Senior application specialists are seasoned professionals in application engineering. They design software and computer applications to offer innovative solutions for various business needs. They oversee the entire process of creating applications, from design to implementation, testing, and delivery of the products. Senior professionals in this field serve organizational functions in addition, delegating tasks and managing projects for junior-level colleagues.
Working in this position, you will come up with designs and solutions in alignment with product specifications received from your clients or managers. You will implement software and support users within or outside your organization. Training customers on the correct use of the applications might be your job as well.
A degree in computer science, software design, or an IT-related area is typically required from candidates for this position. You will need leadership skills and the ability to manage your time, and others', efficiently. Problem solving and troubleshooting will be a big part of the job, and the ability to work in a team and communicate efficiently will be crucial. Holding this position will earn you $95,614 a year on average.
How to Become a Senior Application Specialist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior application specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $48.31 an hour? That's $100,475 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 83,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Application Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many senior application specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, listening skills and speaking skills.
How To Become a Senior Application Specialist
If you're interested in becoming a senior application specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.6% of senior application specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 12.6% of senior application specialists have master's degrees. Even though most senior application specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior application specialist. When we researched the most common majors for a senior application specialist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior application specialist resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior application specialist. In fact, many senior application specialist jobs require experience in a role such as application specialist. Meanwhile, many senior application specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as consultant or programmer analyst.
Senior Application Specialist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a senior application specialist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as project manager, progress to a title such as senior project manager and then eventually end up with the title senior project manager.
Average Salary for a Senior Application Specialist
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Senior Application Specialists
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
5. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
6. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
7. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
8. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
9. New York University
New York, NY • Private
10. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA • Private
Top Skills For a Senior Application Specialist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.5% of senior application specialists listed project management on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and listening skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Application Specialist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Senior Application Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Senior Application Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Senior Application Specialist Demographics
Senior Application Specialist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among senior application specialists, 39.7% of them are women, while 60.3% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among senior application specialists is White, which makes up 59.4% of all senior application specialists.
- The most common foreign language among senior application specialists is Spanish at 25.0%.
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Best States For a Senior Application Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior application specialist. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. Senior application specialists make the most in Washington with an average salary of $124,851. Whereas in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, they would average $117,643 and $117,101, respectively. While senior application specialists would only make an average of $116,776 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Massachusetts
$117,643
Avg. Salary
2. Oregon
$115,267
Avg. Salary
3. Washington
$124,851
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Application Specialist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Application Specialist Employers
Most Common Employers For Senior Application Specialist
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cedars-Sinai | $126,469 | $60.80 | 11 |
| 2 | CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield | $117,601 | $56.54 | 12 |
| 3 | Nokia | $112,558 | $54.11 | 7 |
| 4 | New York Life Insurance | $112,000 | $53.85 | 17 |
| 5 | MEDITECH | $111,108 | $53.42 | 57 |
| 6 | Spirent Communications | $110,219 | $52.99 | 9 |
| 7 | SAP | $109,817 | $52.80 | 10 |
| 8 | DXC Technology | $105,926 | $50.93 | 13 |
| 9 | Cigna | $104,571 | $50.27 | 5 |
| 10 | Daimler Trucks North America | $102,890 | $49.47 | 5 |