Quality assurance director vs quality assurance specialist

The differences between quality assurance directors and quality assurance specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a quality assurance director, becoming a quality assurance specialist takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a quality assurance director has an average salary of $140,937, which is higher than the $63,443 average annual salary of a quality assurance specialist.

The top three skills for a quality assurance director include continuous improvement, quality standards and oversight. The most important skills for a quality assurance specialist are GMP, patients, and FDA.

Quality assurance director vs quality assurance specialist overview

	Quality Assurance Director	Quality Assurance Specialist
Yearly salary	$140,937	$63,443
Hourly rate	$67.76	$30.50
Growth rate	3%	6%
Number of jobs	66,888	83,505
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	48	44
Years of experience	6	4

What does a quality assurance director do?

The job of a quality assurance (QA) director is to oversee all QA functions across the company. Your duties typically include working closely with other department heads to deliver high-quality products on time, hiring managers and analysts, and establishing and maintaining a quality system to make sure that company guidelines and regulatory standards are met. Additionally, you will be responsible for ensuring quality by monitoring, appraising job results, and planning. You are also expected to maintain technical and professional knowledge by reviewing professional publications, participating in professional associations, and attending workshops.

What does a quality assurance specialist do?

A quality assurance specialist is an individual who is responsible for monitoring, inspecting, and proposing measures to correct and improve a company's product. Quality assurance specialists need to outline quality assurance policies and procedures, making sure that quality standards are assured. It is important that a quality assurance specialist should have strong attention to detail and is excellent in data collection. This work may require a minimum of bachelor's degree and certification to get certified.

Quality assurance director vs quality assurance specialist salary

Quality assurance directors and quality assurance specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Quality Assurance Director	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average salary	$140,937	$63,443
Salary range	Between $97,000 And $203,000	Between $41,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Upstart Network	Apple
Best paying industry	Professional	Pharmaceutical

Differences between quality assurance director and quality assurance specialist education

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

	Quality Assurance Director	Quality Assurance Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Stanford University

Quality assurance director vs quality assurance specialist demographics

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

	Quality Assurance Director	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average age	48	44
Gender ratio	Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%	Male, 42.8% Female, 57.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 13.0% Asian, 9.1% White, 69.8% 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	8%	11%

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

Quality assurance director example responsibilities.

Manage the USDA inspection process including coordinating daily production and communicating with federal personnel.
Manage initial USDA regulatory visits, working collaboratively with USDA inspectors leading audit preparation and follow-up activities and reports.
Direct and coordinate quality and regulatory affairs activities to support new product development, improving GMP compliance.
Provide GxP support and oversight for all Genocea development programs.
Set and execute vision for QRM consistent with corporate objectives and ICH Q9.
Develop and update metrics within the QMS to provide meaningful feedback to stakeholders.

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.

Quality assurance director vs quality assurance specialist skills

Common quality assurance director skills

Continuous Improvement, 8%
Quality Standards, 7%
Oversight, 5%
Test Automation, 5%
Scrum, 4%
FDA, 4%

Common quality assurance specialist skills

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

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Quality Assurance Director
Quality Assurance Director vs Quality Assurance Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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