What does a quality engineer do?
A quality engineer's responsibilities include ensuring that the manufacturing processes are efficient and accurate, documenting findings that would raise concerns, conducting quality tests while observing parameters, and implementing changes as necessary to meet the highest quality standards. Quality engineers need to have excellent problem-solving and observation skills to detect any irregularities and possible malfunctions. They also must be able to communicate effectively with the clients for feedbacks and corrective adjustments, address complaints, and immediately resolve any inconsistencies made.
Quality engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real quality engineer resumes:
- Lead internal and customer 8D iniatives using the 6-Sigma DMAIC approach to problem solving.
- Manage and develop QA lab personnel, ensuring reliable food safety and manufacturing quality support.
- Give guidance to Apple/Asian SQE's and supplier QA, insuring that all quality requirements are being addressed and achieve.
- Lead interdisciplinary teams in addressing and resolving problems utilizing Kaizen event , 8D, and 5-why to arrive at root cause.
- Lead project to develop and implement quality and environmental management systems to achieve & maintain ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certification.
- Manage aerospace resolver manufacturing transfer from out-of-state acquisition.
- Collaborate with engineering and production regarding the engineering changes and specifications, PPAP, PFMEA, and DFMEA.
- Assist in implementing quality standards and audit procedures to renew ISO certification.
- Develop supplier management framework to begin conversion process to AS9100 quality management system.
- Compile and review PPAP and APQP documentation including dimensional measurement data for customer submission.
- Manage projects, perform quality assurance functions including CAPA, and initiate process improvement solutions for the global engineering services division.
- Use MiniTab to run design of experiments.
- Create the test scenarios in gherkin format using cucumber.
- Used statistical tools such as MiniTab to evaluate the components.
- Create the feature file, and step definitions using ruby and cucumber.
Quality engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Quality Engineers are proficient in Corrective Action, Continuous Improvement, and ISO. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Listening skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Quality Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Corrective Action, 7%
Analyze customer reports and returned product, complete customer corrective actions, report to management product improvement and implementation into manufacturing.
- Continuous Improvement, 6%
Involved in customer relationship engineering for quality assurance where customer complaints were analyzed through continuous improvement activities (Value Analysis).
- ISO, 5%
Spearheaded ISO 9002 registration for one manufacturing facility and served as a key contributor for registering 2 additional locations.
- Quality Standards, 5%
Provide quality and inspection requirements to purchase orders to outsourced processes to ensure vendors comply with quality standards and customer requirements.
- Sigma, 4%
Implemented use of six sigma tools by production personnel to monitor manufacturing process health and identify continuous improvement opportunities.
- Product Quality, 4%
Verify all Certificates of Conformity, ensure a clear understanding, interpretation of engineering drawing, process specifications and product quality.
Common skills that a quality engineer uses to do their job include "corrective action," "continuous improvement," and "iso." You can find details on the most important quality engineer responsibilities below.
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a quality engineer to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "industrial engineers use creativity and ingenuity to design new production processes in many kinds of settings in order to reduce the use of material resources, time, or labor while accomplishing the same goal." Quality engineers often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "developed and maintain quality system related to the areas of manufacturing, incoming inspection, customer complaint investigations and inventory status. "
Listening skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling quality engineer duties is listening skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "these engineers often operate in teams, but they also must solicit feedback from customers, vendors, and production staff." According to a quality engineer resume, here's how quality engineers can utilize listening skills in their job responsibilities: "communicated directly with fda and iso regarding field corrections and removals and responses to audit findings. "
Problem-solving skills. This is an important skill for quality engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how quality engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "in designing facilities for manufacturing and processes for providing services, these engineers deal with several issues at once, from workers’ safety to quality assurance." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a quality engineer: "documented, investigated, and resolved customer complaints in siebel per fda quality system regulations and department procedures. ".
