How To Become A Senior Quality Analyst: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior quality analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Erastus Ndinguri

Senior quality analysts are responsible for the final step in the development of a game, website, software, or any product before it is released to the public. They test the final program, game, and any software to make sure they are reliable, fully functional, and user-friendly before they are released to the public.

Their duties as a senior quality analyst will be to create a test plan; use the plan to assess functionality, performance, reliability, and compatibility; use the plan to hunt down and fix any bugs that might occur; ensure that the product is culturally compatible with the target market; and rebuild the corrected software application. Typical employers for senior quality analysts are game developers, software localisation companies, social media platforms, among others. Educational requirements for the position include a bachelor's degree in information technology or a similar field. However, since this is a senior position, a master's degree is more preferable with prior work experience of five or more years.

The average hourly pay for this position is $39.19, which amounts to $81,514 annually. The career is also projected to grow in the near future and create new opportunities across the United States.

What general advice would you give to a senior quality analyst?

Erastus Ndinguri

Associate Professor, Framingham State University

A couple of ways to maximize your salary potential are;

Through first salary negotiation - By understanding the job market of your field, knowing what you can offer and preparing well for your salary negotiation you can positively maximize your first salary potential. This can affect your future earnings especially if you rise up the corporate ladder in the same organization.

Not settling, but continuing to learn- Learn a new skill that will help in building your resume. Network with colleagues in your organization and learn from them. Continuous learning and self-improvement create opportunities for higher earnings.

Embrace mentorships- Having a good seasoned colleague/mentor can open opportunities for higher earning. A mentor can help you prepare for a salary negotiation and also steer you to the right projects that lead to career advancements hence a higher salary.

ScoreSenior Quality AnalystUS Average

Salary

7.0

Avg. Salary $89,722

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

4.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 11.99%

Black or African American 6.24%

Hispanic or Latino 8.82%

Unknown 4.70%

White 67.73%

Gender

female 57.15%

male 42.85%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

5.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.1

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior quality analyst

Explore senior quality analyst education requirements

Most common senior quality analyst degrees

Bachelor's

60.6 %

Master's

22.1 %

Associate

9.5 %

Start to develop specific senior quality analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Analysis	7.12%
Test Cases	5.83%
QA	5.58%
Regression	4.05%
Test Scripts	3.80%

Complete relevant senior quality analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior quality analysts learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior quality analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior quality analyst resumes.

Research senior quality analyst duties and responsibilities

Track the defects using QC & JIRA, generate defect summary reports and also communicate issues to team leads and developers.
Manage released versions of content using a dedicate SharePoint site to interact with development teams.
Perform functional, regression, and user acceptance testing of Java, web-base applications using test scenarios and test case artifacts.
Perform in executing manual and automate test scripts for functional, integration and regression testing and production validation.

Get senior quality analyst experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a senior quality analyst. The most common roles before becoming a senior quality analyst include quality analyst, quality assurance analyst team lead and quality assurance tester.

Prepare your senior quality analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior quality analyst resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior quality analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior quality analyst resume templates

Build a professional senior quality analyst resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior quality analyst resume.

Apply for senior quality analyst jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior quality analyst job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior quality analysts rate their job?

-/5

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Senior quality analyst reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2022

Pros

-interacting with end users or customers - delivering successful products or services

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2020

Pros

I like testing because it can be interesting. Things can change but also stay the same. I like routine but not repetition doing the same thing. Testing isn't the best job but a good job.

Cons

Some things you test can be really picky to pass. It's likely they will always fail the first time. Some test seem to always pass and seek insufficient. I always look at productivity but also efficiency. So if not necessary by customer and always passes I can't see why a part of the test he removed especially if another part of the test will fail if it does. Options I am always open to.

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2020