Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between quality consultants and quality assurance consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality assurance consultant has an average salary of $86,486, which is higher than the $79,541 average annual salary of a quality consultant.
The top three skills for a quality consultant include healthcare, data collection and project management. The most important skills for a quality assurance consultant are QA, manual test cases, and regression.
| Quality Consultant | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $79,541 | $86,486 |
| Hourly rate | $38.24 | $41.58 |
| Growth rate | 3% | - |
| Number of jobs | 88,944 | 91,395 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
A quality consultant specializes in developing and recommending strategies to optimize a company's production and quality assurance operations. Their responsibilities typically revolve around understanding the company's project goals and requirements, performing extensive research and analysis, gathering and analyzing product data, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of current quality control procedures, and studying the clients' feedback. Through their research findings, a consultant draws and presents conclusions, along with recommendations and solutions against vulnerable areas. Moreover, a quality consultant may enhance policies and regulations, suggesting new ones when necessary.
A quality assurance consultant specializes in recommending and optimizing quality-control procedures ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. They typically conduct research and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current quality control operations, implement solutions on problem areas, review policies and regulations, and coordinate with other staff to gather necessary data, analyzing them to find new opportunities for improvement. Furthermore, as a quality assurance consultant, it is essential to recommend solutions in adherence to the company's policies and regulations, including its mission and vision.
Quality consultants and quality assurance consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Consultant | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Average salary | $79,541 | $86,486 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $103,000 | Between $67,000 And $110,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | Aetna | Southern California Edison |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a quality consultant and a quality assurance consultant in terms of educational background:
| Quality Consultant | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between quality consultants' and quality assurance consultants' demographics:
| Quality Consultant | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 57.8% Female, 42.2% | Male, 57.9% Female, 42.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | 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% |