6 free templates for the role that owns training records, not training content: standard, LMS, compliance, clinical education, part-time small business, and apprenticeship. Download as DOCX.
Nobody plans to hire a training administrator. The role shows up after a bad afternoon: an insurer asks for last year's safety rosters, a client audit wants proof that every technician on their site is current, or a certification quietly expires and a foreman sends someone home. Then everyone discovers the records are in five places and none of them agree.
What makes this posting hard is that the title is a category, not a job. It covers a records clerk with a learning platform login, a systems owner who runs integrations, and a compliance tracker who assembles audit packets. Those are three different pay ranges and three different candidates, and a generic posting gets you the wrong one.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for companies without a dedicated HR department, where this job usually lands on whoever has the most spreadsheet patience. The six below cover the standard version, the platform version, compliance, clinical education, a part-time small business build, and apprenticeship programs.
TL;DR
A training administrator owns the operational side of training: scheduling, the learning platform, completion tracking, certification expiry, and audit records. No BLS occupation carries the title, so benchmark between human resources assistants at a $50,610 national median and training and development specialists at $69,280 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Usually non-exempt. Six templates below.
Administrator, Coordinator, or Specialist
The four common training titles describe a ladder from records to strategy, and only two of them have federal wage data behind them. Administrator and coordinator sit at the operational end and are largely interchangeable in the market. Specialist and manager sit above them and pay accordingly.
Getting this right before you post matters more than it sounds. The title sets the applicant pool and the salary expectation candidates arrive with, so a mismatch between your title and your duty list wastes the whole search.
Training administrator
Owns the records and the system
Enrollment, scheduling, the learning platform, completion tracking, certification expiry, and the reports. Executes a plan set by someone else. Usually non-exempt, and usually the first training hire a small company makes.
Training coordinator
Owns the logistics
Heavy overlap with the administrator title, tilted toward running sessions, vendors, and the calendar rather than the system of record. Many employers use the two words for one job.
Training specialist
Owns the content
Assesses needs, builds or selects courses, facilitates sessions, and measures whether the training changed anything. This is the role BLS actually classifies, and it pays materially more.
Training manager
Owns the program and the budget
Sets strategy, manages people and spend, and answers for outcomes. Supervising two or more employees is what usually makes this one exempt, not the word manager in the title.
Write the Duties First, Then Pick the Title
The fastest way to get this posting wrong is to start from a title you inherited from another company. Start from the four duty groups instead: scheduling, systems, records, and reporting. Assign a rough percentage to each. If systems and records dominate, you are hiring an administrator. If content design and facilitation appear, you are hiring a specialist and your range is wrong. If nobody reports to this person and no budget does either, do not call it a manager.
What the Role Actually Owns
A training administrator owns four things: the calendar, the platform, the records, and the reporting. Everything else in a typical posting is a subset of one of those. Write the job as those four groups and candidates can tell immediately whether they have done it.
Scheduling and delivery
Publishing the training calendar
Enrolling employees and managing waitlists
Booking rooms, sessions, and instructors
Sending reminders and chasing no-shows
Systems
Course and learning path setup
User accounts, groups, and permissions
Content loading and playback troubleshooting
Keeping the platform in sync with the HR system
Records and evidence
Completion and score tracking
Certification and license expiry dates
Signed rosters and acknowledgments on file
Retention to the period each rule requires
Reporting
Overdue and expiring reports for managers
Evidence packets for audits and inspections
Reconciling the roster against active headcount
Feedback summaries for the training owner
The group most often left out of a posting is reporting, which is odd, because it is usually the reason the role was funded. Somebody wanted a reliable answer to who is overdue and who is expiring. Our guide to building a training matrix covers the underlying structure, and the general principles for a clear posting are in our guide to writing a job description.
6 Training Administrator Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Training Administrator Job Description Templates
Standard, LMS, compliance, clinical education, part-time small business, and apprenticeship. All in one download.
Training Administrator
The standard version
The general role: calendar, enrollment, learning system, completion tracking, and reporting, with the classification note written in.
