Counted October 17, 2026 · from employers’ own postings
Systems Administrator: $115K median posted pay.
From 131 salary bands employers posted on 176 open systems administrator roles in it & security. Never an estimate.
The ladder, by level
What each rung pays.
| Level | Open roles | Median posted band | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | 33 | $120K | — |
| Junior | 10 | $77K | — |
| Intern | 7 | — (5 of 8 bands) | — |
| Principal | 6 | — (3 of 8 bands) | — |
| Staff | 4 | — (2 of 8 bands) | — |
Levels as the postings name them. A rung shows a median only where eight or more postings at that level carried a band.
Who is hiring
The employers with the most open.
| Employer | Open roles | Entry level |
|---|---|---|
| Gdit | 16 | — |
| Amentum | 13 | — |
| CACI | 11 | — |
| Leidos | 10 | — |
| Bah | 9 | — |
| Saalex | 8 | — |
| Booz Allen Hamilton | 8 | — |
| Northrop Grumman | 7 | — |
| GRVTY | 6 | — |
| Shield AI | 5 | — |
Counted from employers’ own job boards. The ten with the most open systems administrator roles tonight.
The skills, as the postings name them
What these postings ask for.
| Skill | Postings | At entry |
|---|---|---|
| System Administration | 106 | — |
| Linux Administration | 99 | — |
| Table Service | 84 | — |
| Virtualization | 80 | — |
| Active Directory | 64 | — |
| Scripting and Automation | 51 | — |
| TypeScript | 48 | — |
| Cloud Infrastructure | 48 | — |
| Cybersecurity | 47 | — |
| Backup and Recovery | 45 | — |
Where the work is
4% of these roles are remote.
- Remote4%7 roles
- Hybrid3%6 roles
- On site83%146 roles
- Not stated10%17 roles
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How this was counted
Every figure is counted from 176 open postings read from employers’ own job boards on October 17, 2026, and recounted every night. Pay is the band the employer posted — never an estimate, never a model — and 131 of these postings carried one. Titles are grouped by the words the postings use, with levels, shifts and schedules removed, so “Senior Systems Administrator (Nights)” counts here too. 100% of roles with this title sit in it & security, which is why this page belongs to that career. A title gets a page only where twenty-five or more roles are open, eight or more of them posted a band, three or more employers are hiring for it and four in five of its postings sit in one career, so no page here is a guess.