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What does a quality control specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
What does a quality control specialist do

A quality control specialist is responsible for maintaining the quality of the products during production before storing for use and deliveries. Quality control specialists evaluate the products through internal specifications and processes. They conduct thorough inspections of finished products to identify any inconsistencies and malfunctions, immediately replacing or reproducing defective items. They also create a record of production issues to discuss with the management, developing strategic procedures to address quality problems for accuracy. A quality control specialist must have excellent communication skills, as well as be detail-oriented to identify areas of improvement and ensure customer satisfaction.

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Quality control specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real quality control specialist resumes:

  • Manage office and run daily operations.
  • Coordinate and manage the document change process and maintain current revisions via a SharePoint web-base document management server.
  • Manage the quality control aspect of transferring client projects into SAFC's cGMP highly potent API contract manufacturing facility.
  • Review and manage quality control; run searches on database to scan for errors, generate reports and apply corrections accordingly.
  • Lead CAPA investigations, visit suppliers to assess suitability/compliance.
  • Ensure strict adherence to EPA, OSHA, and FAA safety and environmental guidelines.
  • Perform extensive laboratory tests on products and activities adhering to GMP and FDA regulations
  • Adhere to strict USDA and OSHA regulations.
  • Inspect organization to ensure compliance with OSHA and AFOSH guidelines.
  • Determine the quality of the finished product, using HPLC technique.
  • Develop and implement assay for HPLC protein purity, SDS-PAGE, IEF
  • Assist with SQF annual audit and completion of all documentation require.
  • Assure facility compliance to standard operating procedures, cGMP, USP.
  • Perform method validations for new assays on the Olympus AU5400 and ELISA.
  • Monitor the reference standards usage and ordering (USP or Athens).

Quality control specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 8% of Quality Control Specialists are proficient in GMP, Patients, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Leadership skills, and Problem-solving skills.

We break down the percentage of Quality Control Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • GMP, 8%

    Developed ELISA protocol for CHO Protein analysis ensuring an improved purification process of commercial GMP products.

  • Patients, 7%

    Initial informational and customer service contact for new patients upon hospital discharge from all Fox Valley area acute care centers.

  • Customer Service, 6%

    Led and supervised 35 employees to include scheduling and monitoring daily work production, preventative maintenance providing excellent customer service.

  • Corrective Action, 5%

    Identified, documented, reported and ensured completion of all corrective actions to ensure all explosive operations complied with requirements.

  • FDA, 5%

    Monitored QC Laboratory Investigation System to assure compliance with company operating procedures and FDA regulations.

  • Product Quality, 4%

    Established Quality Control Department, effectively implementing new processes and procedures that increased efficiency, product quality, and profitability.

Most quality control specialists use their skills in "gmp," "patients," and "customer service" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential quality control specialist responsibilities here:

Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a quality control specialist to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "industrial production managers must have excellent communication skills to work well other managers and with staff." Quality control specialists often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "achieved a quality award for excellent interpersonal skills in 2000. "

Leadership skills. Many quality control specialist duties rely on leadership skills. "to keep the production process running smoothly, industrial production managers must motivate and direct employees.," so a quality control specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways quality control specialist responsibilities rely on leadership skills: "worked with the leadership team to ensure that all quality standards were met. "

Problem-solving skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of quality control specialists is problem-solving skills. This skill is critical to many everyday quality control specialist duties, as "production managers must identify and address problems that arise." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "provided resolutions to the fda when the warning letter was in effect. "

Most common quality control specialist skills

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Compare different quality control specialists

Quality control specialist vs. Quality assurance associate

A quality assurance associate's role is to oversee the production operations in a manufacturing plant or a similar setting, ensuring quality standards throughout the entire process. Most of the time, a quality assurance associate must perform workforce assessments, provide training to new employees, produce or approve documentation and progress reports, and collaborate with colleagues to ensure that everything is running smoothly and complies with the company's policies and regulations. Furthermore, there are instances when one must address issues and concerns, providing them with the necessary corrective measures.

The annual salary of quality assurance associates is $12,192 higher than the average salary of quality control specialists.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between quality control specialists and quality assurance associates are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like gmp, customer service, and corrective action.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between quality control specialists and quality assurance associate. For instance, quality control specialist responsibilities require skills such as "patients," "laboratory equipment," "continuous improvement," and "data entry." Whereas a quality assurance associate is skilled in "visualization," "qc," "working independently," and "sarbanes-oxley." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Quality assurance associates tend to make the most money working in the pharmaceutical industry, where they earn an average salary of $62,720. In contrast, quality control specialists make the biggest average salary, $63,133, in the automotive industry.On average, quality assurance associates reach higher levels of education than quality control specialists. Quality assurance associates are 7.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Quality control specialist 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.

On average, quality leads earn a $41,020 higher salary than quality control specialists a year.A few skills overlap for quality control specialists and quality leads. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "gmp," "customer service," and "corrective action. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that quality control specialist responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "excellent interpersonal," "laboratory equipment," and "powerpoint." But a quality lead might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "project management," "sigma," "lean six sigma," and "supplier quality."

Quality leads earn a higher average salary than quality control specialists. But quality leads earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $92,715. Additionally, quality control specialists earn the highest salaries in the automotive with average pay of $63,133 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Quality leads tend to reach higher levels of education than quality control specialists. In fact, they're 6.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Quality control specialist vs. Specialist

Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.

On average scale, specialists bring in higher salaries than quality control specialists. In fact, they earn a $8,732 higher salary per year.By looking over several quality control specialists and specialists resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "patients," "customer service," and "fda." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

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 control specialist is likely to be skilled in "gmp," "corrective action," "product quality," and "excellent interpersonal," while a typical specialist is skilled in "work ethic," "patient care," "exceptional client," and "troubleshoot."

Specialists typically earn similar educational levels compared to quality control specialists. Specifically, they're 1.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Quality control specialist vs. Quality associate

A quality associate is responsible for ensuring that a new product meets standards for usage and operating. You will perform various tasks that include assisting in identifying quality problems and improving operational processes, writing, disseminating, and maintaining quality documentation and manuals, and verifying logs and databases to monitor and flag quality issues and improvements. In addition, you are responsible for supporting document control and quality audits, reviewing reports and validation protocols, and investigating and diagnosing quality complaints.

Quality associates tend to earn a higher pay than quality control specialists by an average of $1,019 per year.While both quality control specialists and quality associates complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like patients, customer service, and corrective action, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A quality control specialist uses "gmp," "excellent interpersonal," "laboratory equipment," and "test results." Quality associates are more likely to have duties that require skills in "qa," "quality specifications," "cgmp regulations," and "dms. "quality associates enjoy the best pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $48,676. For comparison, quality control specialists earn the highest salary in the automotive industry.quality associates reach similar levels of education compared to quality control specialists, in general. The difference is that they're 2.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of quality control specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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