LMS Administrator
Platform ownership
For the technical version of the job: configuration, content packaging, user provisioning, integrations, and the support queue.
Compliance Training
Regulated industries
For safety, privacy, and licensure training: the required-training matrix, retention periods, and audit evidence packets.
Clinical Education
Healthcare settings
For clinics, practices, and care facilities: orientation, annual competencies, and license and certification tracking.
Part-Time, Small Business
First training hire
For a small team with no HR department, where the job is building the system rather than maintaining one.
Apprenticeship and Trades
Hour logging and wage steps
For contractors running craft training: enrollment, on-the-job hour logs, related instruction, and wage progression.
Template 1: Training Administrator (Standard)
The general version: calendar, enrollment, learning system, completion tracking, and reporting, with the classification note written in. If the role tilts toward sessions and vendors rather than records, compare it against the training coordinator templates.
Training Administrator Job Description (Standard)
TRAINING ADMINISTRATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Training Manager / HR Manager / Operations Director]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Non-exempt hourly / Exempt: see classification note]
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year]
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] is a [industry] company in [City, State] with [number] employees
across [number] locations. Our people complete [number] required courses a year,
from new hire orientation through role certifications, and we are hiring a
Training Administrator to own the scheduling, the systems, and the records
behind all of it.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Training Administrator runs the operational side of our training program:
scheduling sessions, enrolling employees, maintaining the learning system,
tracking completions and certification expiry dates, and producing the reports
managers and auditors ask for. This role does not design curriculum. It makes
sure the curriculum reaches the right people on time and that we can prove it.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build and publish the training calendar for [monthly / quarterly] cycles
•Enroll employees, send invitations and reminders, and manage waitlists
•Administer our learning system: user accounts, course setup, learning paths,
permissions, and completion rules
•Track completions, scores, and certification or license expiry dates, and
escalate anything approaching a deadline
•Book rooms, virtual sessions, equipment, catering, and materials
•Coordinate external vendors and instructors: contracts, invoices, and
scheduling
•Maintain training records to the retention standard our regulators require
•Produce completion and compliance reports for [managers / leadership / audit]
•Collect and summarize post-course feedback for the training owner
•Answer employee and manager questions about requirements and deadlines
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Associate degree / bachelor's degree / equivalent experience: set your bar]
•[Number] years in a training, HR, or administrative coordination role
•Hands-on experience administering a learning management system
•Strong spreadsheet skills, including lookups and pivot tables
•Accuracy under deadline pressure with a high volume of records
•Clear written communication with employees at every level
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
Classify this role on its actual duties, not its title. Scheduling sessions,
enrolling users, maintaining records, and running standard reports is
administrative support work that usually does not meet the discretion and
independent judgment test in the FLSA administrative exemption, which makes the
role non-exempt: hourly and entitled to overtime past 40 hours in a week. If the
person genuinely sets the training plan, selects vendors, negotiates contracts,
and decides what the program covers, an exemption may apply, but only if they
are also paid at least the standard salary level. Track hours for anyone
non-exempt, including work done outside session times. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 2: Learning Management System Administrator
For the technical version of the job: configuration, content packaging, user provisioning, integrations, and the support queue. Our overview of how a learning management system works is useful context before you write the requirements.
Learning Management System Administrator Job Description
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS) ADMINISTRATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Training Manager / HR Systems Lead / IT Manager]
For regulated industries, where the required-training matrix, retention periods, and audit evidence packets are the job. Pair it with our guide to running compliance training.
