What is a Senior Quality Assurance Tester?

It's all about quality for the senior quality assurance tester. They make sure that all of the software products developed by a company pass the highest standards of quality before they go out to clients.

The senior quality assurance tester needs to be an expert in coding languages such as SQL and Javascript as well as testing programs like SoapUI. They are in charge of developing programs that test products automatically. However, their job goes beyond just testing. The senior quality assurance tester also communicates results of the tests to management and clients and leads the whole quality assurance team.

It takes a lot of work to become a senior quality assurance tester. First, a person usually needs a bachelor's degree or even a master's in computer science. They also need to spend years honing their quality assurance skills as a regular tester or analyst before earning a promotion to a more senior position.

What Does a Senior Quality Assurance Tester Do

When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior quality assurance tester, we found that a lot of resumes listed 7.4% of senior quality assurance testers included test cases, while 5.0% of resumes included qa, and 4.4% of resumes included regression. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

Learn more about what a Senior Quality Assurance Tester does

How To Become a Senior Quality Assurance Tester

If you're interested in becoming a senior quality assurance tester, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 65.3% of senior quality assurance testers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 21.8% of senior quality assurance testers have master's degrees. Even though most senior quality assurance testers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

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Top Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs Near You

Senior Quality Assurance Tester Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a senior quality assurance tester can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as senior quality assurance analyst, progress to a title such as quality assurance lead and then eventually end up with the title delivery manager.

Senior Quality Assurance Tester

Average Salary for a Senior Quality Assurance Tester

Senior Quality Assurance Testers in America make an average salary of $93,770 per year or $45 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $118,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $73,000 per year.
Average Senior Quality Assurance Tester Salary
$93,770 Yearly
$45.08 hourly
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Roles and Types of Senior Quality Assurance Tester

The role of a senior quality assurance tester includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general senior quality assurance tester responsibilities:

  • Work concurrently on several projects, each with specific instructions that may differ from project to project ensure that quality processes are carried out through all phases of the software development lifecycle work with business partners, systems analyst, designers
  • Provide software qa lead and software qa testing expertise. Work closely with developers, professional services team
  • Planning, coordinating, and in some cases participating in testing of configuration of the platform, interface integration,

There are several types of senior quality assurance tester, including:

Quality Assurance Analyst

Role:

Quality Assurance Analysts spend a lot of time ensuring that a product is up to the company's standards. From performing software audtis to coming up with processes that test quality, everything is about quality when it comes to your job.

QA analysts notice everything. That's because they're so detail-orientated that no small error will ever get by them. Well, I mean, they're still human so maybe a small error will get by from time to time. No one is perfect.

This job is super useful in a lot of different industries so if you're looking for a career that comes with a lot of opportunity, you're in luck. QA analysts are hired by gaming development companies and software product companies. And when a company's website is ready to launch, QA analysts get a sneak peak to make sure there aren't any errors.

  • Average Salary: $73,532
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Quality Assurance Engineer

Role:

Quality assurance engineers test the quality of specifications and design of a product in order to ensure it works properly. Although this career isn't easily attainable, we can guarantee that it's worth every penny and second.

The job requires that you know quite an extensive amount of information in order to fill your role efficiently. That usually means a lot of education. The very least amount of education in this field is generally a bachelor's degree. Though most earn a master's degree.

A lot of your day-to-day will deal with software design, engineering and computer science. So maybe look into one of those degrees. Some quality assurance engineers require a license, in addition to the education. But that usually depends on the state and employer.

  • Average Salary: $82,215
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Quality Assurance Lead

Role:

We have all witnessed the consequences of quality failures. The explosion of NASA Shuttle Challenger, resulting in the death of all 7 astronauts. The BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, resulting in 4 million oil barrels leaking into the Mexican Gulf. Although quality assurance does not seem to be discussed in shareholder's meetings, it should remain at the forefront of how a company leads an operation.

The primary role of a quality assurance lead is to oversee the testing of a product or service to ensure adherence to industry and the organization's standards. They are involved in developing testing plans, creating risk mitigation strategies, and liaising with the product team in suggesting process improvements.

