How to hire a senior technical support specialist

How to hire a senior technical support specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior technical support specialist 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 technical support specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior technical support specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior technical support specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your senior technical support specialist job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a senior technical support specialist for hire on a part-time basis or as a 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 technical support specialist's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior technical support specialists 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.

   This list shows salaries for various types of senior technical support specialists.

   Type of Senior Technical Support Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Technical Support Specialist	Computer support specialists provide help and advice to people and organizations using computer software or equipment. Some, called computer network support specialists, support information technology (IT) employees within their organization... Show more	$23-51
   Computer Support Technician	A computer support technician is responsible for diagnosing and resolving computer and network issues, identifying the source of malfunctions, and improving infrastructure to avoid downtimes and operational delays. Computer support technicians manage the efficiency of all equipment and peripherals for the computers, assist in installing components, and keeping adequate resources or alternatives for defective items... Show more	$16-24
   Lead Support Technician	Lead support technicians test and troubleshoot onboard systems by using various interface tools and proprietary software. Besides following instructions, lead support technicians also work hand-in-hand with managers to ensure all quality standards are implemented... Show more	$30-67

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Customer Service
   • Printers
   • Phone Calls
   • Desktop Support
   • Remote Desktop
   • Technical Issues
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Software Issues
   • Issue Resolution
   • Software Applications
   • Computer System
   • Mac
   • Customer Issues
   • OS

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage configurations of SysMaster VoIP servers to establish call-routing between origination & termination points.
   • Maintain district servers (web, ftp, dhcp, dns, and file servers )
   • Search SQL databases for system errors to escalate report issues to development for faster resolution.
   • Review stored procedures within SQL database that compute sales tax reports and customer reports and resolve bugs.
   • Supervise and schedule relocation of new PC equipment.
   • Modify existing programs using HTML, CSS, and Java.

   More senior technical support specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior technical support specialist job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A senior technical support specialist can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, senior technical support specialists' average salary in alaska is 58% less than in delaware.
   • Seniority. Entry-level senior technical support specialists 56% less than senior-level senior technical support specialists.
   • Certifications. A senior technical support specialist with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a senior technical support specialist's salary.

   Average senior technical support specialist salary

   $72,587yearly

   $34.90 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior technical support specialist salary

   $48,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average senior technical support specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$84,393	$41
   2	Ohio	$83,905	$40
   3	District of Columbia	$82,321	$40
   4	Massachusetts	$81,942	$39
   5	Pennsylvania	$78,485	$38
   6	New York	$76,576	$37
   7	Maryland	$76,127	$37
   8	Missouri	$75,769	$36
   9	Michigan	$75,308	$36
   10	Connecticut	$75,015	$36
   11	Georgia	$72,603	$35
   12	Texas	$72,598	$35
   13	Nevada	$70,760	$34
   14	Minnesota	$70,533	$34
   15	North Carolina	$69,316	$33
   16	Florida	$69,115	$33
   17	Indiana	$69,094	$33
   18	Arizona	$68,309	$33
   19	Virginia	$67,052	$32
   20	Illinois	$65,447	$31

   Average senior technical support specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	SAS Institute	$110,437	$53.09	13
   2	Standard Chartered	$97,533	$46.89	14
   3	Motorola Solutions	$93,318	$44.86	35
   4	Conga	$91,695	$44.08
   5	Sungard Availability Services	$90,365	$43.44
   6	CyberCoders	$88,125	$42.37
   7	BNY Mellon	$86,539	$41.61	15
   8	Wolters Kluwer	$85,939	$41.32	205
   9	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	$85,453	$41.08	2
   10	Fluidigm	$83,219	$40.01
   11	HCSC	$83,117	$39.96	13
   12	RAND	$82,096	$39.47	1
   13	Teamlogicit	$80,694	$38.80	24
   14	FANUC America	$79,292	$38.12
   15	Forcepoint	$79,241	$38.10	1
   16	Honeywell	$78,243	$37.62	20
   17	AGCO	$78,202	$37.60	20
   18	Rand Imaginit Technologies	$78,073	$37.54
   19	Dahl Consulting	$78,047	$37.52	4
   20	Johnson Controls	$77,722	$37.37	70

