How to hire a team lead/manager

How to hire a team lead/manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step team lead/manager hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a team lead/manager job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new team lead/manager
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a team lead/manager do?

Post a team lead/manager job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the team lead/manager you need to hire. Certain team lead/manager roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect team lead/manager also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of team lead/managers.

   Type of Team Lead/Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Team Lead/Manager		$25-69
   Customer Service Team Lead	A customer service team lead is responsible for managing a group of customer service agents. They monitor their tasks and productivity and report the team's performance to senior management... Show more	$13-22
   Support Manager	A support manager is responsible for developing strategic technical solutions to improve business performance for client satisfaction and improve revenues. Support managers must have excellent knowledge of the technical processes and disciplines, as well as business systems in handling the information networks and systems of the company... Show more	$27-67

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Excellent Interpersonal
   • Customer Service
   • Cleanliness
   • Inventory Management
   • Product Knowledge
   • Leadership
   • Quality Standards
   • Performance Evaluations
   • Inventory Control
   • Payroll
   • Direct Reports
   • R
   • Performance Reviews
   • Sales Floor

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Motivate the team to achieve high standards and KPI targets.
   • Manage all aspects of training support, including instructional design, eLearning development, and the administration of training systems.
   • Design and develop UNIX scripts to manage processing and archiving of daily orders, processing of credit card authorizations and billing.
   • Demonstrate style of leadership that combine discipline with compassion to achieve outstanding results and unmistakable team morale on battlefield.
   • Manage an embed Facebook executive protection team that provide security and logistical support for a corporate executive and his family.
   • Analyze denials by Medicare and Medicaid to determine if an appeal is needed.

   More team lead/manager duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your team lead/manager job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A team lead/manager can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, team lead/managers' average salary in oklahoma is 55% less than in rhode island.
   • Seniority. Entry-level team lead/managers 63% less than senior-level team lead/managers.
   • Certifications. A team lead/manager 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 team lead/manager's salary.

   Average team lead/manager salary

   $88,042yearly

   $42.33 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level team lead/manager salary

   $53,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 14, 2025

   Average team lead/manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$119,930	$58
   2	New York	$111,152	$53
   3	Maryland	$109,283	$53
   4	Massachusetts	$101,697	$49
   5	Washington	$98,812	$48
   6	Michigan	$96,235	$46
   7	Illinois	$95,071	$46
   8	Oregon	$92,335	$44
   9	Minnesota	$91,622	$44
   10	Hawaii	$89,540	$43
   11	Virginia	$85,489	$41
   12	Colorado	$84,438	$41
   13	North Carolina	$83,853	$40
   14	South Carolina	$83,101	$40
   15	Florida	$81,865	$39
   16	Iowa	$80,500	$39
   17	Nebraska	$79,444	$38
   18	Missouri	$79,302	$38
   19	Texas	$75,851	$36
   20	Utah	$73,054	$35

   Average team lead/manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Google	$149,367	$71.81
   2	Bloomberg	$134,568	$64.70	27
   3	Citi	$117,822	$56.65	2
   4	Epsilon	$114,465	$55.03
   5	Intel	$110,941	$53.34
   6	Netskope	$109,828	$52.80
   7	Los Alamos National Laboratory	$108,424	$52.13	7
   8	Ventois	$108,287	$52.06
   9	Merck	$105,694	$50.81	102
   10	Wolters Kluwer	$105,323	$50.64
   11	NTT Data International L.L.C.	$104,358	$50.17	5
   12	QuintilesIMS	$102,369	$49.22	1
   13	Medtronic	$101,872	$48.98	2
   14	Datavail Corporation	$100,758	$48.44
   15	Washington Trust Bank	$100,647	$48.39
   16	Booz Allen Hamilton	$100,324	$48.23	2
   17	EPAM Systems	$99,348	$47.76
   18	Nes Holdings	$99,141	$47.66
   19	Tarana Wireless	$99,127	$47.66
   20	iHeartMedia	$98,449	$47.33	7

4. Writing a team lead/manager job description

   A job description for a team lead/manager role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a team lead/manager job description:

   Team lead/manager job description example

   To create positive memories for all who touch DQ. To oversee entire restaurant operations including financial performance, product production, inventory, personnel, sales, and marketing for the restaurant. To ensure restaurant is operated within guidelines established by owner. To set high standards and create a great environment for the team to work.
   Requirements/Responsibilities Operations -
   Strive for operational levels that meet or exceed the Fan’s expectations in the areas of quality, service and atmosphere, creating value through an excellent experience and a fair price.
   
   Training -
   Ensure that every member of management and crew is trained and fully knowledgeable on all PRIDE systems and routines, product recipes, food safety practices and restaurant safety practices.
   
   Business Planning -
   1) Develop the restaurant’s business plan by working with the owner
   Manage restaurant profit & loss to optimize sales and profit, analyzing COGS and taking corrective action if necessary, maintaining inventory, projecting restaurant demand changes throughout the year and adjusting labor accordingly, and ensuring that cash control/security procedures are followed. Prepare financial and sales forecasts and budgets, review financial reports regularly for variances, establish and monitor financial controls.
   2) Develop and implement strategies to increase average meal checks and frequency of Fan visits.
   
   Fan Service -
   1) Ensure that Fan service in all areas meets or exceeds company standards.
   2) Establish standards for the management team and crew to handle customer concerns.
   3) Ensure that customer complaints are promptly and appropriately addressed to resolve the problem and ensure that each dissatisfied customer becomes a return Fan.
   Understands the importance of speed of service and resolve bottlenecks in work flow.
   4) Build relationships with return or preferred patrons.
   
   Team Member Leadership
   
   1) Accomplish store objectives by hiring, training, coaching and developing the store management team and hourly crew members to build a highly skilled and productive team.
   2) Ensure thorough training and new hire orientations take place; clearly communicate job expectations; monitor each employee and manager’s performance and job contributions, provide ongoing and helpful feedback against expectations.
   3) Responsible for effective scheduling and ensuring that the restaurant is properly staffed to drive sales volumes. Prepare crew members’ schedules and approve schedules completed by assistant managers to meet staffing requirements for different day parts and different seasonal demands, and to meet established labor goals.
   4) Role model and enforce policies and procedures.
   5) Maintain a positive working relationship with all restaurant staff to foster and promote a cooperative and pleasant working climate, which will be conducive to maximizing employee morale, productivity and efficiency. Special Instructions Please do not send any emails, resumes, or call.
   We are making it really easy to apply for this position.
   
   Simply submit a ZippyApp application package which may include the Common Employment Application, Resume, and a Cover Letter. In your Cover Letter, please write a short paragraph describing yourself and why you would make a great addition to our team. ZippyApp is the Common Employment Application for online and mobile that allows you to apply for jobs with one click, and is being accepted at a growing number of businesses each day.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right team lead/manager 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 team lead/managers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit team lead/managers 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 team lead/manager job on Zippia to find and recruit team lead/manager candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit team lead/managers, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   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.

   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 team lead/manager

   Once you've decided on a perfect team lead/manager 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.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   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.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a team lead/manager?