Compliance Training Administrator Job Description
COMPLIANCE TRAINING ADMINISTRATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Safety Manager / Compliance Manager / HR Manager]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Non-exempt hourly / Exempt: see classification note]
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] operates in [industry], where required training is not optional
and the records are inspected. We are hiring a Compliance Training Administrator
to make sure every employee completes what the regulations require, on schedule,
with documentation that survives an audit.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Compliance Training Administrator maintains the required-training matrix for
every role, schedules and tracks mandatory courses, keeps signed rosters and
certificates on file for the required retention period, and produces the
evidence packet when an inspector, insurer, or client auditor asks for it.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Maintain the required-training matrix by role, site, and regulation
•Schedule initial and recurring training: [safety, harassment prevention,
data privacy, food handling, licensure continuing education]
•Track completion, expiry, and renewal windows, and escalate overdue items to
the responsible manager with enough lead time to fix them
•Keep training records for the full retention period each rule requires, with
the fields the rule specifies
•Assemble evidence packets for inspections, insurance reviews, and client
audits
•Coordinate certified instructors and vendor-delivered courses
•Reconcile the training roster against the active employee list every [period]
so new hires and transfers never fall through
•Flag regulation and course-content updates to the compliance owner
•Support incident follow-up by retrieving the relevant training history
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in compliance, safety, or training administration
•Familiarity with the training and recordkeeping rules that apply in [industry]
•Meticulous records discipline and a bias toward writing things down
•Ability to press a busy manager for an overdue completion without drama
•[OSHA 30, certified trainer credential, or similar] preferred
•Strong spreadsheet and reporting skills
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Most compliance training administrator roles are non-exempt: hourly and
overtime-eligible past 40 hours in a week. Tracking, scheduling, and record
maintenance are administrative support duties, and applying rules someone else
set is not the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of
significance. Watch overtime here specifically, because audit season and renewal
cycles create real spikes. Retention periods are set by the underlying
regulation, not by your document policy, and several are measured in years past
the training date or past the end of employment. Confirm the exact list and
periods that apply to your industry and state with the issuing agency. This is
general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 4: Clinical Education and Training Administrator
For clinics, practices, and care facilities: orientation, annual competencies, immunization records, and license and certification tracking against survey requirements.
Clinical Education and Training Administrator Job Description
CLINICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Organization: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Director of Nursing / Clinical Education Manager / HR Director]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Non-exempt hourly / Exempt: see classification note]
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Organization Name] is a [clinic / practice group / long-term care facility /
home health agency] in [City, State] with [number] clinical and support staff.
We are hiring a Training Administrator to run orientation, annual competencies,
and license and certification tracking for the whole team.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Clinical Education and Training Administrator schedules and documents
clinical orientation, annual competency validation, and required in-service
training, and maintains the license, certification, and immunization records
that surveyors and payers ask to see.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Schedule and document clinical orientation for every new hire and transfer
•Run the annual competency and in-service calendar for [nursing, aides,
front office, providers]
•Track professional license and certification status and expiry dates:
[RN, LPN, CNA, BLS, ACLS, CPR, state registry]
•Maintain immunization, fit testing, and screening records per policy
•Keep bloodborne pathogens, infection control, and privacy training current
and documented
•Assemble the education file for surveys, accreditation visits, and payer
audits
•Coordinate certified instructors and skills lab sessions
•Reconcile the training roster against the staffing roster every [period]
•Escalate lapsed credentials before the employee is scheduled to work
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in healthcare administration, education, or credentialing
•Working knowledge of clinical credential types and renewal cycles
•Experience with [survey / accreditation / payer audit] documentation
•Discretion with confidential health and employment records
•[Clinical background or clinical support experience] preferred
•Strong tracking, follow-up, and written communication skills
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
This role is usually non-exempt: hourly and overtime-eligible. Scheduling,
tracking, and documenting training against standards set elsewhere is
administrative support work, and a clinical credential held by the person does
not by itself make the role exempt. The learned professional exemption looks at
the primary duty actually performed, so an administrator who does not practice
clinically is not exempt on the strength of a license. A lapsed credential is a
staffing problem and a survey finding at the same time, so build the escalation
window into the job rather than leaving it to memory. Bloodborne pathogens
training must be provided at initial assignment and at least annually, and those
training records carry their own retention period. Confirm your state licensing
board and survey agency requirements. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Organization Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 5: Part-Time Training Administrator, Small Business
For a small team with no HR department, where the job is building the system rather than maintaining one. This is often the right first version of the role, and it pairs naturally with an HR administrator posting if you are staffing both.