Different industries will require different degrees for a quality assurance lead. For example, working in a food production facility will require a science-related degree, whereas working to maintain the TikTok platform will require an IT degree. A quality assurance lead earns an average of $39 per hour and generally works 40 hours a week.

  • Average Salary: $94,758
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active senior quality assurance tester jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where senior quality assurance testers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California5,166$99,105
2Texas2,009$95,067
3Florida1,503$88,553
4North Carolina1,393$98,777
5New York1,321$104,399
6Illinois1,292$90,259
7Virginia1,250$94,927
8Pennsylvania1,171$94,825
9Ohio1,073$92,523
10New Jersey1,069$98,982
11Maryland1,002$102,803
12Georgia954$86,703
13Massachusetts913$98,998
14Indiana895$77,538
15Michigan892$92,193
16Washington865$105,339
17Minnesota858$96,158
18Colorado728$88,572
19Arizona710$95,695
20Wisconsin688$95,199
21Missouri551$84,898
22Tennessee535$84,176
23Utah519$87,811
24Oregon477$93,256
25Connecticut440$104,349
26Kentucky434$88,030
27Alabama431$82,026
28South Carolina403$85,251
29Iowa353$90,207
30New Hampshire299$110,622
31Kansas283$86,999
32Nebraska226$85,728
33Arkansas224$85,067
34Mississippi204$88,162
35Nevada200$108,462
36Oklahoma193$86,984
37Louisiana187$83,636
38New Mexico177$86,454
39Idaho155$93,667
40Delaware144$91,325
41Rhode Island143$93,206
42Maine132$91,084
43West Virginia125$87,858
44North Dakota114$93,066
45Montana102$91,024
46Vermont96$94,094
47Alaska77$94,031
48South Dakota74$89,418
49Wyoming71$91,925
50Hawaii69$93,825

Senior Quality Assurance Tester Education

Senior Quality Assurance Tester Majors

Computer Science
26.2 %
Business
16.7 %
Engineering
10.8 %

Senior Quality Assurance Tester Degrees

Bachelors

65.3 %

Masters

21.8 %

Associate

6.3 %

Top Colleges for Senior Quality Assurance Testers

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

5. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,309

Enrollment

9,142

6. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

7. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

8. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

9. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

10. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,530

Enrollment

4,571

Top Skills For a Senior Quality Assurance Tester

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Quality Assurance Tester Resume templates

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Senior Quality Assurance Tester diversity

Senior Quality Assurance Tester Gender Distribution

Male
Male
56%
Female
Female
44%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among senior quality assurance testers, 43.6% of them are women, while 56.4% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among senior quality assurance testers is White, which makes up 67.7% of all senior quality assurance testers.

  • The most common foreign language among senior quality assurance testers is German at 33.3%.

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Best States For a Senior Quality Assurance Tester

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior quality assurance tester. The best states for people in this position are New Hampshire, Nevada, Washington, and New York. Senior quality assurance testers make the most in New Hampshire with an average salary of $110,622. Whereas in Nevada and Washington, they would average $108,462 and $105,339, respectively. While senior quality assurance testers would only make an average of $104,399 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. New Hampshire

Total Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs: 299
Highest 10% Earn:
$139,000
Location Quotient:
1.46

$110,622

Avg. Salary

View 299 Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs In NH

2. North Carolina

Total Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs: 1,393
Highest 10% Earn:
$127,000
Location Quotient:
1.24

$98,777

Avg. Salary

View 1,393 Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs In NC

3. Connecticut

Total Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs: 440
Highest 10% Earn:
$133,000
Location Quotient:
1.13

$104,349

Avg. Salary

View 440 Senior Quality Assurance Tester Jobs In CT
Full List Of Best States For Senior Quality Assurance Testers

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Top Senior Quality Assurance Tester Employers

Most Common Employers For Senior Quality Assurance Tester

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Electronic Arts$121,783$58.5524
2Citi$113,095$54.3744
3BNY Mellon$111,729$53.7219
4Walmart$106,240$51.0820
5T-Mobile$103,897$49.9520
6AT&T$103,383$49.7042
7Kaiser Permanente$101,258$48.6844
8Capgemini$99,772$47.9728
9JPMorgan Chase & Co.$99,494$47.8359
10Apria Healthcare$96,501$46.3920
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Updated April 6, 2023