Windows system administrator vs systems administrator lead

The differences between windows system administrators and systems administrator 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 windows system administrator and a systems administrator lead. Additionally, a systems administrator lead has an average salary of $99,956, which is higher than the $79,845 average annual salary of a windows system administrator.

The top three skills for a windows system administrator include windows server, infrastructure and powershell. The most important skills for a systems administrator lead are linux, project management, and windows server.

Windows system administrator vs systems administrator lead overview

	Windows System Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Yearly salary	$79,845	$99,956
Hourly rate	$38.39	$48.06
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	94,648	132,285
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does a windows system administrator do?

A Windows System Administrator maintains the systems and servers of a Windows operating system. They evaluate and modify the system's performance.

What does a systems administrator lead do?

A systems administrator lead is responsible for planning, designing, and implementing procedures for critical enterprise systems. Typical duties of systems administrators include managing the day-to-day operations of a company's computer and network systems, developing new application and system implementation plans, and establishing guidelines for installing and managing the organization's computer operating systems. In addition, you are expected to ensure the security of computer systems by preventing unauthorized use, user abuse, and acts of nature.

Windows system administrator vs systems administrator lead salary

Windows system administrators and systems administrator leads have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Windows System Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Average salary	$79,845	$99,956
Salary range	Between $60,000 And $104,000	Between $77,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	Sunnyvale, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Meta	Kabam
Best paying industry	Finance	Telecommunication

Differences between windows system administrator and systems administrator lead education

There are a few differences between a windows system administrator and a systems administrator lead in terms of educational background:

	Windows System Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Stanford University

Windows system administrator vs systems administrator lead demographics

Here are the differences between windows system administrators' and systems administrator leads' demographics:

	Windows System Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7%	Male, 84.6% Female, 15.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 13.7% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.7% White, 63.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between windows system administrator and systems administrator lead duties and responsibilities

Windows system administrator example responsibilities.

Manage and configure VPN connections for the users.
Deploy and manage Panasonic PBX and VOIP phone systems and network connectivity.
Manage exchange stores, mailbox provisioning, active sync and monitoring the mailboxes.
Manage data usage, space, security and archival over servers, workstations and NAS machines.
Manage issues with server hardware, networking, web services, database, DNS, clustering, and e-mail.
Manage all OU's under domain at multiple sites across the country through a constant VPN tunnel per client rules.

Systems administrator lead example responsibilities.

Manage all Citrix user connections and issues, print network, server environment and supplies.
Manage printers on the print servers and re-serve IP addresses for devices from the DHCP servers.
Manage software development group SharePoint portal.
Save company many hours of manual testing and developing by engineering Java applications to automate tedious tasks.
Manage development, manufacturing, test and delivery of custom broadband RF electronic test systems for military and aerospace customers.
Perform day-to-day management of system applications and services (NTP, DNS, LDAP, etc .).

Windows system administrator vs systems administrator lead skills

Common windows system administrator skills

Windows Server, 9%
Infrastructure, 7%
PowerShell, 7%
Troubleshoot, 6%
Linux, 5%
SCCM, 4%

Common systems administrator lead skills

Linux, 6%
Project Management, 6%
Windows Server, 5%
System Performance, 5%
Technical Support, 5%
Database, 5%

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Windows System Administrator vs Systems Administrator Lead

Updated January 8, 2025

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