Part-Time Training Administrator, Small Business Job Description
TRAINING ADMINISTRATOR (PART-TIME, SMALL BUSINESS) JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner / Operations Manager / Office Manager]
Employment type: Part-time, [number] hours per week
[Company Name] has [number] employees and no dedicated HR department. Training
currently lives in a spreadsheet, an email folder, and someone's memory. We are
hiring a part-time Training Administrator to put it in one place and keep it
there, starting with onboarding and required safety training.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Training Administrator sets up and maintains a single source of truth for
who has been trained on what: new hire onboarding, required annual training,
role-specific certifications, and renewal dates. This is a hands-on, practical
role for a small team, not a program design job.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build and maintain one training record per employee, replacing the current
spreadsheets and email threads
•Run the onboarding training sequence for every new hire and confirm each step
is signed off before the end of week one
•Schedule required annual and refresher training and chase completion
•Track certification and license renewal dates and give [30 / 60] days notice
•Keep signed acknowledgments, rosters, and certificates filed and findable
•Set up and maintain courses in our [learning platform / HR system]
•Produce a monthly one-page status for the owner: complete, overdue, expiring
•Order materials and book any outside instructor or venue
•Suggest process fixes when the same gap keeps appearing
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[1 to 3] years in an administrative, HR, or office coordination role
•Comfort building a system from scratch rather than inheriting one
•Strong spreadsheet skills and general software confidence
•Self-directed: this role works with limited supervision
•Reliable weekly availability of [number] hours on [days]
•Discretion with employee records
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A part-time training administrator is non-exempt. Part-time status has nothing
to do with it: exemption turns on duties and salary level, and an employee paid
hourly for a partial schedule is non-exempt either way. Track all hours worked,
including time spent answering messages outside scheduled shifts, and pay
overtime past 40 hours in a week if the schedule ever expands. Do not classify
this role as an independent contractor when you set the schedule, the tools, and
the method. Keep employee training records with the same confidentiality as
other personnel files. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [benefits summary], [schedule]
To apply, email __ with your resume and availability.
Template 6: Apprenticeship and Trades Training Administrator
For contractors running craft or registered apprenticeship programs: enrollment, on-the-job hour logging by work process, related instruction scheduling, and wage progression milestones.
Apprenticeship and Trades Training Administrator Job Description
APPRENTICESHIP AND TRADES TRAINING ADMINISTRATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Training Director / Operations Manager / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Non-exempt hourly / Exempt: see classification note]
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Employer Name] is a [electrical / plumbing / HVAC / mechanical / construction]
contractor in [City, State] running a [registered apprenticeship / in-house
craft training] program with [number] apprentices. We are hiring a Training
Administrator to manage enrollment, hour logging, classroom scheduling, and the
reporting the program requires.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Training Administrator manages the paperwork and scheduling behind our
apprenticeship and craft training: enrolling apprentices, logging on-the-job
hours against each work process, scheduling related classroom instruction,
tracking wage progression milestones, and filing the required reports.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Enroll apprentices and maintain the individual record for each one
•Log and verify on-the-job learning hours by work process, with foreman
sign-off
•Schedule related technical instruction and track classroom attendance
•Track wage progression milestones and notify payroll when a step is earned
•Maintain certification, card, and safety training records for the field crew
•Prepare reports for [the sponsor, the registration agency, the joint
committee, the general contractor]
•Coordinate testing, licensing exam scheduling, and continuing education
•Keep the training matrix current as crews and job sites change
•Support recruitment events at [high schools, technical colleges, job fairs]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in construction administration, training coordination, or a
similar records-heavy role
•Understanding of apprenticeship structure: work processes, hour requirements,
related instruction, and wage steps
•Comfort working with field supervisors and chasing missing sign-offs
•Strong spreadsheet and database skills
•[Trade familiarity] preferred
•Accuracy: an hour logged to the wrong process is a problem months later
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Classify on duties. Enrolling apprentices, logging hours, and scheduling classes
is administrative support work and is usually non-exempt. Two areas need care
beyond classification. First, apprentice pay: an apprentice is an employee and
is owed at least the applicable minimum wage, and on covered public work the
prevailing wage rules set apprentice rates as a percentage of the journey rate
only when the apprentice is registered in a recognized program and within the
allowed ratio. Second, training time: time an employee spends in required
training is generally compensable hours worked, which matters when classroom
sessions sit outside the normal schedule. Confirm your program requirements with
the registration agency for your state. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Employer Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
The Records Half of the Job
Roughly half of this role is evidence, not education. The training happened is a different claim from the training can be proven, and the second one is what an inspector, an insurer, or a client auditor actually tests.
