What is a Quality Assurance Specialist?

Q: How much do QA testers make?

QA testers make $33 an hour on average. A quality assurance tester can make anywhere from $27-$35 an hour on average, with the pay rate differing between companies. Usually, larger software companies are willing to pay more for quality testing services, whereas smaller companies may opt to pay less per hour since they are still in the starting phases of their production.

As a Quality Assurance Specialist, you will monitor, inspect, and propose various measures aimed to improve or correct the product of a company. You will be outlining quality assurance policies to ensure quality standards. Therefore, you need to be extremely mindful of details.

In addition, you also need to have great analytical skills. You will be dealing with a lot of data and information as a Quality Assurance Specialist, so you should know how to filter these chunks of information and interpret them for your client. Next is communication skills. After studying data and relevant information, you need to be able to communicate your findings efficiently.

With a job growth rate of 6%, you can earn an annual average salary of $72,039 as a Quality Assurance Specialist. You also have the chance to take on other roles as a Quality Assurance Manager, a Quality Manager, and a Director of Quality if this is the path you plan to take.

What Does a Quality Assurance Specialist Do

There are certain skills that many quality assurance specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and detail oriented.

Learn more about what a Quality Assurance Specialist does

How To Become a Quality Assurance Specialist

If you're interested in becoming a quality assurance specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 58.3% of quality assurance specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 10.4% of quality assurance specialists have master's degrees. Even though most quality assurance specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Quality Assurance Specialist

Quality Assurance Specialist Job Description

A quality assurance specialist is a trained professional in charge of testing and designing products in order to ensure the necessary quality is present. Their duties include the documentation of quality assurance activities, maintaining records, and building upon existing data.

Learn more about Quality Assurance Specialist Job Description

Top Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs Near You

Quality Assurance Specialist Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a quality assurance specialist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as quality assurance manager, progress to a title such as quality manager and then eventually end up with the title director of quality.

Top Careers Before Quality Assurance Specialist

Customer Service Representative (209,515 Jobs)

20.2 %

Administrative Assistant (65,769 Jobs)

8.7 %

Cashier (456,110 Jobs)

6.3 %

Top Careers After Quality Assurance Specialist

Customer Service Representative (209,515 Jobs)

13.3 %

Quality Assurance Manager (62,293 Jobs)

11.3 %

Quality Assurance Analyst (108,078 Jobs)

7.7 %

Average Salary for a Quality Assurance Specialist

Quality Assurance Specialists in America make an average salary of $63,443 per year or $31 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $97,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $41,000 per year.

Average Quality Assurance Specialist Salary

$63,443 Yearly

$30.50 hourly

$41,00010%

$63,000Median

$97,00090%

See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of Quality Assurance Specialist

The role of a quality assurance specialist includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general quality assurance specialist responsibilities:

Become well versed in all aspects of the qa job function, e.g. Processing of product improvement reports (pirs), quarantine, recovery, customer recovery
Include, but is not limited to, the following: help design with the company’s quality strategy
Perform iso formatted audits on our industrial services sites/facilities throughout north america

There are several types of quality assurance specialist, including:

Quality Assurance Analyst

Role:

Quality Assurance Analysts spend a lot of time ensuring that a product is up to the company's standards. From performing software audtis to coming up with processes that test quality, everything is about quality when it comes to your job.

QA analysts notice everything. That's because they're so detail-orientated that no small error will ever get by them. Well, I mean, they're still human so maybe a small error will get by from time to time. No one is perfect.

This job is super useful in a lot of different industries so if you're looking for a career that comes with a lot of opportunity, you're in luck. QA analysts are hired by gaming development companies and software product companies. And when a company's website is ready to launch, QA analysts get a sneak peak to make sure there aren't any errors.

Average Salary: $73,532
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Quality Assurance Engineer

Role:

Quality assurance engineers test the quality of specifications and design of a product in order to ensure it works properly. Although this career isn't easily attainable, we can guarantee that it's worth every penny and second.

The job requires that you know quite an extensive amount of information in order to fill your role efficiently. That usually means a lot of education. The very least amount of education in this field is generally a bachelor's degree. Though most earn a master's degree.

A lot of your day-to-day will deal with software design, engineering and computer science. So maybe look into one of those degrees. Some quality assurance engineers require a license, in addition to the education. But that usually depends on the state and employer.

Average Salary: $82,215
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Quality Assurance Lead

Role:

We have all witnessed the consequences of quality failures. The explosion of NASA Shuttle Challenger, resulting in the death of all 7 astronauts. The BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, resulting in 4 million oil barrels leaking into the Mexican Gulf. Although quality assurance does not seem to be discussed in shareholder's meetings, it should remain at the forefront of how a company leads an operation.

The primary role of a quality assurance lead is to oversee the testing of a product or service to ensure adherence to industry and the organization's standards. They are involved in developing testing plans, creating risk mitigation strategies, and liaising with the product team in suggesting process improvements.

