Systems Administrator
Keep an organisation's servers, accounts and core systems running. You set things up, patch them, fix them when they fail and make them better over time. When email, logins and files just work, nobody notices your job.
Also advertised as: Junior Systems Administrator, Senior Systems Administrator
The work
Behind-the-scenes upkeep. Here is what systems administrators actually do, day to day.
Shadow the team to learn how servers, accounts and networks fit together.
Create accounts, reset passwords and keep permissions up to date.
Apply updates to servers and workstations on a regular schedule.
Watch system health and repair faults before users feel them.
Plan migrations, capacity and backups, and decide how to roll them out.
Document setups and procedures so anyone can follow them.
What a systems administrator does day to day
The six tasks above cover the core of the job. As you move from junior to senior, the work shifts from fixing tickets to designing, securing and planning the systems everyone relies on.
- Work through the ticket queue, from locked accounts and full disks to failed backups, and escalate what you cannot fix.
- Build and configure new servers, virtual machines and cloud services from a standard checklist or script.
- Automate repeat jobs, such as creating user accounts or applying settings, with PowerShell or other scripts.
- Test that backups actually restore, and take part in disaster recovery drills.
- Apply security settings, review admin access and act on alerts with the security team.
- At senior level, design how systems fit together, plan capacity and choose the tools the team will use.
- At senior level, review changes from other admins, mentor juniors and lead the response when a major outage hits.
- Talk with vendors and service providers about licences, support cases and contract terms.
A typical week mixes planned and unplanned work. You might spend mornings on tickets and monitoring, an afternoon on a server migration, and one evening on a scheduled patch window when users are offline. Many teams run an on-call roster, so ask how often you would be on call and how it is paid.
The outlook
Room for 16,500 more people in systems administration by 2035 ▲ and it is not slowing down.
The field grew 4.8% in the year to February 2026, adding about 3,300 workers. Most of the jobs are in NSW and Victoria, with Queensland third.
Source: JSA · ABS, 2025-26
Projections: JSA (Jobs and Skills Australia) Employment Projections (May 2025 base). Growth and states: ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Labour Force via JSA, February 2026. ANZSCO 2621.More about our sources: How we check our factsGetting in
Six in ten people here have a degree. You can still get in without one.
22% of systems administration workers came through a VET qualification. These are the nationally recognised courses for this career, with the number of registered training providers that offer each one.
Source: JSA · training.gov.au
Education split: Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile, using ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Census data, ANZSCO 2621. Provider counts: training.gov.au, the national register of vocational education, October 2026. Provider counts include every current registered training provider (private providers and TAFE institutes) with the course on its scope.More about our sources: How we check our factsNationally recognised training
Providers are shown in A-Z order. A listing is not a recommendation.
How to become a systems administrator
There is no licence for this work. These are the usual steps in Australia, from a first IT job to a senior role.
Start in IT support
Many systems administrators begin on a service desk or as an IT support technician, where you learn accounts, devices and networks on real problems.
Choose a study route
About 60% of this occupation group hold a bachelor degree or higher, and about 22% came through a VET qualification, such as the Diploma of Information Technology (ICT50220).
Learn the core platforms
Get hands-on with Windows Server, Linux, Active Directory or Microsoft Entra ID and one cloud platform. A home lab or free cloud tier lets you practise safely.
Add vendor certifications
Employers often list certifications from the vendors whose systems they run. Pick ones that match the job ads you want, rather than collecting many.
Step up to senior
Senior roles go to people who can design systems, automate work, handle outages calmly and guide others. Take on projects and document what you build so your experience is visible.
Jobs open right now
72,600 Australians do this work. See who is hiring this month.
Search job ads by state
Each link opens seek.com.au in a new tab, showing ads posted in the last month. SEEK is a job site; we link there because that is where most Australian jobs are advertised. We have no commercial relationship with SEEK.
Source: ABS · JSA, 2025-26
State chart shows people employed, not current job ads: ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Labour Force via Jobs and Skills Australia, ANZSCO 2621, 2025-26. Job links open seek.com.au filtered to ads posted in the last month; SEEK is independent of this site.More about our sources: How we check our factsPeople employed by state, 2025-26
Common questions about being a systems administrator
What does a senior systems administrator do?
A senior systems administrator looks after an organisation's servers, accounts, storage and cloud services, and decides how they should be built and secured. As well as day to day support, they plan upgrades and capacity, design backup and recovery, review changes made by other admins, mentor junior staff and lead the response to major outages. Job descriptions often also ask for scripting and cloud skills.
How much does a systems administrator earn?
Median full-time pay in the Database and Systems Administrators, and ICT Security Specialists group is $2,461 a week, or about $128,000 a year (ABS Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025). That group also includes database administrators and security specialists, so treat it as a guide. Senior roles usually pay above junior ones, and on-call allowances can add to your pay.
Do you need a degree to be a systems administrator?
No. About 60% of people in this occupation group hold a bachelor degree or higher, so a degree is common but not required. About 22% came through a VET qualification, such as the Diploma of Information Technology (ICT50220). Employers also weigh hands-on experience, vendor certifications and how well you troubleshoot, so many people move up from IT support roles.
What is the difference between a systems administrator and a network administrator?
A systems administrator looks after servers, operating systems, user accounts and the services that run on them, such as email and file storage. A network administrator looks after how devices connect, such as switches, routers, firewalls and wireless. In smaller organisations one person often does both. The skills overlap, and people move between the two roles.
Do systems administrators need cloud skills?
Increasingly, yes. Many organisations now run a mix of their own servers and cloud services, so job ads often ask for experience with Microsoft cloud admin tools or another cloud platform. The core skills still apply: managing access, patching, backups and monitoring. Learning to script and automate tasks helps, because cloud services are often managed through code rather than by hand.