Retention rules make that concrete. The federal bloodborne pathogens standard requires training at initial assignment and at least annually afterward, specifies the fields the record must contain, and requires those training records be kept for three years from the date the training occurred. Other rules carry their own periods, and none of them care what your general document policy says.
Scheduling carries a cost the posting should acknowledge as well. Time a non-exempt employee spends in required training is generally hours worked, and the exception in the federal rule on training program attendance applies only when four conditions hold at once: attendance is outside normal hours, it is voluntary, it is unrelated to the current job, and no productive work is done. Most required training fails at least two of them.
The retention period belongs to the regulation, not to you
Training records are not ordinary paperwork you can purge on a general document schedule, because the rule that required the training usually also sets how long you keep the proof. The bloodborne pathogens standard is the clearest example: training happens at initial assignment and at least annually after that, the record has to name the training, the date, the trainer, and the attendees, and it is kept for three years from the date the training occurred. Other rules carry their own periods, some measured from the training date and some from the end of employment. Build a retention column into the tracking sheet and write the source rule next to it, so the person who inherits the job in two years knows why a given certificate cannot be shredded.
Expiry tracking is the part that actually fails
Completion tracking is easy because completion is an event. Expiry is hard because it is a silent date that arrives while everyone is busy. A certification that lapsed three weeks ago looks exactly like one that is current until somebody checks, and the check usually happens during an audit or after an incident. This is the single highest-value thing a training administrator does, and it is the reason the job exists in companies that have one. Set a lead time long enough to actually reschedule, typically thirty to sixty days depending on how hard the course is to book, route the reminder to the employee and the manager rather than only to the administrator, and reconcile the training roster against the active employee list on a fixed cycle so new hires and internal transfers cannot slip through.
Required training time is generally paid time
If you require the training, the time an employee spends in it is generally hours worked under the FLSA, and for a non-exempt employee that time counts toward overtime. The narrow exception has four conditions that all have to hold at once: attendance is outside normal hours, it is genuinely voluntary, it is not directly related to the employee's current job, and the employee does no productive work during it. Most compliance and role training fails at least two of those. This is a scheduling problem the training administrator creates or avoids: an annual refresher stacked onto the end of a full shift can push a whole crew into overtime. Schedule required sessions inside the normal schedule where you can, and budget for the hours where you cannot. This is general information, not legal advice.
One system of record, or you will reconcile forever
The most common failure in small companies is not missing training, it is training that happened and cannot be proven, because the evidence is spread across a learning platform, a shared drive, three spreadsheets, an email folder, and a filing cabinet in the break room. Every one of those was a reasonable decision at the time. Together they mean the answer to a simple question takes a day to assemble. Decide which system is authoritative, put the certificate or the acknowledgment against the employee profile there, give it a renewal date, and treat everything else as a copy. That single decision is worth more than any feature comparison, and it is the thing to settle before the new administrator starts rather than after.
The practical consequence for the posting is that records discipline is a screening criterion, not a nice-to-have line at the bottom. Ask a candidate how they tracked expiry dates in their last role and listen for a system rather than an intention. Our guide to running a training needs assessment covers the upstream half, which is a different skill and often a different person.
