Director, software quality assurance vs quality assurance specialist

The differences between directors, software quality assurance and quality assurance specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a director, software quality assurance and a quality assurance specialist. Additionally, a director, software quality assurance has an average salary of $162,828, which is higher than the $63,443 average annual salary of a quality assurance specialist.

The top three skills for a director, software quality assurance include software quality, software development and test automation. The most important skills for a quality assurance specialist are GMP, patients, and FDA.

Director, software quality assurance vs quality assurance specialist overview

	Director, Software Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Specialist
Yearly salary	$162,828	$63,443
Hourly rate	$78.28	$30.50
Growth rate	21%	6%
Number of jobs	96,862	83,505
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

Director, software quality assurance vs quality assurance specialist salary

Directors, software quality assurance and quality assurance specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director, Software Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average salary	$162,828	$63,443
Salary range	Between $113,000 And $232,000	Between $41,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	Sunnyvale, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Fortinet	Apple
Best paying industry	Media	Pharmaceutical

Differences between director, software quality assurance and quality assurance specialist education

There are a few differences between a director, software quality assurance and a quality assurance specialist in terms of educational background:

	Director, Software Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Computer Science	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Director, software quality assurance vs quality assurance specialist demographics

Here are the differences between directors, software quality assurance' and quality assurance specialists' demographics:

	Director, Software Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 78.1% Female, 21.9%	Male, 42.8% Female, 57.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between director, software quality assurance and quality assurance specialist duties and responsibilities

Director, software quality assurance example responsibilities.

Manage test execution, defects and implementation of schedule release items per the SDLC process.
Work as backup scrum master and become a certify scrum master as well as participated on multiple teams to accomplish objectives.
Replace a paper/pencil driven reporting process with a SQL database to automate data collection and reporting for entire customer facing organization.
Function as line manager for development team and scrum master / project manager.
Improve the SDLC process by establishing the strategic plan for current and long range quality objectives.
Revamp an aging platform from grind up, using Microservices architecture focusing on maintainability, scalability & reliability on AWS platform.

Quality assurance specialist example responsibilities.

Manage all NDT relate gauges to ensure calibrations requirements are meet.
Provide employee training and manage all NDT certification records per ASNT SNT-TC-1A.
Lead the HACCP team to ensure full compliance with regulatory and industrial food safety standards.
Manage product and environmental sampling for chemical and microbial analysis to meet HACCP requirements.
Lead cross functional project team to build user-friendly windows base customer support applications which interface with the OmniPlan/OmniPlus mainframe application.
Execute quality processes in tissue banking and medical device, FDA requirements 21 CFR 1271 and 21 CFR 820.

Director, software quality assurance vs quality assurance specialist skills

Common director, software quality assurance skills

Software Quality, 8%
Software Development, 7%
Test Automation, 5%
Test Strategies, 5%
SDLC, 5%
Test Cases, 4%

Common quality assurance specialist skills

GMP, 6%
Patients, 5%
FDA, 5%
CAPA, 4%
Corrective Action, 4%
CFR, 4%

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Director, Software Quality Assurance
Director, Software Quality Assurance vs Quality Assurance Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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