Quality assurance inspector vs quality assurance specialist

The differences between quality assurance inspectors and quality assurance specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality assurance specialist has an average salary of $63,443, which is higher than the $36,842 average annual salary of a quality assurance inspector.

The top three skills for a quality assurance inspector include calipers, micrometers and corrective action. The most important skills for a quality assurance specialist are GMP, patients, and FDA.

Quality assurance inspector vs quality assurance specialist overview

	Quality Assurance Inspector	Quality Assurance Specialist
Yearly salary	$36,842	$63,443
Hourly rate	$17.71	$30.50
Growth rate	-3%	6%
Number of jobs	74,410	83,505
Job satisfaction	3	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	45	44
Years of experience	-	4

What does a quality assurance inspector do?

Quality Assurance Auditors are employees who ensure the adherence of other employees to company processes and guidelines. They are expected to be experts on quality assurance processes and procedures. They also have in-depth knowledge of the expected outcomes of such processes to ensure that the company only provides quality products and services. Quality assurance auditors are also familiar with regulatory laws and policies of governing bodies that oversee companies in their particular industry. They ensure that their companies are compliant and may conduct random quality checks every now and then.

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 inspector vs quality assurance specialist salary

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

	Quality Assurance Inspector	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average salary	$36,842	$63,443
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $49,000	Between $41,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	Renton, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Los Alamos National Laboratory	Apple
Best paying industry	Government	Pharmaceutical

Differences between quality assurance inspector and quality assurance specialist education

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

	Quality Assurance Inspector	Quality Assurance Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	Stanford University

Quality assurance inspector vs quality assurance specialist demographics

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

	Quality Assurance Inspector	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average age	45	44
Gender ratio	Male, 71.7% Female, 28.3%	Male, 42.8% Female, 57.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 9.1% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	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	4%	11%

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

Quality assurance inspector example responsibilities.

Coordinate joint surveys with SATORP inspectors and manage clearance of all issue active LBE and NCR.
Work with IPC and ISO regulations.
Examine parts for damage or excessive wear using micrometers and gauges and other specialize test equipment.
Measure dimensions of products to verify conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments such as rulers, calipers or micrometers.
Inspect and measure surgical steel medical devices for critical dimensions, checking tolerance using micrometers and calipers reading from blueprint designs.
Qualify coating systems and painters to ASTM standards.

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 inspector vs quality assurance specialist skills

Common quality assurance inspector skills

Calipers, 7%
Micrometers, 6%
Corrective Action, 5%
Safety Standards, 5%
Inspection Reports, 4%
Quality Standards, 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 Inspector vs Quality Assurance Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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