Exempt or Non-Exempt
Most training administrator roles are non-exempt: hourly and entitled to overtime past forty hours in a week. The administrative exemption fails on its third element, not its first two, and that is the element employers most often assume away.
The regulation defining the administrative exemption requires a salary at or above the standard level, a primary duty of office work directly related to management or general business operations, and the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. Scheduling, enrolling, tracking, and reporting clears the second test. Applying procedures somebody else wrote does not clear the third.
Administers the learning platform against a defined configuration
Non-exempt
Hourly rate, on-call or ticket expectations if any
Maintains compliance records and assembles audit packets
Non-exempt
Hourly rate, note the seasonal spike around audits
Selects vendors, negotiates contracts, sets the training plan
Exemption may apply
Salary at or above $684 per week, duties written to match
Manages two or more employees and owns the budget
Executive exemption may apply
Salary, direct reports, budget scope: this is a manager posting
Part-time records role at a small business
Non-exempt
Hourly rate, fixed weekly hours, overtime policy
The standard salary level is $684 per week, or $35,568 a year, following the vacatur of the 2024 Department of Labor rule; the highly compensated employee threshold is $107,432. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests, and our guide to overtime pay covers what happens when audit season pushes a non-exempt administrator past forty hours.
A Salary Alone Does Not Make the Role Exempt
The most common misclassification in this job is paying a training administrator an annual salary above the threshold and treating that as settled. Salary is one of three tests, and it is the easiest one. If the person cannot change what training is required, cannot choose the vendor, and cannot decide the program, the discretion test is failing regardless of how the pay is structured. The cost of getting it wrong is back overtime, and it is calculated from hours nobody was tracking, because the assumption was that tracking was unnecessary.
What to Pay a Training Administrator
There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation with this title, so any single number you have seen quoted came from a neighboring job. O*NET lists reported titles under training and development specialists including corporate trainer and training specialist, but training administrator is not among them, and the administrative version of the role sits closer to human resources assistants.
That leaves a defensible method: pick the classification your duty list actually matches, then position within its percentile ladder based on systems responsibility and local market.
The Two Benchmark Occupations
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), human resources assistants (SOC 43-4161) had a national median annual wage of $50,610 ($24.33 per hour), and training and development specialists (SOC 13-1151) had a median of $69,280 ($33.31 per hour). The gap between them is $18,670, which is the range a training administrator posting has to land inside (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Percentile
HR assistants, 43-4161
Training and development specialists, 13-1151
Where a training administrator usually lands
10th
$37,340
$38,760
Entry-level, part-time, or first records role
25th
$44,030
$50,110
Standard administrator, single site, small employer
50th (median)
$50,610
$69,280
Full administrator with platform ownership
75th
$59,800
$95,050
Compliance-heavy or multi-site, or duties that cross into specialist work
90th
$68,280
$123,250
Specialist territory: this is no longer an administrator posting
Two anchors keep the range honest at the edges. Secretaries and administrative assistants (SOC 43-6014) had a national median of $47,540, and training and development managers (SOC 11-3131) had a median of $133,000, both from the same BLS OEWS survey (May 2025). If your number is drifting toward either end, the duty list has probably drifted with it. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply.
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Every candidate for this role claims attention to detail, so the claim carries no information. Screen for it instead with a short work sample: hand over a messy roster with duplicate names, three date formats, and two expired certifications, and ask what they would fix first.
The second thing worth testing is escalation. This job depends on getting a busy supervisor to release a crew for a session that has been overdue for a month, and the people who are good at it have a method rather than a personality. Ask for a specific instance and listen for what they did after the first reminder was ignored.
Three Questions That Separate Candidates Fast
Ask what happened the last time a certification lapsed on their watch, and whether the answer includes a process change or only an apology. Ask how they knew a training record was audit-ready, which reveals whether they have ever actually been audited. Ask what they would keep and what they would throw away if they inherited five overlapping trackers on day one. The strong answers are concrete and slightly boring, which is exactly right for this role.
