Windows Administrator
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Windows Administrator is responsible for maintaining the systems and servers of a business' Windows operating system. Includes installing, configuring and supporting Windows based physical and virtual servers and deploying and testing Windows operating systems including virus updates, patches and performance tuning.
Job Outlook
There were 216 Windows Administrator job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6795 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Network / Systems Administrator industry, which includes the Windows Administrator career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Windows Administrator jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $98,812.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $88,012.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Windows Administrator postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $87,642.
Education and Experience
Posted Windows Administrator jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 46.67% |
| Master's Degree | 9.7% |
| Doctoral Degree | 1.24% |
| Other | 7.43% |
Posted Windows Administrator jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 18.76% |
| 3 to 5 years | 49.34% |
| 6 to 8 years | 17.4% |
| 9+ years | 14.5% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Windows Administrator positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (53.47%)
- Management (35.5%)
- Communication (29.35%)
- Operations (26.71%)
- Problem Solving (22.24%)
- Information Technology (17.97%)
- Customer Service (15.06%)
- Microsoft Windows (14.98%)
- Planning (12.54%)
- Detail Oriented (9.14%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Microsoft Windows Server Administration (8.76%)
- Active Directory (52.32%)
- Operating Systems (48.89%)
- Linux (24.16%)
- Windows Servers (57.17%)
- Windows System Administration (38.33%)
- Windows PowerShell (35.73%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Microsoft 365 (6.95%)
- Network Infrastructure (4.02%)
- Patch Management (8.91%)
- Authentications (7.57%)
- Backup Devices (17.69%)
- Microsoft Azure (18.47%)
- Technical Support (13.96%)
- Microsoft Windows 10 (13.1%)
- Configuration Management (16.76%)
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) (19.47%)
- Microsoft Teams (4.18%)
- Information Systems (8.25%)
- Computer Science (19.54%)
- Disaster Recovery (11.84%)
- Help Desk Support (9.87%)
- Group Policy (23.06%)
- IT Infrastructure (8.12%)
- Virtual Private Networks (VPN) (5.08%)
- Automation (21.65%)
- Amazon Web Services (12%)
- Auditing (13.12%)
- System Administration (32.91%)
- Unix (7.77%)
- VMware ESX Servers (9.55%)
- TCP/IP (10.4%)
- VMware VSphere (9.44%)
- Firewall (11.8%)
- Microsoft SharePoint (8.39%)
- Vulnerability (14.35%)
- Microsoft Intune (Mobile Device Management Software) (7.54%)
- Network Switches (8.14%)
- Windows Server Update Services (9.46%)
- Microsoft Office 365 (8.84%)
- Hyper-V (9.17%)
- Cyber Security (10.92%)
- Information Technology Infrastructure Library (6.65%)
- Network Routing (9.9%)
- IT Service Management (6.6%)
- Project Management (9.88%)
- Microsoft Servers (8.8%)
- Microsoft SQL Servers (9.87%)
- Hardening (8.75%)
- Virtualization (14.6%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (12.25%)
- Scripting (31.96%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- File System Permissions (3.63%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Microsoft Windows Server Administration (19.12%)
- Windows System Administration (83.6%)
- Windows Domain (6.82%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Windows Administrator skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Systems Administrator
- Windows Server System Administrator
- Windows Server Administrator
- Administrative Assistant
- Network Monitor
- Subcontractor
- Windows Engineer
- Cloud Administrator
- Cloud Systems Administrator
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Systems Administrator
- VMware Engineer / Administrator
- IT Administrator
- Citrix Engineer
- Technical Support Engineer / Analyst
- Unix Administrator / Engineer
- Network Administrator
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Windows Administrator jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- KPMG (202)
- Northrop Grumman (190)
- Allegis Group (183)
- Leidos (168)
- TEKsystems (123)
- Insight Global (97)
- Motion Recruitment (82)
- Raytheon Technologies (81)
- General Dynamics (70)
- GovCIO (64)
North Carolina
- Allegis Group (16)
- KPMG (9)
- Motion Recruitment (6)
- Datastaff (6)
- Innosoul (5)
- Trigyn Technologies (5)
- Windsor Windows And Doors (5)
- MSYS (4)
- Insight Global (4)
- Woodgrain (4)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.