How to hire a senior information technology manager

How to hire a senior information technology manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior information technology manager hiring guide:

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

What does a senior information technology manager do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a senior information technology manager, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   A senior information technology manager's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior information technology managers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of senior information technology manager salaries for various roles:

   Type of Senior Information Technology Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Information Technology Manager	Computer and information systems managers, often called information technology (IT) managers or IT project managers, plan, coordinate, and direct computer-related activities in an organization. They help determine the information technology goals of an organization and are responsible for implementing computer systems to meet those goals.	$47-86
   Systems Manager	A systems manager is responsible for monitoring the operations of the information technology department, evaluating staff performance, developing strategic procedures to maximize productivity, and identifying business opportunities that would generate more revenues and profitability for the company. Systems managers inspect company networks to ensure the efficiency of the technology systems, conducting regular diagnostic tests, and installing upgrades to boost optimization... Show more	$36-73
   Chief Information Officer	A chief information officer, also known as CIO, is responsible for the technological development within the company or organization. Primarily overseeing all information technology-related operations, a chief information officer takes the lead in setting the department's budget, developing strategies that will improve computer systems, and implementing policies to attain significant growth in profit and client base... Show more	$47-105

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Project Management
   • Cloud
   • Architecture
   • Customer Service
   • SR
   • Emerging Technologies
   • Digital Transformation
   • Excellent Interpersonal
   • Process Improvement
   • SAN
   • Service Delivery
   • Software Development
   • Application Development
   • Scrum

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage QA and set and ensure compliance with development standards.
   • Develop methodology and process to rationalize, evaluate, and manage global freight forwarders.
   • Manage a team that maintain, enhance, and support finance and payroll applications.
   • Lead brainstorming and prototyping with application teams on the edge of new technical capabilities (e.g.
   • Upgrade all desktops/laptops from WinXP to Win7 deploying a manage, stable and secure OS build.
   • Upgrade and manage company web sites in WordPress, using plug-ins, theme and PHP customization.

   More senior information technology manager duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior information technology manager job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A senior information technology manager salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a senior information technology manager in Arkansas may be lower than in California, and an entry-level senior information technology manager usually earns less than a senior-level senior information technology manager. Additionally, a senior information technology manager with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average senior information technology manager salary

   $133,138yearly

   $64.01 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior information technology manager salary

   $98,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 20, 2026

   Average senior information technology manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$162,802	$78
   2	Washington	$143,544	$69
   3	New York	$136,259	$66
   4	Massachusetts	$136,213	$65
   5	Arizona	$132,698	$64
   6	Connecticut	$129,231	$62
   7	Virginia	$125,424	$60
   8	Illinois	$124,236	$60
   9	Maryland	$123,947	$60
   10	Michigan	$123,877	$60
   11	Pennsylvania	$123,625	$59
   12	Texas	$122,606	$59
   13	New Jersey	$122,384	$59
   14	Ohio	$120,225	$58
   15	District of Columbia	$119,851	$58
   16	Indiana	$119,035	$57
   17	North Carolina	$118,423	$57
   18	Florida	$117,624	$57
   19	Utah	$116,803	$56
   20	Georgia	$114,489	$55

   Average senior information technology manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Netflix	$181,934	$87.47	21
   2	Bain & Company	$180,771	$86.91	7
   3	VMware	$178,243	$85.69
   4	Safeway	$177,378	$85.28
   5	Twitter	$177,207	$85.20	1
   6	PayPal	$175,742	$84.49	34
   7	First Republic Bank	$174,502	$83.90
   8	Dolby Laboratories	$173,849	$83.58	7
   9	Box	$172,556	$82.96	7
   10	Stanford Health Care	$172,372	$82.87	39
   11	ServiceNow	$171,034	$82.23	72
   12	LinkedIn	$170,907	$82.17	41
   13	Okta	$170,669	$82.05	39
   14	World Council of Credit Unions	$170,442	$81.94
   15	Coinbase	$169,493	$81.49	323
   16	Cloudian	$169,153	$81.32
   17	Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama	$168,576	$81.05
   18	Sarepta Therapeutics	$168,461	$80.99	1
   19	Vista Equity Partners	$167,598	$80.58
   20	Reata Pharmaceuticals	$167,131	$80.35

4. Writing a senior information technology manager job description

   A senior information technology manager 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 senior information technology manager job description:

   Senior information technology manager job description example

   The Technical Leader will be responsible for managing a professional Information Technology staff of Windows and Unix Senior System Administrators, Network Administrators and Infrastructure Architects S/he will lead the IT Infrastructure teams and engage in design, development, and maintenance of a wide variety of infrastructure, network and telecommunication infrastructure components to meet business needs, goals and objectives. In addition to working with Technology management and staff, this position will be expected to build and maintain strong customer-focused relationships and work with project, program managers and staff to ensure cost-effective, high priority technology solutions are delivered in support of business needs. Working with other members of the IT management team, this position will participate in the development of long-term IT infrastructure planning, strategies, policies and standards to meet business and customer service level objectives.
   
   + Manage IT systems staff in architecting, designing, implementing, testing, and deploying infrastructure solutions.
   
   + Lead, hire, train, coach, and mentor the performance across teams for Network Administrators Windows & Linux System Administrators and Infrastructure architects
   
   + Responsible for on-call schedule, escalation support, environment monitoring and overall infrastructure performance
   
   + Support the technical managers and software development manager in defining and managing infrastructure related to development projects in terms of planning, estimates, scheduling, task allocation, monitoring, risk and issue management etc.
   
   + Work together with Technology management, technology and business areas as required to understand requirements and deliver software solutions and products.
   
   + Work closely with Information Security teams to address vulnerabilities and adhere to security standards
   + Help team in identifying and managing risks. + Guiding and mentoring IT staff, including technical skills and knowledge development, and soft skills. + Work with other Technology management and architecture team members to define future infrastructure and team road map as it relates to the software product vision + Create and enforce service level agreements for IT support, support policies, and change management processes. + Maintain, update and/or improve service continuity and DR plans. + Work with other departmental management to define infrastructure as it relates to future business needs. + Financial and budgetary literacy to assist in costing ARS' + Active participant in hardware and software product selection and hardware and software vendor management. + Develop and maintain a high-level of expertise in new trends and tools + Attend executive staff meetings and be prepared to report on SLAs, Capacity Planning Repots, critical projects, + This position has direct reports. Technical Requirements: + Ability to manage and work with Senior Systems Admin for Windows, Unix, Networking and Telephony + Advanced understanding leading troubleshooting efforts for Windows, Unix and Networking + Advanced understanding and ability to lead engineers through troubleshooting Performance and/or Network related issues + Advanced working knowledge of Windows and Unix environments + Strong understanding supporting Active Directory + Ability to delegate projects task to team members and drive to committed timelines + Leverage monitoring tools to develop capacity planning reports and SLA's + In-depth technical proficiency in analysis and design of multiple OS environments, platforms, and technologies or an equivalent combination of education/experience required. Education and Experience Requirements: + Bachelor's degree (BA, BS) or equivalent experience in the Computer Science or related field. + 7-10 years' experience with IT project management, personnel management, management of corporate systems. + At least 3-5 years' experience supervising IT or technical teams + Excellent communication and organizational skills + Exceptional people's leader who can motivate and drive teams and initiatives Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions, there may be a need to move or lift light articles. AutoZone, and its subsidiary, ALLDATA are equal opportunity employers. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status, or any other legally protected categories.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find senior information technology managers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior information technology manager job on Zippia to find and recruit senior information technology manager candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting senior information technology managers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   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 senior information technology manager

   Once you've selected the best senior information technology manager candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them 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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