How to hire a technical support manager

How to hire a technical support manager, step by step

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

What does a technical support manager do?

Post a technical support manager job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a technical support manager, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   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 technical support 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 presents technical support manager salaries for various positions.

   Type of Technical Support Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Technical Support Manager	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	$36-71
   Support Lead	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... Show more	$30-56
   Information Technology Technical Services Manager	An information technology/technical services manager is responsible for supervising the operations of the information technology team, assisting the technical staff in providing efficient performance by improving technology systems and network infrastructure to support business functions. This job requires extensive knowledge of the technology industry, as well as an excellent command of programming and system processes to ensure smooth navigation and consistent transitions... Show more	$41-72

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Customer Service
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Project Management
   • Customer Support
   • Customer Complaints
   • Technical Assistance
   • Process Improvement
   • Call Handling
   • Product Development
   • Database
   • Salesforce
   • Troubleshoot
   • ITIL
   • Customer Issues

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage Compellent SAN and VMware environment.
   • Advertise and manage packages and collections in SCCM environment.
   • Manage fast-pace service desk according to ITIL best practices and standard operating procedures.
   • Authore and manage training guide updates for department best practices store on the department's SharePoint portal.
   • Manage development of next generation product with extensive geometry details and testing, in collaboration with an OEM.
   • Administer LINUX operating systems servers creating regions, users, installing products and applications to manage the servers and user needs.

   More technical support manager duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, technical support managers' average salary in mississippi is 42% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level technical support managers 49% less than senior-level technical support managers.
   • Certifications. A technical support 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 technical support manager's salary.

   Average technical support manager salary

   $106,760yearly

   $51.33 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level technical support manager salary

   $76,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 20, 2026

   Average technical support manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$148,265	$71
   2	Nevada	$127,092	$61
   3	Washington	$121,449	$58
   4	Michigan	$120,963	$58
   5	New Jersey	$120,160	$58
   6	District of Columbia	$119,809	$58
   7	North Carolina	$114,205	$55
   8	Massachusetts	$113,943	$55
   9	Indiana	$112,136	$54
   10	New York	$105,883	$51
   11	Pennsylvania	$105,693	$51
   12	Utah	$104,203	$50
   13	Oregon	$104,076	$50
   14	Arizona	$100,507	$48
   15	Texas	$99,929	$48
   16	Maryland	$97,808	$47
   17	Oklahoma	$96,400	$46
   18	Illinois	$93,636	$45
   19	Minnesota	$93,506	$45
   20	Georgia	$91,782	$44

   Average technical support manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	BitGo	$135,617	$65.20
   2	Juniper Networks	$133,726	$64.29
   3	Applied Materials	$132,519	$63.71	30
   4	Palo Alto Networks	$132,355	$63.63	68
   5	PayPal	$131,956	$63.44	5
   6	Investments & Wealth Institute	$130,002	$62.50
   7	ResMed	$129,071	$62.05	11
   8	Microsoft	$128,920	$61.98	194
   9	FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies	$128,618	$61.84	6
   10	Novo Nordisk	$128,470	$61.76
   11	A10 Networks	$128,242	$61.65
   12	BMC Software	$127,887	$61.48
   13	Infinera	$127,684	$61.39
   14	Victory Capital	$127,621	$61.36
   15	NetApp	$126,658	$60.89	12
   16	Dell	$126,501	$60.82	1
   17	UBS	$125,860	$60.51	6
   18	VMware	$125,457	$60.32
   19	ServiceNow	$125,306	$60.24	58
   20	Riverbed Holdings, Inc.	$125,018	$60.10	1

4. Writing a technical support manager job description

   A good technical support manager 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 technical support manager job description:

   Technical support manager job description example

   The Manager of Technical Application Support leads a small team of technical SME's that focus on diagnosing and fixing the most complex problems impairing the applications that power the world's largest and most dynamic temperature-controlled logistics company. At the heart of every one of our 400+ global warehouses is a collection of systems that must work flawlessly to keep operations moving.
   
   You are a technical leader and an innovator. You see continuous improvement as a way of life. You believe in SCRUM and thrive in a collaborative environment where customers, analysts, data scientists and developers collaborate to deliver working code. You have a passion for customer success and a sustained commitment to operational excellence. Above all, you bring a big-picture attitude to solving problems and inspire and mentor your team.
   
   At Lineage Logistics, the technology team's aim to build a small, highly skilled group that focuses on having the capability, knowledge, and skills in areas that define our core differentiators and leveraging cloud, best-of-breed technologies, and leverage external teams for capacity. This means that in addition to being a great manager, you need to be able to review and collaborate with partners to ensure that we get the same quality from them, too.
   ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS: Lead small team of employees that understand and support our core systems including: LinOS, Link, WCS, AAPI, Connect, and our Data Science algorithms Provide leadership and direction to ensure the application support team's efficiency. Escalate critical application support issues with the associated development teams Mentor and provide documentation to other support resources to minimize escalations Implement and utilize support tools that monitor and measure the effectiveness and availability of core applications Manage and use application support tools to make L1/L2 support teams more effective Utilize Incident and Problem Management to minimize MTTR and number of incidents Education and Work Experience: University degree in computer science, software engineering, or IT management and/or >5 years of relevant work experience 5+ years of direct software application support experience including at least 2 years as a software engineer and an equivalent amount of time spent leading technology teams Prior work experience with at least 3 of the following technologies: JavaScript (specifically React or node.js), Java, C#, Python, Transact-SQL, SQL-Server DB, and Postgres DB Previous exposure to or use of supply chain concepts and associated technologies including WMS, TMS, YMS, and related systems is preferred Required Skills and Abilities: Possess a willingness to be coached and proactively seek feedback Handle multiple assignments / projects simultaneously Properly set priority and order for work Work in a fast-paced, agile environment Ask for help and provide it to others Understand your skills and your talents and apply them appropriately Learn and apply new technologies and business concepts Maintain personal accountability for getting things done on time and with quality results Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills including the ability to explain technical concepts to business leaders #LLPR Why Lineage?
   
   This is an excellent position to begin your career path within Lineage! Success in this role enables greater responsibilities and promotions! A career at Lineage starts with learning about our business and how each team member plays a part each and every day to satisfy our customers' requirements. Beyond that, you'll help us grow and learn on our journey to be the very best employer in our industry. We'll ask you for your opinion and ensure we do our part to keep you developing and engaged as we grow our business. Working at Lineage is energizing and enjoyable. We value respect and care about our team members. Lineage is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and is committed to compliance with all federal, state, and local laws that prohibit workplace discrimination and unlawful harassment and retaliation. Lineage will not discriminate against any applicant on the basis of race, color, age, national origin, religion, physical or mental disability or any other protected status under federal, state and local law.
   
   Benefits
   
   Lineage provides safe, stable, reliable work environments, competitive pay, excellent Health and Dental benefits, 401K, and Paid Time Off and Sick Days

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find technical support managers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   To find technical support manager candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit technical support 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.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a technical support manager applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • 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 technical support manager

   Once you've found the technical support manager candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   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.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a technical support manager?