Different industries will require different degrees for a quality assurance lead. For example, working in a food production facility will require a science-related degree, whereas working to maintain the TikTok platform will require an IT degree. A quality assurance lead earns an average of $39 per hour and generally works 40 hours a week.

Average Salary: $94,758
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active quality assurance specialist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where quality assurance specialists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	4,902	$77,181
2	Texas	2,142	$58,722
3	Florida	1,746	$55,948
4	Illinois	1,428	$54,950
5	North Carolina	1,319	$62,290
6	New York	1,316	$72,525
7	Pennsylvania	1,272	$71,681
8	Virginia	1,162	$73,509
9	Massachusetts	1,112	$77,490
10	Ohio	1,081	$60,195
11	Georgia	1,071	$47,842
12	Indiana	955	$47,909
13	New Jersey	930	$81,294
14	Maryland	907	$82,155
15	Michigan	874	$62,805
16	Washington	866	$67,902
17	Minnesota	784	$59,654
18	Arizona	732	$57,146
19	Wisconsin	712	$54,114
20	Colorado	683	$47,835
21	Tennessee	583	$48,274
22	Missouri	517	$45,902
23	Kentucky	495	$49,627
24	South Carolina	494	$51,611
25	Utah	491	$48,098
26	Oregon	487	$66,247
27	Iowa	484	$47,571
28	Alabama	459	$47,286
29	Connecticut	423	$81,897
30	Kansas	307	$45,349
31	New Hampshire	269	$70,524
32	Nebraska	248	$48,938
33	Arkansas	239	$41,886
34	Louisiana	217	$53,838
35	Oklahoma	208	$42,412
36	Mississippi	190	$49,458
37	Nevada	187	$59,098
38	Idaho	169	$50,983
39	Delaware	152	$71,219
40	New Mexico	152	$60,583
41	Maine	147	$67,522
42	Rhode Island	141	$84,516
43	West Virginia	124	$60,353
44	Hawaii	95	$55,432
45	North Dakota	91	$57,102
46	Montana	82	$48,868
47	Alaska	78	$71,567
48	Vermont	78	$67,304
49	South Dakota	70	$47,116
50	Wyoming	62	$46,832

Quality Assurance Specialist Education

Quality Assurance Specialist Majors

Business

25.9 %

Biology

9.9 %

Psychology

6.9 %

Quality Assurance Specialist Degrees

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

Admissions

Most Popular Majors

Business

Education

Biology

Psychology

Liberal Arts

10. Bentley University

Waltham, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$49,880

Enrollment

4,177

Admissions

Most Popular Majors

Accounting

Finance

Business

Marketing

Computer Information Systems

Top Skills For a Quality Assurance Specialist

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 6.2% of quality assurance specialists listed gmp on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.

GMP, 6.2%

Patients, 5.4%

FDA, 4.7%

CAPA, 4.3%

Corrective Action, 4.3%

Other Skills, 75.1%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Quality Assurance Specialist Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Quality Assurance Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Quality Assurance Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Quality Assurance Specialist Demographics

Quality Assurance Specialist Gender Distribution

Female

57%

Male

43%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

Among quality assurance specialists, 57.2% of them are women, while 42.8% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among quality assurance specialists is White, which makes up 67.7% of all quality assurance specialists.

The most common foreign language among quality assurance specialists is Spanish at 63.3%.

Online Courses For Quality Assurance Specialist That You May Like

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1. Clinical Trials Data Management and Quality Assurance

In this course, you’ll learn to collect and care for the data gathered during your trial and how to prevent mistakes and errors through quality assurance practices. Clinical trials generate an enormous amount of data, so you and your team must plan carefully by choosing the right collection instruments, systems, and measures to protect the integrity of your trial data. You’ll learn how to assemble, clean, and de-identify your datasets. Finally, you’ll learn to find and correct deficiencies...

See More on Coursera

2. ISO 9001:2015-Quality Management System Implementation & Audit

4.4

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Learn how to Implement and Audit a Quality Management System as per ISO 9001: 2015...

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3. ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System Auditor Course

4.5

(6,190)

How to implement or audit a Quality Management System as per ISO 9001:2015...

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Part Time

Internship

Temporary

Best States For a Quality Assurance Specialist

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a quality assurance specialist. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Quality assurance specialists make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $84,516. Whereas in Maryland and Connecticut, they would average $82,155 and $81,897, respectively. While quality assurance specialists would only make an average of $81,294 in New Jersey, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Maryland

Total Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs: 907

Highest 10% Earn:

$128,000

Location Quotient:

1.2

$82,155

Avg. Salary

View 907 Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs In MD

2. Connecticut

Total Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs: 423

Highest 10% Earn:

$121,000

Location Quotient:

1.07

$81,897

Avg. Salary

View 423 Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs In CT

3. Rhode Island

Total Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs: 141

Highest 10% Earn:

$122,000

Location Quotient:

0.98

$84,516

Avg. Salary

View 141 Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs In RI

Full List Of Best States For Quality Assurance Specialists

How Do Quality Assurance Specialist Rate Their Jobs?

