Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior support engineers and support leads can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior support engineer and a support lead. Additionally, a senior support engineer has an average salary of $107,037, which is higher than the $86,816 average annual salary of a support lead.
The top three skills for a senior support engineer include java, customer service and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a support lead are customer service, cash management, and POS.
| Senior Support Engineer | Support Lead | |
| Yearly salary | $107,037 | $86,816 |
| Hourly rate | $51.46 | $41.74 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 215,312 | 98,872 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A senior support engineer specializes in providing technical support to clients. They are typically in charge of working on complicated technical issues, resolving them promptly and efficiently. Their responsibilities include communicating with clients, addressing their needs, troubleshooting, and providing step by step solutions. They may also arrange repair appointments or refer clients to other services. Furthermore, as a senior support engineer, it is essential to lead and serve as a mentor to junior engineers, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
A support lead is typically in charge of overseeing the performance of a technical support team, ensuring efficiency and customer satisfaction. Their responsibilities revolve around assessing the performance of the workforce, resolving complex issues, identifying customer needs and sales opportunities, and training new team members. They may also perform calls and correspondence, respond to inquiries, and resolve issues promptly. Furthermore, as a support lead, it is essential to perform clerical tasks such as preparing progress reports, managing schedules, and maintaining records of transactions.
Senior support engineers and support leads have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Support Engineer | Support Lead | |
| Average salary | $107,037 | $86,816 |
| Salary range | Between $83,000 And $137,000 | Between $63,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Amazon | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | - |
There are a few differences between a senior support engineer and a support lead in terms of educational background:
| Senior Support Engineer | Support Lead | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between senior support engineers' and support leads' demographics:
| Senior Support Engineer | Support Lead | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.1% Female, 11.9% | Male, 52.3% Female, 47.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.2% Asian, 15.2% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 14.6% White, 54.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |