How To Become A Senior Office Administrator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior office administrator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Janice Garnett Ed.D.

Managers and analysts in an office spend their days chasing sales, creating business strategies, and doing all sorts of important work. But who makes sure that everybody in the office gets paid, goes to their scheduled meetings, and even has access to coffee? That's the job of the senior office administrator.

The senior office administrator is in charge of making sure that the office runs smoothly. They take on administrative tasks like managing the payroll, coordinating calendars for executives, and processing compensation claims when necessary. The senior office administrator also helps manage correspondence, communicates with people outside the office, and pretty much does whatever it takes to help the office run smoothly.

Of course, the senior office administrator can't do all this alone. They usually run a team of administrative assistants and office administrators who take care of all the necessary clerical work. In fact, many senior office administrators start off as administrative assistants themselves before working their way up.

What general advice would you give to a senior office administrator?

Janice Garnett Ed.D.

Senior Lecturer, University of Nebraska - Omaha

Negotiate based on research, develop a career development plan, focus on enhancing performance, professional growth, and continuous learning.

ScoreSenior Office AdministratorUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,396

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.0

Growth rate -8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%

Asian 5.15%

Black or African American 11.17%

Hispanic or Latino 18.07%

Unknown 4.71%

White 60.26%

Gender

female 83.95%

male 16.05%

Age - 48

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 - 48

Stress level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior office administrator

Explore senior office administrator education requirements

Most common senior office administrator degrees

Bachelor's

45.3 %

Associate

28.7 %

High School Diploma

9.6 %

Start to develop specific senior office administrator skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Entry	9.67%
Human Resources	9.02%
SR	8.62%
Office Procedures	6.54%
Travel Arrangements	6.24%

Complete relevant senior office administrator training and internships

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

Research senior office administrator duties and responsibilities

Manage a wide and vary range of planning, organizing, and directing the operations of this large CPA firm.
Submit authorization requests to several insurance companies for patients' MRI, medication authorization, physical therapy and other patient procedures.
Document entire A/R position responsibilities, processes and procedures.

Get senior office administrator experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a senior office administrator. The most common roles before becoming a senior office administrator include administrative assistant, office administrator team lead and office manager.

Prepare your senior office administrator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior office administrator 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 office administrator 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 office administrator resume templates

Build a professional senior office administrator 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 office administrator resume.