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.
Quality assurance responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real quality assurance resumes:
- 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.
- Support various environments (QA, DEV, UAT, etc) for different user communities for testing new features.
- Perform moderately complex to complex test data conditioning, regression testing and testing validation.
- Work with CAPA system process.
- Create automation scripts using selenium and python.
- Conduct spot auditing/verify compliance of procedures and the QMS.
- Perform automation of server-side tests, UI test automation.
- Proofread, document, and edit website meta-data during testing windows.
- Improve protective posture against biological threats for over 60K DoD personnel.
- Create a windows service to send email notifications to guests regarding upcoming events.
Quality assurance skills and personality traits
We calculated that 6% of Quality Assurances are proficient in Test Cases, Food Handling, and Java.
We break down the percentage of Quality Assurances that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Test Cases, 6%
Developed Selenium test scripts for identified test cases by using data driven framework and developed function library to reduce redundant scripting.
- Food Handling, 6%
Inspected departments for cleanliness and proper food handling procedures.
- Java, 5%
Edited interactive cartoons using proprietary software and then translated to a Java based language called ToggleTalk.
- Selenium, 4%
Have exposure to UI Automation and Selenium tool for automating suitable functional scenarios/test-suites.
- Data Entry, 4%
Perform data entry tasks, examine/inspect loaded data for completeness and report any potential problems in processing.
- Test Procedures, 4%
Prepared and maintained inspection and test procedures for instrumentation.
Common skills that a quality assurance uses to do their job include "test cases," "food handling," and "java." You can find details on the most important quality assurance responsibilities below.
The three companies that hire the most quality assurances are:
- United Natural Foods28 quality assurances jobs
- Randstad North America, Inc.24 quality assurances jobs
- FedEx23 quality assurances jobs
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Compare different quality assurances
Quality assurance vs. Quality analyst
Pumpers are individuals who take responsibility for setting the pumping system controls for product maximization. Their job requires them to set density, concentration, rate, and pressure. They do the operation and maintenance of the auxiliary equipment pumping oil. It is their duty to set the wells so they will function based on the production schedules and switch the oil flow between tanks. They even install the pumping systems.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a quality assurance are more likely to require skills like "test cases," "food handling," "selenium," and "data entry." On the other hand, a job as a quality analyst requires skills like "customer service," "qa," "patients," and "data analysis." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Quality analysts earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $77,710. On the other hand, quality assurances are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $68,731.The education levels that quality analysts earn slightly differ from quality assurances. In particular, quality analysts are 4.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a quality assurance. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Quality assurance vs. Engineer lead quality assurance lead
Engineer Lead Quality Assurance Leads are responsible for managing the designing and operations of hardware or software testing. Their duties include developing testing plans, implement risk mitigation strategies, communicate process improvements to cross-teams such as marketing and engineering, resolve the conflict between teams, and ensures product or software adheres to the organization and industry standards. They are also involved in reviewing technical design and specification, setting performance targets, and writing progress reports for management updates.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that quality assurance responsibilities requires skills like "test cases," "food handling," "selenium," and "data entry." But an engineer lead quality assurance lead might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "selenium webdriver," "ui," "c++," and "manual test cases."
Engineers lead quality assurance lead earn a higher average salary than quality assurances. But engineers lead quality assurance lead earn the highest pay in the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $114,398. Additionally, quality assurances earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $68,731 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Engineers lead quality assurance lead tend to reach higher levels of education than quality assurances. In fact, they're 7.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Quality assurance vs. Senior quality assurance engineer
A senior quality assurance engineer oversees the testing procedures conducted in software development, ensuring technical accuracy and efficiency. They are primarily responsible for working alongside software designers and quality engineers, reviewing quality control reports, inspecting specifications, and devising particular test procedures. Moreover, it is also essential to troubleshoot issues and identify any inconsistencies or bugs. As someone with more experience in the team, they must supervise and serve as a mentor to the younger quality assurance engineers in the joint effort to develop efficient software.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, quality assurances are more likely to have skills like "test cases," "food handling," "selenium," and "data entry." But a senior quality assurance engineer is more likely to have skills like "qa," "python," "test automation," and "ui."
Senior quality assurance engineers earn the highest salary when working in the telecommunication industry, where they receive an average salary of $112,284. Comparatively, quality assurances have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $68,731.When it comes to education, senior quality assurance engineers tend to earn higher degree levels compared to quality assurances. In fact, they're 10.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Quality assurance vs. Quality assurance representative
Quality assurance inspectors are responsible for inspecting, testing, and sampling products, materials, or parts for any defects and deviations from company standards. They are tasks to reject any materials, equipment, and products that don't meet specifications. It is their job to discuss inspection results with personnel responsible for the products, and suggest needed corrective actions. To be qualified as a quality assurance inspector, one should have a high school diploma and a college degree, attentive to detail, and have excellent communication skills.
Types of quality assurance
Updated January 8, 2025
