Quality assurance vs quality assurance inspector

The differences between quality assurances and quality assurance inspectors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality assurance has an average salary of $51,313, which is higher than the $36,842 average annual salary of a quality assurance inspector.

The top three skills for a quality assurance include test cases, food handling and java. The most important skills for a quality assurance inspector are calipers, micrometers, and corrective action.

Quality assurance vs quality assurance inspector overview

	Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Inspector
Yearly salary	$51,313	$36,842
Hourly rate	$24.67	$17.71
Growth rate	-	-3%
Number of jobs	69,366	74,410
Job satisfaction	-	3
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 34%
Average age	44	45
Years of experience	4	-

What does a quality assurance do?

The primary role of quality assurance specialists is to inspect the quality system's implementation and perform quality assurance audits. They are responsible for monitoring and recording results from procedures and processes within manufacturing industries. They are also responsible for some other tasks, including keeping up-to-date manufacturing and auditing documentation, training less experienced QA team members, and creating standard operating procedures. To be a quality assurance specialist, you must have a high school diploma, organizational skills, and strong attention to detail.

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.

Quality assurance vs quality assurance inspector salary

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

	Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Inspector
Average salary	$51,313	$36,842
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $92,000	Between $27,000 And $49,000
Highest paying City	Cupertino, CA	Renton, WA
Highest paying state	California	Washington
Best paying company	Meta	Los Alamos National Laboratory
Best paying industry	Finance	Government

Differences between quality assurance and quality assurance inspector education

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

	Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Inspector
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 34%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	-

Quality assurance vs quality assurance inspector demographics

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

	Quality Assurance	Quality Assurance Inspector
Average age	44	45
Gender ratio	Male, 55.8% Female, 44.2%	Male, 71.7% Female, 28.3%
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, 11.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 9.1% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	11%	4%

Differences between quality assurance and quality assurance inspector duties and responsibilities

Quality assurance example responsibilities.

Participate in weekly scrum meetings with project leads and the QA team to track and report overall progress.
Manage the logistics requirements, handling, processing, and repairing of avionics equipment and avionics support equipment.
Champion use of detail bug tracking (JIRA) and strict release methodology to achieve field stability and maintainability.
Experience in working with product teams, product owners and scrum masters to compose and manage integrate project plans.
Manage all ALM relate issues, user requests and customize the defect templates to cater to various project needs.
Provide support for different environments including DEV, QA, UAT, staging, and production.

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 vs quality assurance inspector skills

Common quality assurance skills

Test Cases, 6%
Food Handling, 6%
Java, 5%
Selenium, 4%
Data Entry, 4%
Test Procedures, 4%

Common quality assurance inspector skills

Calipers, 7%
Micrometers, 6%
Corrective Action, 5%
Safety Standards, 5%
Inspection Reports, 4%
Quality Standards, 4%

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Quality Assurance vs Quality Assurance Inspector

Updated January 8, 2025

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