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How to hire a senior tester

Senior tester hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring senior testers in the United States:

  • There are currently 171,822 senior testers in the US, as well as 36,535 job openings.
  • Senior testers are in the highest demand in New York, NY, with 14 current job openings.
  • The median cost to hire a senior tester is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
  • On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new senior tester to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.

How to hire a senior tester, step by step

To hire a senior tester, you need to identify the specific skills and experience you want in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and advertise the job opening to attract potential candidates. To hire a senior tester, you should follow these steps:

Here's a step-by-step senior tester hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a senior tester job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior tester
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior tester do?

Senior testers are professionals who supervise junior-level testers that conduct testing for computer software for errors or any problems faced by end-users. These testers must attend discussion meetings to review and analyze business requirements and technical specifications with developers and business users. They must work with the quality assurance (QA) team to identify discrepancies and test the new application. Senior testers must also gather test results and document all defects to create the test completion document as per the requirement of end-users.

Learn more about the specifics of what a senior tester does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    Before you post your senior tester job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a senior tester for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    A senior tester's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior testers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

    This list presents senior tester salaries for various positions.

    Type of Senior TesterDescriptionHourly rate
    Senior Tester$29-54
    Quality Assurance ConsultantA quality assurance consultant specializes in recommending and optimizing quality-control procedures ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. They typically conduct research and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current quality control operations, implement solutions on problem areas, review policies and regulations, and coordinate with other staff to gather necessary data, analyzing them to find new opportunities for improvement... Show more$32-52
    Quality Assurance AnalystQuality Administrators are responsible for managing the quality processes of an organization. Their duties include creating data collection processes, conducting data cleansing, tracks quality milestones, and develop training programs for internal teams... Show more$27-44
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Java
    • Test Results
    • Linux
    • Jira
    • Ruby
    • Regression
    • Test Plan
    • Regression Test Cases
    • Test Data
    • Unix
    • QA
    • Selenium Web
    • Test Scenarios
    • Status Reports
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Participate in retrospective meetings actively suggesting great ideas to improve the scrum process to achieve better results.
    • Manage departmental inventory and troubleshoot testing, reporting and inventory issues.
    • Execute UNIX /LINUX commands to check error logs files.
    • Prepare test cases for other UI screens/modules of the application.
    • Work with end users to generate UAT scripts and to successful completion of UAT testing.
    • Test the UNIX scripts that are developed for moving the used source files into archive location.
    More senior tester duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in the senior tester job description is a good way to get more applicants. A senior tester salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

    For example, the average salary for a senior tester in Louisiana may be lower than in Oregon, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level senior tester. Additionally, a senior tester with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

    Average senior tester salary

    $84,660yearly

    $40.70 hourly rate

    Entry-level senior tester salary
    $62,000 yearly salary
    Updated December 13, 2025

    Average senior tester salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1Oregon$102,053$49
    2Washington$101,321$49
    3Maryland$97,992$47
    4District of Columbia$97,626$47
    5Utah$97,105$47
    6Arizona$96,694$46
    7California$95,246$46
    8Connecticut$92,772$45
    9Wisconsin$90,559$44
    10New York$89,276$43
    11Virginia$88,516$43
    12Minnesota$87,913$42
    13North Carolina$87,848$42
    14Colorado$87,247$42
    15Michigan$86,982$42
    16Illinois$86,578$42
    17Massachusetts$85,948$41
    18Nevada$84,625$41
    19Ohio$81,768$39
    20Texas$80,420$39

    Average senior tester salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1Amazon$122,352$58.82152
    2Nordstrom$119,047$57.23
    3Gillette$112,491$54.08
    4SAS Institute$111,037$53.38
    5Mandiant$109,556$52.67
    6Bosch USA$103,829$49.924
    7American Family Insurance$103,564$49.79
    8SHI International$103,349$49.69
    9FireEye$103,326$49.68
    10Paylocity$101,021$48.5712
    11Randstad North America, Inc.$99,855$48.018
    12Spectraforce Technologies$99,018$47.60
    13Thomson Reuters$98,683$47.442
    14Lenovo$98,429$47.323
    15EMD Millipore$97,651$46.95
    16Populus Group$97,647$46.95
    17Gartner$96,879$46.58
    18SOS International$96,379$46.34
    19h3 Technologies$96,195$46.25
    20Mettler-Toledo International$96,102$46.20
  4. Writing a senior tester job description

    A senior tester job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a senior tester job description:

    Senior tester job description example

    Fusion Technology is a performance-driven HUBZone Small Business concern residing in the heart of the beautiful mountainsides of West Virginia, steps away from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Criminal Justice Information Services Division's Headquarters. Founded in 2007 by an Engineer-by-trade, Fusion Technology dedicates our valuable resources to providing comprehensive IT services and solutions to mission-critical US Government programs and the Intel Community.

    Who are you?

    • Security-cleared Professional: You have made it through the process of receiving a United States government security clearance – congratulations! We know you are a trustworthy intel professional because you have a Top-Secret active security clearance.
    • Experienced Tester: A seasoned Tester with 8+ years’ experience.
    • Education matters to us: For this position, you must have achieved a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university.

    What we do:

    Provide expertise in the planning, constructing and execution of test scripts. Apply business and functional knowledge including testing standards, guidelines, and testing methodology to meet the team's overall test objectives. Ensure all testing results are easily accessible and understandable. Track defects to closure and keep defect repository up-to-date.

    What you’ll do:

    • Plan and manage the work of information systems project teams.

    • Design and implement new organization structures, conceptual design, and development of training curriculum.

    • Assist an organization to translate its vision and strategy into core human resource and business process.

    • Lead clients through streamlining, reengineering, and transforming business processes.

    • Develop and execute project budgets.

    What matters to you matters to us.

    Fusion Technology values its employees and works hard to ensure proper care for them and their families. We desire to compensate employees in a competitive, motivational, fair, and equitable way with other employers in the marketplace. Salary is only one component of employee compensation but an integral part of recruiting and retaining qualified employees. However, at Fusion Technology, we take a comprehensive approach and consider each employee's needs to tailor a compensation plan that provides financial security and peace of mind. Our competitive package includes a best-in-class matching 401K program, comprehensive Cigna healthcare plan, a competitive employer contribution to a health savings account, vision and dental plans, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, and personal leave, in addition to paid certifications and training.

    Fusion Technology LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We respect and seek to empower each individual and support the diverse cultures, perspectives, skills, and experiences within our workforce. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

    Powered by JazzHR

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  5. Post your job

    There are a few common ways to find senior testers for your business:

    • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
    • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
    • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your senior tester job on Zippia to find and attract quality senior tester candidates.
    • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Your first interview with senior tester candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

    It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

    While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a senior tester applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

    • TestDome
    • CodeSignal
    • Testlify
    • BarRaiser
    • Coderbyte

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior tester

    Once you've found the senior tester candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

    You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

    Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new senior tester. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
    Sign up to download full list

How much does it cost to hire a senior tester?

Before you start to hire senior testers, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire senior testers pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

You can expect to pay around $84,660 per year for a senior tester, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for senior testers in the US typically range between $29 and $54 an hour.

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