support Technician	An information technology (IT) support technician is a professional who is responsible for providing support and troubleshoots software and hardware problems faced by customers. As for larger organizations that have their own IT department, technicians must work together internally with their IT staff members... Show more	$14-31

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Windows
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Configuration Management
   • Technical Support
   • Customer Support
   • Switches
   • Network Troubleshooting
   • Technical Issues
   • Customer Care
   • Trouble Tickets
   • Network Issues
   • Help-Desk Support
   • Level Support
   • NOC

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Develop within SharePoint and manage the SharePoint environment.
   • Perform ATP's of new Cisco and Siemens' switches at the RDC sites.
   • Provision customer profiles on DSL routers and switches.
   • Analyze staff SLA performance in adherence with each of the various business group agreements.
   • Create internal client reports for trend analysis and ensure all SLA's are met and/or exceed.
   • Interface with functional users and other network operations centers (NOC's) in both routine and reactive monitoring situations.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your leader tier job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A leader tier salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, leader tiers' average salary in hawaii is 61% less than in new york.
   • Seniority. Entry-level leader tiers earn 81% less than senior-level leader tiers.
   • Certifications. A leader tier with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a leader tier's salary.

   Average leader tier salary

   $77,701yearly

   $37.36 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level leader tier salary

   $34,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

4. Writing a leader tier job description

   A leader tier job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a leader tier job description:

   Leader tier job description example

   • Bachelor’s Degree or a combination of technical training, certifications, and experience
   • CCNA/CCNP, MSCS or other related certifications or specialty experience:
   • 7+ Years of Systems engineering design and operations experience.
   • 7+ Years' experience with configuring, securing, and troubleshooting end-user computing devices
   • Solution engineering design and transition for Active Directory, SolarWinds, SCCM, VMware, Desktop EndPoint Solutions to include Apple products, Identity Management solutions (Sailpoint), and Virtual Hosting/Data Storage Management.
   • ITIL Foundations
   • Systems Engineering Certificates
   • Experience in System Development Life Cycle.
   • Experience in designing systems architectures, such as DODAF
   • Security+ CE (or appropriate DoDM 8570 Baseline Certification)
   • CISSP, CASP+ CE (or appropriate DoDM 8570 Baseline Certification)
   • IAT Level III certification is required before start

   Responsibilities:

   • Completes activities to support system integration, system evaluation and analysis, site surveys, verification and validation, cost and risk, and supportability and effectiveness analysis for total systems and architectures.
   • Conduct advanced research and analysis of current systems to support development of strategic implementation plans and designs, document and mitigate risks as well as lessons learned, and provide regular updates.
   • Research and collaborate with vendors and various groups, such as R&D, Server and Network teams, and provide recommendations on how to leverage emerging technology to improve mission assurance.
   • Conducts engineering technical analysis to support resolving issues through application of engineering theories and concepts.
   • Support the operational assessment and documentation of systems security and compliance posture to maintain accreditation.
   • Provide input to project schedules, identify and mitigate risks, document lessons learned, and deliver regular updates to stakeholders
   • Develops implementation plans, SOPs, schedules, and other pertinent documents and artifacts
   • Leads desktop tier III support activities and integrates team to support group policy objects (GPO) support through
   • Oversees/support Desktop support activities including, but not limited to, desktop support, imaging, MS System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), and GPO (augment as needed)

   Knowledge and Skills:

   • Exhibit the flexibility to multitask, refocus and shift priorities to support the mission, warfighter and customer requirements.
   • Adapt for working in team oriented or independent projects
   • Lead a multi-functional team, prioritize actions, and support customer requirements
   • Excellent technical writing & presentation skills
   • .
   • Maintain a strong understanding of networking architecture, servers, systems design, virtual hosts, and configuration management and licensing.
   • Ability to visualize proposed solutions in diagrams, feasibility documents and reports (i.e., understanding/experience with OV-1/SV-1 diagrams)
   • Document Standard Operating Procedures and guides.
   • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
   • Ability to organize and facilitate planning and demonstrations
   • Ability to track, manage, and ensure project tasks are completed in a timely manner
   • Ability form and lead integrated product teams (IPT) to support the activities and meet customer requirements

   Technical Knowledge

   • Understanding of the technical environment
   • Microsoft operating system
   • Understanding of Apple computing devices
   • Joint Regional Security Stack (JRSS)
   • Cisco switches, routers, and VPN products
   • Bluecoat Web Proxies
   • Aruba Wireless products
   • Remedy ITSM/ServiceNow
   • SolarWinds Network Configuration Monitor (NCM)
   • System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)
   • Palo Alto Firewalls
   • Netscout (desired)

   Clearance/Citizenship:

   • Secret
   • Must be US Citizen

   Travel Requirements:

   This position will involve minimal travel

   Location: Fort Meade, MD

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right leader tier for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your leader tier job on Zippia to find and recruit leader tier candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit leader tiers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a leader tier applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new leader tier

   Once you have selected a candidate for the leader tier position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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