What does a senior quality assurance manager do?
A senior quality assurance manager specializes in helping businesses to meet quality standard products and services by developing and improving quality control procedures. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing production procedures, devising testing strategies for optimal performance and quality, and overseeing production operations to conduct tests and inspections. Furthermore, as a senior manager, it is essential to lead and encourage teams to reach all goals and standards while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Senior quality assurance manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior quality assurance manager resumes:
- Manage a team of SQA specialists (employees and contractors) in the performance of SQA relate activities.
- Manage the compliance and standardization of GMP programs and procedures across multiple sites, improving harmonization, compliance and efficiency.
- Manage integration of newly acquisition medical device and API recently acquire.
- Develop and manage metrics and reporting for QA activity to better align to executive communication needs.
- Lead test engineering, customer complaint investigation, quality assurance, and technical literature in an FDA regulate environment.
- Manage complex development programs consisting of multiple geographically separate teams supporting automation, regression, feature test and system test.
- Plan and direct QA activities in support of API clinical and commercial manufacturing including GCP support.
- Used PL/SQL programs for performance testing.
- Test PL/SQL statements with oracle database.
- Implement QC and work as an Admin.
- Used TFS source control to deploy application.
- Help and support the company in seeking ISO approval
- Communicate with the offshore test and dev teams.
- Perform data driven test by passing parameter from xml files.
- Standardize the UI interface and business logic of the Kinderunity solution.
Senior quality assurance manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 6% of Senior Quality Assurance Managers are proficient in Continuous Improvement, GMP, and Quality System. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Leadership skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Quality Assurance Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Continuous Improvement, 6%
Result: Increased effective QA presence in interdepartmental continuous improvement meetings resulting in improved voice of customer issue response.
- GMP, 6%
Managed the compliance and standardization of GMP programs and procedures across multiple sites, improving harmonization, compliance and efficiency.
- Quality System, 6%
Supported in new product introduction process to ensure compliance to quality systems and successful integration of new products into operations.
- FDA, 5%
Facilitated field action team and process to ensure successful execution through customer notification and documentation needed for timely FDA submission.
- Management System, 4%
Qualified and implemented an electronic document management system to more effectively manage Standard Operating Procedures and elevate compliance to these procedures.
- Quality Standards, 4%
Reviewed and evaluated software products and systems to ensure adherence to company and customer quality standards.
Most senior quality assurance managers use their skills in "continuous improvement," "gmp," and "quality system" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior quality assurance manager responsibilities here:
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior quality assurance manager 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." Senior quality assurance managers often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "have a good understanding of sdlc best practices and strong interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills. "
Leadership skills. Another essential skill to perform senior quality assurance manager duties is leadership skills. Senior quality assurance managers responsibilities require that "to keep the production process running smoothly, industrial production managers must motivate and direct employees." Senior quality assurance managers also use leadership skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "assisted site leadership in remediation of compliance issues identified during fda inspections. "
Problem-solving skills. This is an important skill for senior quality assurance managers to perform their duties. For an example of how senior quality assurance manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "production managers must identify and address problems that arise." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior quality assurance manager: "resolved fda warning letter and completed several fda inspections with no observations being noted. ".
The three companies that hire the most senior quality assurance managers are:
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Compare different senior quality assurance managers
Senior quality assurance manager 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.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, senior quality assurance manager responsibilities require skills like "sr," "gcp," "test automation," and "scrum." Meanwhile a typical quality lead has skills in areas such as "quality issues," "customer service," "data analysis," and "supplier quality." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Quality leads tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $92,715. In contrast, senior quality assurance managers make the biggest average salary, $127,494, in the technology industry.The education levels that quality leads earn slightly differ from senior quality assurance managers. In particular, quality leads are 5.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior quality assurance manager. Additionally, they're 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior quality assurance manager vs. Quality control manager
A quality control manager is responsible for checking the quality of products and materials, especially for release and delivery, ensuring that the items are free of any defects. Quality control managers coordinate with other organization heads to develop effective processes to maintain and improve the products' efficiency, following the regulatory procedures and standard protocols. They monitor production, identify areas of improvement, inspect the finished products, and adjust product development techniques based on the client's specifications. A quality control manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills to handle the production team and address concerns immediately.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior quality assurance manager responsibilities requires skills like "sr," "project management," "gcp," and "quality metrics." But a quality control manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "quality procedures," "osha," "customer service," and "oversight."
Quality control managers earn a lower average salary than senior quality assurance managers. But quality control managers earn the highest pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $93,703. Additionally, senior quality assurance managers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $127,494 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Quality control managers tend to reach lower levels of education than senior quality assurance managers. In fact, they're 9.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior quality assurance manager vs. Quality assurance specialist
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.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior quality assurance manager is likely to be skilled in "sr," "project management," "qms," and "gcp," while a typical quality assurance specialist is skilled in "patients," "qc," "powerpoint," and "excellent organizational."
Quality assurance specialists make a very good living in the pharmaceutical industry with an average annual salary of $76,157. On the other hand, senior quality assurance managers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $127,494.Most quality assurance specialists achieve a lower degree level compared to senior quality assurance managers. For example, they're 7.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior quality assurance manager vs. Quality manager
A quality manager is an individual who is responsible for ensuring that the level of quality of the company's product outputs is met for customers. Quality managers monitor and evaluate the internal production process so that they can produce statistical reports on the standard of quality and communicate them to upper management. To ensure health and safety standards, quality managers must create and maintain up-to-date product or process specifications. They also train employees on quality assurance standards and processes.
Types of senior quality assurance manager
Updated January 8, 2025
