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The differences between senior specialist quality assurances and quality assurance engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior specialist quality assurance and a quality assurance engineer. Additionally, a senior specialist quality assurance has an average salary of $91,993, which is higher than the $82,215 average annual salary of a quality assurance engineer.
The top three skills for a senior specialist quality assurance include GMP, CAPA and quality system. The most important skills for a quality assurance engineer are java, python, and regression.
| Senior Specialist Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $91,993 | $82,215 |
| Hourly rate | $44.23 | $39.53 |
| Growth rate | 3% | - |
| Number of jobs | 70,539 | 243,536 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A senior specialist in quality assurance is responsible for analyzing operational processes and procedures, determining necessary adjustments for the current methodologies that would maximize service efficiency and staff productivity. Senior specialists in quality assurance follow strict quality parameters and write test reports for reference and improvement. They must have excellent technical skills to identify business solutions for successful product launch across various market platforms to increase and generate revenue resources for the business and gain more business partnerships.
A Quality Assurance Engineer's role is to oversee the overall production and ensure that the product is cost-efficient and aligns with the company's standards. The responsibility mainly revolves around conducting activities that examine and scrutinize the condition of a product or service to identify issues and come up with possible solutions to resolve the issue or attain stronger customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the Quality Assurance Engineer must also ensure that the product adheres to the government regulations and market guidelines.
Senior specialist quality assurances and quality assurance engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Specialist Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average salary | $91,993 | $82,215 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $119,000 | Between $61,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | NBCUniversal | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior specialist quality assurance and a quality assurance engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Specialist Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior specialist quality assurances' and quality assurance engineers' demographics:
| Senior Specialist Quality Assurance | Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 48.2% Female, 51.8% | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |