How To Become A Senior Manager-Systems: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior manager-systems and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A senior manager-systems leads the departments that manage the systems that allow a company to function. Their exact duties depend on their industry and the systems that they manage. For example, some senior manager-systems are in charge of people systems (which is a fancy way of saying HR), but most often they manage IT systems. Senior managers-systems need to have excellent leadership skills since they have to supervise the work of entire departments, including more junior managers. They need some technical knowledge, especially if they work with IT systems, in order to update technical infrastructure to fulfill their company's goals. Senior managers-systems also have administrative duties such as documenting changes and making sure the company complies with government regulations.

Most senior managers-systems have a bachelor's or even a master's degree in business or computer science. It is very difficult to break into this field with only an associate's degree, although not impossible.

Senior managers-systems also need many years of professional experience in their field, including several years as junior managers. Only then can they earn a promotion to senior management, which comes with an average salary of $144,756 a year.

ScoreSenior Manager-SystemsUS Average

Salary

8.6

Avg. Salary $140,030

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 13.31%

Black or African American 6.49%

Hispanic or Latino 9.74%

Unknown 5.18%

White 65.07%

Gender

female 19.41%

male 80.59%

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 a senior manager-systems

Explore senior manager-systems education requirements

Most common senior manager-systems degrees

Bachelor's

67.6 %

Master's

18.2 %

Associate

10.1 %

Start to develop specific senior manager-systems skills

Skills	Percentages
Project Management	7.62%
Continuous Improvement	5.32%
Architecture	5.19%
Infrastructure	5.15%
SR	4.77%

Complete relevant senior manager-systems training and internships

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

Gain additional senior manager-systems certifications

Senior manager-systems 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 senior manager-systems certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

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

More About Certifications

Research senior manager-systems duties and responsibilities

Manage data acquisition, ETL and report generation operations on a daily basis.
Manage a staff of senior application and user interface developers using scrum and agile.
Manage service level objectives, service level agreements, and RFP processes with technology vendors.
Lead corporate/division initiatives ISO 9001, AS9 000, Boeing D1 9000 and other customer requirements.

Get senior manager-systems experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a senior manager-systems. The most common roles before becoming a senior manager-systems include manager, systems manager team lead and project manager.

Prepare your senior manager-systems resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior manager-systems 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 a senior manager-systems resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior manager-systems resume templates

Build a professional senior manager-systems 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 senior manager-systems resume.

Apply for senior manager-systems jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior manager-systems job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior managers-systems rate their job?

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Senior manager-systems reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

I enjoy problem-solving and identifying a path to completing a complex project. I like to ensure that moving parts come together smoothly and communicating successes and celebrating with the team.

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2020

Pros

I love managing teams and taking the challenge

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019

Cons

Above 50% Travel can be distracting and I’ll prefer to travel less