What does a quality assurance technician do?
Quality assurance is an essential part of a company that offers products and services. It is critical that the company's output remains consistent and up to par with community standards. It is the assistant quality assurance manager's role to inspect, monitor, and evaluate the quality of every product. The goal is to establish customer satisfaction and trust. The assistant quality assurance manager works with the head manager and helps generate reports of daily activities for executive evaluations.
Quality assurance technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real quality assurance technician resumes:
- Track and manage CAPA's.
- Train test personnel and manage QC test technicians in a fast pace environment.
- Train newly hire technicians and used strong math and computing skill for data entry and records.
- Approve NCR investigations and CAPA records.
- Assist math, reading and other product teams with testing and reporting of any issues find during new product development.
- Perform quality control experiments such as HPLC favor testing for the company's main ingredient produce within their leading product.
- Witness all NDT, verification of documentation, collect, review, witness, stamp and collate data for reports.
- Review of test packages for welding and NDT completion, issue release for hydro static test and witness of the same.
- Review NDE technician's procedures and certifications
- Perform daily product and environmental microbiological testing.
- Participate in establishing QC standards and procedures.
- Monitor production line documentation for accuracy and GMP adherence.
- Perform daily tool calibrations on environmental chambers and metrology equipment.
- Perform quality control of incoming petroleum products using ASTM standard procedures.
- Oversee the daily microbiological testing of all manufacture and package cosmetics.
Quality assurance technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Quality Assurance Technicians are proficient in Food Safety, GMP, and Lab Equipment. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Quality Assurance Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Food Safety, 9%
Reviewed and assist in implementing microbiology after sanitation monitoring; tracked and confirmed action limits and reported to Food Safety Manager.
- GMP, 7%
Conducted GMP quality assurance testing at laboratory responsible for in-process and finished testing of industrial grade silica.
- Lab Equipment, 5%
Conducted numerous lab equipment validations including three incubators, an autoclave and two oscillating water baths.
- Quality Products, 4%
Communicate regularly with the operators and the production management team to supply information regarding chemical and testing results and off-quality products.
- Quality Standards, 4%
Helped less experienced team members interpret quality standards using technical skills gained through formal education and/or significant experience on related projects.
- HACCP, 4%
Verified daily HACCP documents, ensuring documentation of critical limits and monitoring frequencies were not exceeded and maintained within regulatory compliance.
Common skills that a quality assurance technician uses to do their job include "food safety," "gmp," and "lab equipment." You can find details on the most important quality assurance technician responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a quality assurance technician to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what quality assurance technicians do because "industrial engineering technologists and technicians assess changes in conditions, operations, and the environment to help industrial engineers figure out how systems should work." Additionally, a quality assurance technician resume shows how quality assurance technicians use analytical skills: "have knowledge of osha, fda and gmp's, problem solving analysis and troubleshooting of instruments and data analysis. "
Communication skills. Many quality assurance technician duties rely on communication skills. "industrial engineering technologists and technicians must listen carefully to instructions from engineers and must clearly articulate problems to their supervisors.," so a quality assurance technician will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways quality assurance technician responsibilities rely on communication skills: "follow haccp, skills used management skills, communication skills! "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for quality assurance technicians to perform their duties. For an example of how quality assurance technician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "industrial engineering technologists and technicians must record precisely what they measure and observe." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a quality assurance technician: "developed a detailed system transition plan to move from paper records to fda compliant digitally signed electronic records. ".
Math skills. quality assurance technician responsibilities often require "math skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "industrial engineering technologists and technicians use mathematics and statistical techniques to analyze data collected from studies." This resume example shows what quality assurance technicians do with math skills on a typical day: "collect data, conduct data entry and prepare monthly program statistics. "
The three companies that hire the most quality assurance technicians are:
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Compare different quality assurance technicians
Quality assurance technician vs. Auditor/quality
A quality auditor is responsible for inspecting the company's services and products, ensuring its adherence to business requirements and internal regulations. Quality auditors analyze the efficiency of operational functions and production processes to maintain high-quality deliverables with the utmost consideration for the safety and security of the production staff. They run quality checks for the outputs, create findings reports, and strategize methodologies to enhance stability by utilizing standard testing parameters. A quality auditor must have excellent communication and organizational skills, as they may also recommend opportunities to generate more resources and increase revenues.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between quality assurance technicians and auditor/quality. For instance, quality assurance technician responsibilities require skills such as "food safety," "lab equipment," "sqf," and "data entry." Whereas a auditor/quality is skilled in "excellent interpersonal," "excellent organizational," "audit findings," and "audit results." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Auditors/quality really shine in the retail industry with an average salary of $40,479. Comparatively, quality assurance technicians tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $46,500.auditors/quality tend to reach similar levels of education than quality assurance technicians. In fact, auditors/quality are 2.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Quality assurance technician vs. Quality control
As the name entails, the job of a quality control inspector is to inspect, maintain, and improve the quality and standard of products. They are responsible for ensuring the company's reputation is not damaged due to defective products or inferior manufacturing processes. This can be done by detecting and resolving the problem early on, and returning the product for repair. A quality control inspector should also notify the supervisors immediately when issues arise and coordinate with them to address the problem.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, quality assurance technician responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "food safety," "lab equipment," "quality products," and "math." Meanwhile, a quality control has duties that require skills in areas such as "product quality," "safety standards," "laboratory equipment," and "assembly line." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Quality controls earn a lower average salary than quality assurance technicians. But quality controls earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $36,096. Additionally, quality assurance technicians earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $46,500 annually.quality controls earn similar levels of education than quality assurance technicians in general. They're 1.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for quality assurance technicians in the next 3-5 years?
Mohammad Saadeh Ph.D.
Department Head, Southeastern Louisiana University
Quality assurance technician vs. Quality lead
A quality assurance (QA) lead is responsible for organizing and managing the testing of products prior to its release. Your duties will include defining testing standards and strategies, establishing formal QA processes, and overseeing all aspects of QA, such as using best practices and establishing metrics. Additionally, you are responsible for supervising and mentoring QA team members, and developing and implementing scripts, test cases, and procedures. You are also responsible for managing off quality products and developing and institutionalizing ISO complaints.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a quality assurance technician is likely to be skilled in "food safety," "lab equipment," "quality products," and "math," while a typical quality lead is skilled in "continuous improvement," "product quality," "project management," and "process improvement."
Quality leads make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $92,715. On the other hand, quality assurance technicians are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $46,500.Most quality leads achieve a higher degree level compared to quality assurance technicians. For example, they're 8.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Quality assurance technician vs. Engineering technician
An Engineering Technician's duties vary according to the industry or company, whether mechanical, industrial, civil, agricultural, or more. However, most of the time, the responsibilities often revolve around resolving technical issues, working with and assisting Engineers in building, assembling, designing, gathering and testing data, and conducting more manual activities. Furthermore, Engineering Technicians can specialize and work in various fields after a certain training period, closely mentored or monitored by an engineer or someone with extensive expertise.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between quality assurance technicians and engineering technicians, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a quality assurance technician might have more use for skills like "food safety," "gmp," "quality products," and "quality standards." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of engineering technicians require skills like "technical support," "data collection," "asphalt," and "construction projects. "
In general, engineering technicians earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $76,126. The highest-paying industry for a quality assurance technician is the technology industry.The average resume of engineering technicians showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to quality assurance technicians. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.0%.Types of quality assurance technician
Updated January 8, 2025
