How To Become A Principal Quality Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a principal quality engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

James Swisher

Principal quality engineers perform various functions, including providing efficient quality assurance solutions and assuring the effectiveness of existing quality assurance processes. For this role, you must ensure that products, materials, and equipment are tested and inspected to make sure quality specifications are met and regularly work with operations managers to develop improvements and fix issues or problems. You will also be required to monitor project progress, prepare documentation, and ensure completed works are delivered on time. In addition, you have to research and select appropriate methods to ensure the timely completion of projects and develop the department's standards, policies, and techniques.

A bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or a related field is needed to get this job. Also, you must possess good knowledge of product design, laboratory control methods, and the ability to work well with others. Principal quality engineers earn an average of $103,335 yearly or $49.68 hourly.

What general advice would you give to a principal quality engineer?

James Swisher

Director of Continuing Education, Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers

It's truly an exciting time to be an Industrial and Systems Engineer. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects demand for ISEs to grow by 10% over the next ten years, which is much faster than the rate for all occupations. Firms across a broad range of industries will continue to focus on the skills that ISEs bring to improve efficiencies, enhance quality, and lower costs. In addition, ISEs bring skills in the related fields of big data, artificial intelligence, and project management that make them extremely valuable to organizations. ISEs ability to quickly make an impact in an organization also means that their potential for promotion is very good. It's a great profession to be in.

ScorePrincipal Quality EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.7

Avg. Salary $103,677

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.5

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 15.39%

Black or African American 4.28%

Hispanic or Latino 10.49%

Unknown 3.88%

White 65.79%

Gender

female 19.01%

male 80.99%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a principal quality engineer

Explore principal quality engineer education requirements

Most common principal quality engineer degrees

Bachelor's

71.5 %

Master's

20.6 %

Associate

5.5 %

Start to develop specific principal quality engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Sigma	6.06%
Corrective Action	5.83%
ISO	5.74%
Continuous Improvement	5.28%
Statistical Analysis	4.77%

Complete relevant principal quality engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New principal quality engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a principal quality engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real principal quality engineer resumes.

Research principal quality engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage quality and performance for precision investment casting products manufacture for aerospace customers.
Use of FMEA, IPC-610 documents and processes.
Audit supplier procedures and operations to ensure compliance with both ISO 9001 and military requirements.
Develop and maintain product safety risk management files including design/process risks FMEA and user risks.

Get principal quality engineer experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a principal quality engineer. The most common roles before becoming a principal quality engineer include quality engineer, senior quality engineer team lead and quality assurance manager.

Prepare your principal quality engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your principal quality engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a principal quality engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable principal quality engineer resume templates

Build a professional principal quality engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your principal quality engineer resume.

Apply for principal quality engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a principal quality engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do principal quality engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Principal quality engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2021

Pros

Defined Quality test procedure validated test components and planned integration tests for leading parts manufacture for industry. • Prepares and maintained important company quality control documentations such as quality manuals quality procedure, quality standards and quality assurance • Prepared the final inspection report before the dispatched for the machining process • Resolved machining department complaints, took preventive measure to prevent future complaints and clearly, documented all feedback, Mechanical Engineer for Third Party Inspection jobs in Baroda • Typically deals with several problems of the same time

Cons

Yes