Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between quality associates and quality engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality engineer has an average salary of $79,672, which is higher than the $50,300 average annual salary of a quality associate.
The top three skills for a quality associate include patients, QA and quality system. The most important skills for a quality engineer are corrective action, continuous improvement, and ISO.
| Quality Associate | Quality Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $50,300 | $79,672 |
| Hourly rate | $24.18 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 60,168 | 96,838 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Average age | 38 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
A quality associate is responsible for ensuring that a new product meets standards for usage and operating. You will perform various tasks that include assisting in identifying quality problems and improving operational processes, writing, disseminating, and maintaining quality documentation and manuals, and verifying logs and databases to monitor and flag quality issues and improvements. In addition, you are responsible for supporting document control and quality audits, reviewing reports and validation protocols, and investigating and diagnosing quality complaints.
A quality engineer's responsibilities include ensuring that the manufacturing processes are efficient and accurate, documenting findings that would raise concerns, conducting quality tests while observing parameters, and implementing changes as necessary to meet the highest quality standards. Quality engineers need to have excellent problem-solving and observation skills to detect any irregularities and possible malfunctions. They also must be able to communicate effectively with the clients for feedbacks and corrective adjustments, address complaints, and immediately resolve any inconsistencies made.
Quality associates and quality engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Associate | Quality Engineer | |
| Average salary | $50,300 | $79,672 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $80,000 | Between $61,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Washington |
| Best paying company | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Technology |
There are a few differences between a quality associate and a quality engineer in terms of educational background:
| Quality Associate | Quality Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Biology | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between quality associates' and quality engineers' demographics:
| Quality Associate | Quality Engineer | |
| Average age | 38 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 44.8% Female, 55.2% | Male, 78.2% Female, 21.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 11.6% White, 55.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 13.9% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 4% |