Where the posting sits in a regulated industry, add a screening line about the specific rules that apply. A candidate who has managed safety training for a contractor and a candidate who has managed continuing education for a clinic both have records discipline, but their vocabulary and their renewal cycles are not interchangeable. Our hiring template library has parallel postings for the adjacent roles if you are staffing more than one seat. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR, so until then the posting itself is doing most of the filtering, which is an argument for writing it tightly.
Hiring a Training Administrator Without an HR Department
Small companies hit the same three problems with this hire: the job has no internal precedent, the title has no wage benchmark, and the records the new person will inherit are scattered across systems that were each reasonable on their own. Each has a fix.
You are hiring for a job that has never existed at your company
Almost nobody hires a training administrator first. The role appears after something goes wrong: an audit finds a gap, an insurer asks for rosters, a client demands proof of safety training, or a certification lapses and a job site sends someone home. By then the work is already being done badly by four people at once, and the posting gets written as a list of everything those four people hate. That is why so many training administrator postings read as a pile of unrelated tasks. Write the job as a system instead: one calendar, one record per employee, one report. Then name the two or three specific things that triggered the hire, because a candidate who has fixed exactly that will recognize it in the posting and apply.
You cannot tell what the job should pay because the title has no benchmark
No federal occupation carries this title, so the wage data everyone quotes comes from a different job. Benchmark on duties: a scheduling and records role sits near human resources assistants, while a role that also builds courses and runs sessions sits near training and development specialists, and the gap between those two national medians is more than eighteen thousand dollars a year. Decide which one you are actually posting before you set the range, because a posting written at the specialist level with an assistant-level range will attract nobody, and the reverse will attract people who leave in eight months. Publish a good-faith range where your state or city requires it, and write the duties tightly enough that the range makes sense.
The records live in five places and none of them is the one you check
Training evidence scatters by default: completion data in a learning platform, certificates in email, acknowledgments in a shared drive, renewal dates in someone's calendar, and the signed roster from last year's safety session in a folder nobody has opened since. FirstHR was built to collapse that. Training modules assign and track courses against the employee record, e-signature handles policy and training acknowledgments so the signed copy files itself, document management stores certificates and licenses on the employee profile with renewal dates attached, and the onboarding wizard runs the same required sequence for every new hire so the first week is never the gap. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Once the offer is signed, the first ninety days of this role are mostly consolidation. Give the new administrator an explicit mandate to pick one system of record and migrate into it, and run their own arrival through a repeatable onboarding checklist so they see the process they are about to own from the inside. If the role is a step toward a bigger program, the training manager templates describe the seat above it.
Key Takeaways
A training administrator owns the operational side of training: the calendar, the learning platform, completion and expiry records, and the reporting, executing a plan someone else sets.
No Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation carries this title, so benchmark against human resources assistants at a $50,610 median and training and development specialists at $69,280 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The role is usually non-exempt, because scheduling, tracking, and reporting fail the discretion and independent judgment test even when the salary clears $684 per week.
Retention periods come from the regulation that required the training, not from your document policy: bloodborne pathogens training records, for example, are kept three years from the training date.
Expiry tracking is the highest-value part of the job and the part that fails most often, so build a thirty to sixty day lead time and route reminders to the manager as well as the employee.
Screen with a messy-roster work sample and a specific escalation story instead of asking for attention to detail, which every candidate claims and none can evidence.
Training evidence scatters unless one system holds it. FirstHR assigns and tracks training modules against the employee record, files signed acknowledgments through built-in e-signature, and stores certificates and licenses on the employee profile with renewal dates attached. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a training administrator do?
A training administrator runs the operational side of a training program rather than the content side. The job covers scheduling and publishing the training calendar, enrolling employees and managing reminders, administering the learning platform including course setup and user accounts, tracking completions and scores, monitoring certification and license expiry dates, keeping signed rosters and certificates for the retention period each regulation requires, coordinating vendors and instructors, and producing the overdue and compliance reports managers and auditors ask for. The role executes a plan someone else set. It does not usually assess training needs, design curriculum, or facilitate sessions, which is what separates it from a training specialist. In small companies the administrator is often the first and only dedicated training hire, which means the job also includes building the system that did not exist before.
