How To Become A Senior Member Technical Staff: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior member technical staff and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Experts

Dr. Neil Eldin PhD, PE,

Christian Hansen Ph.D.

After gaining enough experience, technical staff can become senior technical staff members who share bigger responsibilities in their department. Senior technical members of technical staff are usually responsible for handling more critical projects, training subordinate employees, communicating with upper management, and spearheading various campaigns.

The specific duties of a senior member of technical staff depend on the nature of their work. Since the term â€˜technical staff' is broad, the best way to determine your responsibilities in this role is to research your prospective employer's description for the job. But in general, you can expect the duties to involve management, problem-solving, development, and communication with key stakeholders.

Usually, senior members of technical staff have degrees in a field relevant to their industry, and most have advanced degrees. For example, if you are working for a tech company, you will likely need a degree in computer science or computer engineering to qualify.

The average salary for this role is around $54 an hour or about $111,000 a year. However, this will depend on your level of experience, education, and expertise.

What general advice would you give to a Senior Member Technical Staff?

Dr. Neil Eldin PhD, PE

Professor, Website

Things don’t just happen. You must develop a career plan to maximize your salary potential when starting your career. Find the right employer for yourself. For example, if you are mobile and willing to travel, target employers with international projects. After working for a few years, you can request a transfer to an overseas assignment, and this will instantaneously almost double your salary. If you are not mobile and your circumstances do not allow your travel, seek employment with major corporations and seek positions that are done at the home office (e.g., estimating, procurement, and contracting).

ScoreSenior Member Technical StaffUS Average

Salary

8.4

Avg. Salary $130,432

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.7

Growth Rate 5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 13.93%

Black or African American 8.00%

Hispanic or Latino 11.71%

Unknown 5.01%

White 61.03%

Gender

female 19.37%

male 80.63%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress Level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.1

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.1

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior member technical staff

Explore senior member technical staff education requirements

Most common senior member technical staff degrees

Bachelor's

64.4 %

Master's

22.3 %

Doctorate

5.6 %

Start to develop specific senior member technical staff skills

Skills	Percentages
Java	20.33%
Python	8.85%
Cloud	8.39%
Architecture	7.31%
Infrastructure	7.02%

Complete relevant senior member technical staff training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior member technical staff learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior member technical staff based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior member technical staff resumes.

Gain additional senior member technical staff certifications

Senior member technical staff certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific senior member technical staff certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for senior member technical staff include Project Management Professional (PMP) and Software Engineering Master Certification (SEMC).

More About Certifications

Research senior member technical staff duties and responsibilities

Achieve stretch goal of development of the HTML registration pages (display within the PC client) on time with quality.
Debug and resolve defects in assign UNIX components to achieve quantitative product release quality criteria.
Lead successful projects with cross organizational teams from invention through prototyping phases of product introduction allowing deployment of new printing platform.
Maintain and develop the schema files for testing models in matlab (in C++ and Perl).

Get senior member technical staff experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a senior member technical staff. The most common roles before becoming a senior member technical staff include member, technical staff, software engineer team lead and senior software engineer.

Prepare your senior member technical staff resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior member technical staff resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior member technical staff resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Member Technical Staff Resume templates

Build a professional Senior Member Technical Staff resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Senior Member Technical Staff resume.

Apply for senior member technical staff jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior member technical staff job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average senior member technical staff salary

The average Senior Member Technical Staff salary in the United States is $130,432 per year or $63 per hour. Senior member technical staff salaries range between $99,000 and $171,000 per year.

Average Senior Member Technical Staff Salary

$130,432 Yearly

$62.71 hourly