Top Quality Assurance Specialist Employers

We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ quality assurance specialists and discovered their number of quality assurance specialist opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that DISH Network was the best, especially with an average salary of $54,429. Pfizer follows up with an average salary of $86,382, and then comes Salesforce with an average of $71,197. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a quality assurance specialist. The employers include United Therapeutics, Envision Healthcare, and Select Medical

Most Common Employers For Quality Assurance Specialist

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$95,078	$45.71	75
2	Amgen	$92,165	$44.31	70
3	Capital One	$89,605	$43.08	55
4	Bank of America	$89,466	$43.01	67
5	AT&T	$88,486	$42.54	54
6	Pfizer	$86,382	$41.53	140
7	American Red Cross	$83,370	$40.08	47
8	QTC Management	$78,668	$37.82	82
9	Xerox	$72,092	$34.66	50
10	Salesforce	$71,197	$34.23	103

Quality Assurance Specialist Videos

Quality Assurance Associate

About the Bachelor of Science in Quality Assurance

Becoming a Quality Assurance Specialist FAQs

How Much Do Qa Testers Make?

QA testers make $33 an hour on average. A quality assurance tester can make anywhere from $27-$35 an hour on average, with the pay rate differing between companies.

Usually, larger software companies are willing to pay more for quality testing services, whereas smaller companies may opt to pay less per hour since they are still in the starting phases of their production.

What Are Careers In Quality Assurance?

Careers in quality assurance include quality coordinators, quality assurance testers, and quality assurance managers.

Quality Coordinator
A quality coordinator is responsible for tracking and providing quality assurance information. They ensure that a company is always compliant through each step of the process. They spend ample time analyzing data, reviewing policies, and looking for ways to improve.
They are also responsible for training employees. Depending on your field, your job could involve testing, audits, and reviewing operations.
Quality Assurance Tester
Quality assurance testers work with teams to design tests and procedures. They also perform and analyze the tests and create reports.
Typically they conduct software testing, assist in resolving issues, and ensure standards are being followed. Quality assurance testers often work with developers to create better software processes.
Quality Assurance Manager
Quality assurance managers oversee all of the activity in the quality assurance department. They lead the staff, their work, and system quality.
They are responsible for resolving performance issues, encouraging corrections, and managing all reports about each quality assurance step. They must also keep an up-to-date quality management certification.

What Are The Top 3 Skills For A Quality Assurance Specialist?

The top 3 skills for a quality assurance specialist are communication, time management, and attention to detail. As a quality assurance specialist, you will be working among a team to guarantee that the final product observes the company's quality standards.

What Degree Do You Need To Work In Quality Assurance?

To work in quality assurance, you need at least a bachelor's degree. To become a quality assurance specialist, you will need at least a bachelor's degree in computer science or business management. These courses will help hone your troubleshooting and quality testing skills to discover possible flaws in a product.

Search For Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs

Updated February 6, 2023

What is a Quality Assurance Specialist?

What Does a Quality Assurance Specialist Do

How To Become a Quality Assurance Specialist

Quality Assurance Specialist Job Description

Quality Assurance Specialist Career Paths

Top Careers Before Quality Assurance Specialist

Top Careers After Quality Assurance Specialist

Recent Job Searches

Roles and Types of Quality Assurance Specialist

Quality Assurance Analyst

Quality Assurance Engineer

Quality Assurance Lead

States With The Most Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs

Number Of Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs By State

Quality Assurance Specialist Education

Quality Assurance Specialist Majors

Quality Assurance Specialist Degrees

Top Colleges for Quality Assurance Specialists

1. Stanford University

2. University of Pennsylvania

3. Northwestern University

4. Maine Maritime Academy

5. University of Southern California

6. California State University - Bakersfield

7. SUNY at Binghamton

8. Villanova University

9. San Diego State University

10. Bentley University

Top Skills For a Quality Assurance Specialist

Choose From 10+ Customizable Quality Assurance Specialist Resume templates

Quality Assurance Specialist Demographics

Quality Assurance Specialist Gender Distribution

Online Courses For Quality Assurance Specialist That You May Like

Best States For a Quality Assurance Specialist

How Do Quality Assurance Specialist Rate Their Jobs?

Top Quality Assurance Specialist Employers

Most Common Employers For Quality Assurance Specialist

Quality Assurance Specialist Videos

Becoming a Quality Assurance Specialist FAQs

Search For Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs

Quality Assurance Specialist Related Careers

Quality Assurance Specialist Related Jobs

Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs By Location

Quality Assurance Specialist Jobs By Company