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The differences between quality assurance team leaders and senior quality assurance engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a quality assurance team leader and a senior quality assurance engineer. Additionally, a senior quality assurance engineer has an average salary of $106,802, which is higher than the $97,476 average annual salary of a quality assurance team leader.
The top three skills for a quality assurance team leader include QA, regression and manual test cases. The most important skills for a senior quality assurance engineer are QA, java, and python.
| Quality Assurance Team Leader | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $97,476 | $106,802 |
| Hourly rate | $46.86 | $51.35 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 131,886 | 254,258 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A quality assurance (QA) team leader is an individual who is responsible for managing a team of engineers from the quality assurance department of an organization to participate in the overall QA planning and activities. QA team leaders are required to play the key role as a member of the project management team to ensure that the product exceeded user expectations. They must develop and implement QA processes and supervise daily QA activities to maximize quality and productivity. QA team leaders must also prepare and report audited results to the organization's site senior management.
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.
Quality assurance team leaders and senior quality assurance engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Team Leader | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average salary | $97,476 | $106,802 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $126,000 | Between $82,000 And $138,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Netflix | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance team leader and a senior quality assurance engineer in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Team Leader | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between quality assurance team leaders' and senior quality assurance engineers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Team Leader | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9% | Male, 68.0% Female, 32.0% |
| 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, 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 | 11% | 11% |