Speaking skills. For certain quality engineer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "speaking skills." The day-to-day duties of a quality engineer rely on this skill, as "industrial engineers sometimes have to explain their instructions to production staff or technicians before they can make written instructions available." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what quality engineers do: "addressed fda response letters concerning validating and acceptance criteria for attaching the mcs. "
Writing skills. A commonly-found skill in quality engineer job descriptions, "writing skills" is essential to what quality engineers do. Quality engineer responsibilities rely on this skill because "industrial engineers must prepare documentation for other engineers or scientists, or for future reference." You can also see how quality engineer duties rely on writing skills in this resume example: "demonstrated regulatory knowledge through writing effective fda and moh responses. "
Math skills. While "math skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to quality engineer responsibilities. Much of what a quality engineer does relies on this skill, seeing as "industrial engineers use the principles of calculus, trigonometry, and other advanced topics in mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of quality engineers: "participated in defect reduction teams as consultant for quality tools, doe, statistics. "
The three companies that hire the most quality engineers are:
- Bausch + Lomb371 quality engineers jobs
- Raytheon Technologies81 quality engineers jobs
- Raymond64 quality engineers jobs
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Compare different quality engineers
Quality engineer 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.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, quality engineer responsibilities require skills like "product quality," "process control," "supplier quality," and "lean manufacturing." Meanwhile a typical auditor/quality has skills in areas such as "audit findings," "customer service," "audit results," and "medicaid." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Auditors/quality tend to make the most money working in the retail industry, where they earn an average salary of $40,479. In contrast, quality engineers make the biggest average salary, $84,890, in the technology industry.The education levels that auditors/quality earn slightly differ from quality engineers. In particular, auditors/quality are 6.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a quality engineer. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Quality engineer vs. Product development engineer
A Product Development Engineer is responsible for creating and testing new product designs. They collaborate with market researchers to evaluate market needs, existing competition, and potential costs.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, quality engineer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "continuous improvement," "quality standards," "quality system," and "process control." Meanwhile, a product development engineer has duties that require skills in areas such as "cad," "solidworks," "product development," and "project management." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Product development engineers may earn a higher salary than quality engineers, but product development engineers earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $86,062. On the other hand, quality engineers receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $84,890.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Product development engineers tend to reach similar levels of education than quality engineers. In fact, they're 2.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for quality engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Galen Duree
Head of the Department of Physics and Optical Engineering and Professor, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Quality engineer vs. Process engineer
A Process Engineer is responsible for coming up with innovative ways to process particular raw materials into different kinds of products. They can also modify various existing machines or maintain their quality by monitoring its functions and conducting tests and examinations. A Process Engineer must do numerous analyses and research to gather data that would help determine possible improvements or decisions to uphold. Furthermore, A Process Engineer also has the task of procuring and installing new equipment, collecting and interpreting data, assessing risks, and ensuring that tasks are done safely.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, quality engineers are more likely to have skills like "quality system," "process control," "supplier quality," and "management system." But a process engineer is more likely to have skills like "project management," "troubleshoot," "cad," and "process equipment."
Process engineers earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $87,797. Comparatively, quality engineers have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $84,890.process engineers typically earn similar educational levels compared to quality engineers. Specifically, they're 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Quality engineer vs. Project engineer
A Project Engineer develops the plan that the entire team or company will undertake. The project engineer develops the plans, strategies, and goals of a project and then gives it to the management for approval and allocation. The Project Engineer will also recommend material, equipment, and the type of personnel needed. This position is integral in the smooth flow of any project, so hiring someone to hold this position will decide the success of a project.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between quality engineers and project engineers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a quality engineer might have more use for skills like "corrective action," "continuous improvement," "quality standards," and "product quality." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of project engineers require skills like "project management," "autocad," "construction management," and "cad. "
The energy industry tends to pay the highest salaries for project engineers, with average annual pay of $85,761. Comparatively, the highest quality engineer annual salary comes from the technology industry.project engineers reach similar levels of education compared to quality engineers, in general. The difference is that they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of quality engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