4. Writing a senior technical support specialist job description

   A good senior technical support specialist job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a senior technical support specialist job description:

   Senior technical support specialist job description example

   Work type: Full Time
   School/Department: Columbia Business School Grade: Grade 12 Categories: Information Technology Job Type: Officer of Administration Bargaining Unit: Regular/Temporary: Regular End Date if Temporary: Hours Per Week: 35 Salary Range: Commensurate with experience Position Summary
   
   Reporting to the Director of Faculty and Staff IT Services, the incumbent's primary responsibility is to serve as the contact for the technology needs of the Columbia Business School faculty and PhD students.The position, both independently and as part of a faculty support team, works with clients on a wide-ranging one-on-one basis, providing concierge access to the range of services ITG provides.All efforts of the faculty support team are coordinated by the team's lead.The team also assists in supporting the School's other clients when necessary.This position works with high level constitutes and is expected to act as a role model for the support organization both technically and professionally. The incumbent must have time management skills and a strong sense of personal responsibility for the needs of their clients.Columbia Business School is a leader in its field, and the incumbent must be able to accommodate a corresponding level of expectations and outcomes.
   
   Responsible for end user support for assigned services.Provides day-to-day 1st and/or 2nd level support, both in person and remote. Provides world class service and support, includes VIP support.S/he has responsibilities for advanced support.This individual works under minimal direction, often without supervision.
   
   Responsibilities
   Responds to our clients' in-person, email, and telephone requests for assistance on a wide-ranging one-on-one basis, providing concierge access to the range of services ITG provides.Retain ownership of all received requests to ensure follow through, from initiation to resolution. Follow up and interact with all clients to their satisfaction. Installs, configures, and assists with installation of software and proper configuration of computers and mobile devices, and diagnosis of hardware problems.Provides new clients with CBS' computing environment orientation. Participates in the planning and implementation of upgrades, installations and hardware/software customizations.Performs break/fix work and software/hardware customizations.Manages all first level end user support of assigned services. Maintains good relationships with customers, peer technical groups and other IT support. Maintains current knowledge of commonly used hardware and software. Consults with our clients on their computing needs and purchasing decisions.Assists in the development and teaching of workshops on commonly used applications. Helps to write documentation and FAQs to assist clients in their computing tasks. Participates in the maintenance of a knowledge base of problems and solutions, and the web pages where it is presented.The knowledge base is a key reference in the resolution of future problems. Using ITIL-based software, tracks all issues and client requests.Researches and solves all computer-related problems for Business School faculty, PHD students, and divisional administrators. Participate in ITG Project Teams as requested and assists other ITG teams when needed. Performs other duties as required.
   Minimum Qualifications
   
   Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent related experience required. Minimum 3-5 years of related experience is required.
   
   Must have demonstrated strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to explain technical issues to non-technical users. Strong customer service skills are required as is the ability to work with a wide variety of high-level constituents including faculty, PhD students and staff. Must be detail-oriented, self-motivated, can self-train, and require minimal direction while exercising good judgment.The ability to manage multiple, parallel activities, work under pressure and organize time and resources is a must.Expert level knowledge of key operating systems, system maintenance processes, and troubleshooting techniques. Must demonstrate ability to troubleshoot and resolve technical problems in recent MacOS and Windows 10/11 operating systems, as well as mobile operating systems.Thorough knowledge of software, networking and protocols common to the Business School computing environment such as:The Microsoft Office suite, the major web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge, TCP/IP networking and troubleshooting, antivirus and security solutions, workstation imaging solutions for Mac or PC, Security best practices such as data backup/management and HTML/simple scripting. Must understand state-of-the-art software and computing hardware.
   
   Work week is Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:00pm, plus occasional weekend work with compensating days off during Monday-Friday. Shifts and workdays may fluctuate as academic demands require.Occasional travel between buildings and off-site work required.
   
   Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran
   
   Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.
   
   Applications open: Aug 09 2022Eastern Daylight Time
   Applications close:

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5. Post your job

   To find the right senior technical support specialist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with senior technical support specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit senior technical support specialists who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior technical support specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality senior technical support specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting senior technical support specialists 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.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview senior technical support specialist candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 technical support specialist

   Once you've decided on a perfect senior technical support specialist candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with 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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How much does it cost to hire a senior technical support specialist?