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The differences between lead software quality assurances and quality assurance engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a lead software quality assurance and a quality assurance engineer. Additionally, a lead software quality assurance has an average salary of $107,134, which is higher than the $82,215 average annual salary of a quality assurance engineer.
The top three skills for a lead software quality assurance include QA, python and java. The most important skills for a quality assurance engineer are java, python, and regression.
| Lead Software Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $107,134 | $82,215 |
| Hourly rate | $51.51 | $39.53 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 265,749 | 243,536 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A Lead Software Quality Assurance is responsible for the management and organization of quality testing. Their job is to ensure that a project will have a successful promotion by providing quality software and testing a different product to ensure that it is according to the guidelines. They are also involved in finding a solution to conflicts between two other teams, creating a strategy that will eventually give way to more opportunities for the company, give motivational advice to the team, and then evaluate them.
A Quality Assurance Engineer's role is to oversee the overall production and ensure that the product is cost-efficient and aligns with the company's standards. The responsibility mainly revolves around conducting activities that examine and scrutinize the condition of a product or service to identify issues and come up with possible solutions to resolve the issue or attain stronger customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the Quality Assurance Engineer must also ensure that the product adheres to the government regulations and market guidelines.
Lead software quality assurances and quality assurance engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Software Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average salary | $107,134 | $82,215 |
| Salary range | Between $82,000 And $138,000 | Between $61,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Technology |
There are a few differences between a lead software quality assurance and a quality assurance engineer in terms of educational background:
| Lead Software Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between lead software quality assurances' and quality assurance engineers' demographics:
| Lead Software Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 68.1% Female, 31.9% | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% |
| 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% |