Quality consultant vs quality assurance specialist

The differences between quality consultants and quality assurance specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality consultant has an average salary of $79,541, which is higher than the $63,443 average annual salary of a quality assurance specialist.

The top three skills for a quality consultant include healthcare, data collection and project management. The most important skills for a quality assurance specialist are GMP, patients, and FDA.

Quality consultant vs quality assurance specialist overview

	Quality Consultant	Quality Assurance Specialist
Yearly salary	$79,541	$63,443
Hourly rate	$38.24	$30.50
Growth rate	3%	6%
Number of jobs	88,944	83,505
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	4

What does a quality consultant do?

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.

What does a quality assurance specialist do?

A quality assurance specialist is an individual who is responsible for monitoring, inspecting, and proposing measures to correct and improve a company's product. Quality assurance specialists need to outline quality assurance policies and procedures, making sure that quality standards are assured. It is important that a quality assurance specialist should have strong attention to detail and is excellent in data collection. This work may require a minimum of bachelor's degree and certification to get certified.

Quality consultant vs quality assurance specialist salary

Quality consultants and quality assurance specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Quality Consultant	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average salary	$79,541	$63,443
Salary range	Between $61,000 And $103,000	Between $41,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Aetna	Apple
Best paying industry	Technology	Pharmaceutical

Differences between quality consultant and quality assurance specialist education

There are a few differences between a quality consultant and a quality assurance specialist in terms of educational background:

	Quality Consultant	Quality Assurance Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Stanford University

Quality consultant vs quality assurance specialist demographics

Here are the differences between quality consultants' and quality assurance specialists' demographics:

	Quality Consultant	Quality Assurance Specialist
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 57.8% Female, 42.2%	Male, 42.8% Female, 57.2%
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%

Differences between quality consultant and quality assurance specialist duties and responsibilities

Quality consultant example responsibilities.

Lead cross functional project team to build user-friendly windows base customer support applications which interface with the OmniPlan/OmniPlus mainframe application.
Assist in the review of members records and work on reconciliations to submit to CMS for HEDIS.
Provide independent verification for FDA remediation efforts and assure GRQP CAPA requirements are effectively deploy.
Evaluate the HEDIS and CAHPS data and present to appropriate committees for further analysis including root cause analysis.
Collect, analyze and report data to monitor outcomes and meet HEDIS, NCQA and regulatory reporting requirements.
Provide expertise in the interpretation and application of 21CFR 110 & 111, HACCP and ISO certification for corporate management.

Quality assurance specialist example responsibilities.

Manage all NDT relate gauges to ensure calibrations requirements are meet.
Provide employee training and manage all NDT certification records per ASNT SNT-TC-1A.
Lead the HACCP team to ensure full compliance with regulatory and industrial food safety standards.
Manage product and environmental sampling for chemical and microbial analysis to meet HACCP requirements.
Lead cross functional project team to build user-friendly windows base customer support applications which interface with the OmniPlan/OmniPlus mainframe application.
Execute quality processes in tissue banking and medical device, FDA requirements 21 CFR 1271 and 21 CFR 820.

Quality consultant vs quality assurance specialist skills

Common quality consultant skills

Healthcare, 13%
Data Collection, 8%
Project Management, 7%
Patient Safety, 7%
Performance Improvement, 6%
Quality Improvement, 6%

Common quality assurance specialist skills

GMP, 6%
Patients, 5%
FDA, 5%
CAPA, 4%
Corrective Action, 4%
CFR, 4%

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Quality Consultant vs Quality Assurance Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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