Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between functional test engineers and quality assurance leads can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a functional test engineer and a quality assurance lead. Additionally, a quality assurance lead has an average salary of $94,758, which is higher than the $77,780 average annual salary of a functional test engineer.
The top three skills for a functional test engineer include test cases, test equipment and test results. The most important skills for a quality assurance lead are QA, test cases, and test plan.
| Functional Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Lead | |
| Yearly salary | $77,780 | $94,758 |
| Hourly rate | $37.39 | $45.56 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 44,452 | 82,242 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Functional test engineers and quality assurance leads have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Functional Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Lead | |
| Average salary | $77,780 | $94,758 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $98,000 | Between $72,000 And $123,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Retail |
There are a few differences between a functional test engineer and a quality assurance lead in terms of educational background:
| Functional Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Lead | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Georgia Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between functional test engineers' and quality assurance leads' demographics:
| Functional Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Lead | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 79.1% Female, 20.9% | Male, 63.0% Female, 37.0% |
| 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% |