Is a training administrator the same as a training coordinator?
In practice the two titles overlap heavily and many employers use them for one job, but there is a working distinction worth holding. A training administrator is weighted toward the system of record: the learning platform, completion data, certification expiry, retention, and reporting. A training coordinator is weighted toward logistics: sessions, instructors, vendors, venues, and the calendar. Neither title has a fixed legal or statistical definition, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish either one as a separate occupation. What matters more than the title is the duty list, because that is what sets both the pay range and the overtime classification. Write the duties first, then pick whichever title your candidate pool searches for, and keep it consistent between the posting and the offer letter.
Is a training administrator exempt or non-exempt?
Usually non-exempt, meaning hourly and entitled to overtime past forty hours in a week. The FLSA administrative exemption requires three things together: payment on a salary basis at or above the standard salary level of $684 per week ($35,568 a year), a primary duty of office work directly related to management or general business operations, and the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. Scheduling sessions, enrolling users, maintaining records, and running standard reports clears the second element but generally fails the third, because applying rules and procedures set by someone else is not independent judgment on matters of significance. A role that genuinely selects vendors, sets the training plan, and decides program content may qualify, provided the salary level is also met. Classify on the actual daily work, not the title. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a training administrator make?
There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation with this exact title, so benchmark against the two nearest classifications. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), human resources assistants (SOC 43-4161) had a national median annual wage of $50,610, with the 25th percentile at $44,030 and the 75th at $59,800. Training and development specialists (SOC 13-1151) had a median of $69,280, with the 25th percentile at $50,110 and the 75th at $95,050. A pure scheduling and records role tracks the assistant figures, while a role that also builds courses or facilitates sessions tracks the specialist figures. Most training administrator postings land between the two, roughly in the high forties to mid sixties depending on industry, systems responsibility, and local market. Decide which duty mix you are posting before you set a range.
What should a training administrator job description include?
Seven things. First, the duty split across scheduling, systems, records, and reporting, with rough weight on each so candidates know which job this is. Second, the learning platform by category, since platform experience is the most transferable skill in this role. Third, the population and volume: how many employees, how many courses a year, how many sites. Fourth, the compliance context, because required training in a regulated industry is a different job from optional professional development. Fifth, the FLSA classification, stated on the posting. Sixth, the pay or a good-faith range. Seventh, who this person reports to and who they can escalate an overdue completion to, which is the single thing that determines whether the role succeeds. Skip generic soft-skill lists; every candidate claims attention to detail, so test it in screening instead.
Do I need a training administrator if I only have a few employees?
Usually not as a dedicated hire. Below roughly a couple of dozen employees the work is real but part-time, and it fits inside an office manager, HR generalist, or operations role provided someone owns it explicitly. The trigger for a dedicated hire is rarely headcount on its own. It is regulated training with retention requirements, multiple sites, certifications that expire on staggered dates, or a client or insurer who audits your records. When any of those appear, the tracking stops fitting in a spreadsheet and the risk of a lapse stops being theoretical. A common middle step is the part-time template on this page: a defined number of hours a week, a clear system to build, and a monthly one-page status for the owner. That is often enough for two or three years before a full-time role is justified.
Does required training time have to be paid?
Generally yes for non-exempt employees. Time spent in training the employer requires is treated as hours worked under the FLSA, and it counts toward the forty-hour overtime threshold. The exception is narrow and all four of its conditions must hold at once: attendance is outside normal working hours, it is genuinely voluntary, it is not directly related to the employee's current job, and the employee performs no productive work during it. Most compliance training, onboarding, and role-specific training fails at least two of those conditions, so treat it as paid time by default. This has a direct scheduling consequence for whoever administers training: stacking an annual refresher onto the end of a full shift can push an entire crew into overtime. Schedule required sessions inside normal hours where you can and budget the hours where you cannot. This is general information, not legal advice.
