What Does an IT Manager Do?
Whether staff welcome new technology or see every update as a nuisance, most departments still rely on their IT unit to keep email, files and classrooms working. IT managers often work with multiple deans, directors and project leads who have a variety of competing needs. The ability to weigh numerous requests against a fixed budget is essential to ensure that each office receives fair, secure service.
Also known as: Computing Manager, Principal Computing Manager, Assistant Computing Manager
IT Manager Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of an IT manager include:
- Set priorities for the IT unit and agree service levels with deans, directors or department heads.
- Prepare the yearly IT budget, including staff, licenses, hardware refresh and support contracts.
- Hire, coach and review help desk staff, system administrators and developers.
- Approve security policies and make sure patches, backups and access reviews actually happen.
- Negotiate software licenses and service contracts with vendors, and track renewal dates.
- Plan disaster recovery and test that systems can be restored after an outage.
- Lead projects such as email migrations, network upgrades and new classroom technology.
- Report on uptime, ticket volumes and project progress to senior leadership.
- Review requests for new software and hardware for cost, security and support needs.
- Respond to major incidents and keep users informed until service is restored.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as an IT manager, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Budgeting and IT cost planning
- Staff leadership and performance reviews
- Information security basics and risk assessment
- Vendor and contract management
- Project management, often backed by PMP training
- ITIL service management practices
- Broad grounding in networks, servers and cloud services
- Plain explanations of technical choices for non-technical leaders
Education and Training
To become an IT manager, in many organizations you will need a bachelor's degree and several years of hands-on IT work to qualify to lead a team. Experience of leading a help desk or project team could lead to a first management post. With experience, you could progress from IT manager to IT director or chief information officer.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $138,060 - $220,730 per year, with a median of $175,140.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Computer and Information Systems Managers.
BLS projects employment of computer and information systems managers to grow about 16 percent from 2025 to 2035, with roughly 53,500 openings a year. Demand will grow for several reasons, including more cloud services to manage; security threats, such as ransomware and phishing; and wider use of data, as organizations move more records online. IT managers are a highly experienced group.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Computer and information systems managers.