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Support lead vs senior support technician

The differences between support leads and senior support technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a support lead and a senior support technician. Additionally, a support lead has an average salary of $86,816, which is higher than the $74,459 average annual salary of a senior support technician.

The top three skills for a support lead include customer service, cash management and POS. The most important skills for a senior support technician are customer service, technical support, and troubleshoot.

Support lead vs senior support technician overview

Support LeadSenior Support Technician
Yearly salary$86,816$74,459
Hourly rate$41.74$35.80
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs98,872113,499
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age4242
Years of experience22

What does a support lead do?

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.

What does a senior support technician do?

A senior support technician is an individual specializing in diagnosing and resolving information technology (IT)-related problems in an organization, including virus issues, forgotten passwords, and software updates. The job requires knowledge about the installation, configuration, and testing of computer hardware and software. Possessing excellent customer service, listening, and problem-solving skills is also vital to qualify for the position. The job's education requirements include an associate or bachelor's degree in computer science, business, information technology, or a related field.

Support lead vs senior support technician salary

Support leads and senior support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

Support LeadSenior Support Technician
Average salary$86,816$74,459
Salary rangeBetween $63,000 And $118,000Between $48,000 And $114,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CADurham, NC
Highest paying stateCaliforniaPennsylvania
Best paying companyApplePacira BioSciences
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between support lead and senior support technician education

There are a few differences between a support lead and a senior support technician in terms of educational background:

Support LeadSenior Support Technician
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common majorBusinessComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Support lead vs senior support technician demographics

Here are the differences between support leads' and senior support technicians' demographics:

Support LeadSenior Support Technician
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 52.3% Female, 47.7%Male, 78.4% Female, 21.6%
Race ratioBlack 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%Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 11.1% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between support lead and senior support technician duties and responsibilities

Support lead example responsibilities.

  • Manage chemical and gas specifications, ensuring they are in line with ISO requirements.
  • Lead a team of services professionals to provide store operations and point-of-sale (POS) hardware and software solutions.
  • Develop and manage a unify desktop/notebook PC image.
  • Manage ticket queues and prioritize escalations base on establish SLA's and resource availability.
  • Manage data mapping from legacy CRM systems, including creating data mapping documentation in preparation for migration to Salesforce.com.
  • Develop and maintain UNIX / Linux shell scripts to ensure smooth system operations and to facilitate critical reporting to security teams.
  • Show more

Senior support technician example responsibilities.

  • Manage the virtual platforms utilize in the office using VMWare.
  • Serve as a SME and the main point of contact when agents and other leads have questions.
  • Organize and maintain Linux labs.
  • Help resolve terminal server and citrix environment issues.
  • Research Linux server logs to find errors within applications.
  • Train customers in hardware and software on both the pc and mac.
  • Show more

Support lead vs senior support technician skills

Common support lead skills
  • Customer Service, 12%
  • Cash Management, 12%
  • POS, 7%
  • Sales Floor, 7%
  • Payroll, 5%
  • Infrastructure, 5%
Common senior support technician skills
  • Customer Service, 13%
  • Technical Support, 11%
  • Troubleshoot, 9%
  • Desk Support, 4%
  • Phone Calls, 4%
  • Mac, 4%

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