How to hire a systems tester

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

HR departments typically spend 15% of their expenses on recruitment.
It usually takes about 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
It typically takes 36-42 days to fill a job opening.
The median cost to hire a systems tester is $1,633.
Small businesses spend an average of $1,105 per systems tester on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
There are currently 59,430 systems testers in the US and 112,985 job openings.
Shalimar, FL, has the highest demand for systems testers, with 10 job openings.
Redmond, WA has the highest concentration of systems testers.

How to hire a systems tester, step by step

To hire a systems 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 systems tester, you should follow these steps:

Here's a step-by-step systems 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 systems tester job description
Step 5: Post your job
Step 6: Interview candidates
Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new systems tester
Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a systems tester do?

A systems tester is an information technology expert who specializes in developing test structures to identify the strengths and weaknesses of systems and software. They primarily work to identify and eliminate bugs to ensure quality and client satisfaction. They may also perform clerical tasks such as preparing reports and findings. Furthermore, as a systems tester, it is essential to recommend solutions against problem areas, all while adhering to the project's budgets and the company's policies and regulations.

Learn more about the specifics of what a systems tester does

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Identify your hiring needs

The systems tester hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

Determine employee vs contractor status

Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

Hiring the perfect systems tester also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

This list presents systems tester salaries for various positions.

Type of Systems Tester	Description	Hourly rate
Systems Tester		$35-59
Test Analyst	The duties of a test analyst depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. In the information technology setting, a test analyst is responsible for testing computer software or hardware to ensure its quality before being released in the market... Show more	$26-42
Quality Assurance Engineer	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... Show more	$29-52

Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:
- Python
- Java
- C++
- C #
- Test Automation
- Selenium
- QA
- Jenkins
- Test Results
- Scrum
- Regression
- Test Scripts
- Linux
- Debugging
Check all skills
Responsibilities:
- Orchestrate efforts with test leads in hardware, firmware, OS and application labs to optimize program-wide system testing costs.
- Develop web page for achieving documentation and developing a multiple user interface with JavaScript and Perl.
- Used Perl to implement new library API, which allow communication with different types of controllers.
- Build continuous integration system using Jenkins for internal team usage for nightly builds, sanity and regression testing.
- Own the automation test suites for both API and UI testing, updating test suites for product changes each sprint.
- Develop test scenarios, test cases and EDI Unix files, as well as their GUI counterparts for test execution.
More systems tester duties

Make a budget

Including a salary range in your systems tester job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A systems tester salary can vary based on several factors:

Location. For example, systems testers' average salary in kansas is 38% less than in california.
Seniority. Entry-level systems testers earn 41% less than senior-level systems testers.
Certifications. A systems tester with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a systems tester's salary.

Average systems tester salary

$95,834yearly

$46.07 hourly rate

Entry-level systems tester salary

$73,000 yearly salary

Updated December 13, 2025

Average systems tester salary by state

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	California	$127,377	$61
2	Washington	$110,173	$53
3	New Jersey	$104,984	$50
4	New York	$100,128	$48
5	Massachusetts	$98,481	$47
6	Maryland	$96,892	$47
7	Oregon	$96,865	$47
8	Maine	$94,405	$45
9	Pennsylvania	$94,201	$45
10	Texas	$91,009	$44
11	North Carolina	$87,578	$42
12	Wisconsin	$86,694	$42
13	Colorado	$85,586	$41
14	Ohio	$84,783	$41
15	Illinois	$84,665	$41
16	Utah	$83,791	$40
17	Michigan	$83,263	$40
18	Georgia	$82,667	$40
19	Florida	$78,503	$38

Average systems tester salary by company

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
1	Apple	$136,678	$65.71	266
2	Adobe	$126,601	$60.87	57
3	Splunk	$122,425	$58.86
4	Nutanix	$122,393	$58.84	22
5	Microsoft	$120,935	$58.14	62
6	NetApp	$119,180	$57.30	6
7	Workday	$118,394	$56.92	4
8	NVIDIA	$117,326	$56.41	27
9	Amazon	$115,755	$55.65	729
10	Fitbit	$114,667	$55.13
11	Coupa Software	$114,518	$55.06
12	SurveyMonkey	$111,256	$53.49	1
13	The Vanguard Group	$110,308	$53.03
14	SSIT	$110,055	$52.91
15	Walmart	$109,967	$52.87	45
16	Commvault	$109,694	$52.74
17	Nokia	$109,245	$52.52	32
18	ManpowerGroup	$109,111	$52.46	57
19	Zillow Group	$108,555	$52.19	3
20	PNC	$107,888	$51.87	12

Writing a systems tester job description
A systems 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. Below, you can find an example of a systems tester job description:
Systems tester job description example
10+ Years of experience as a QA Automation Architect/QA Lead with extensive data analysis experience

Actively interacting with Application product owners, Business users to gather the requirements and translate them into scalable technical solutions

Participating in design iterations to finalize user experience

Creating Rest based API services using NodeJS, WebAPI to fetch/update customer, account information from multiple back end systems by connecting directly or through enterprise SOAP services

Developing scripts required to build and package of application components

Building and managing docker baseline images for Tomcat, Apache Web Server, Weblogic

Setting up automation environment around continuous integration and continuous deployment (CICD) strategies using tools such as Jenkins, gitlab

Involving in integrating Sonar Cube with the pipeline for Code quality analysis and maintenance with TIAA defined standards

Working on to integrate Git, Jira and other tools with the pipeline to create a product dash board that shows the progression of an application from its inception (commit) to its final release (prod)

Creating automation suite for unit testing the application components and track quality metrics such as code coverage

Creating automation suite for Functional testing the application to validate the application functionality using below tools Protractor, CodeceptJS, Selenium-Cucumber, WebdriverIO, Cypress, Rest Assured

Involved in creating dashboard in Splunk to monitor functionalities of the components, performance of the components, monitor logs and track issues

Participating in daily scrum, sprint, grooming, planning and retrospective meeting as part of agile process

Involved in end to end QA delivery like test planning, estimation, design, test execution

Performing Test Data management using various techniques like production data scrubbing and automated test suite creation for test data preparation

Installing configuring and maintaining in JENKINS for end to end automation for all build and deployments

Designing GraphQL schema for consumers based on the service responses

Develop and maintain web UI applications using NodeJS, Angular framework
Post your job
To find the right systems tester for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:
- Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with systems testers they would recommend.
- Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit systems testers who meet your education requirements.
- Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.
Post your job online:
- Post your systems tester job on Zippia to find and recruit systems tester candidates who meet your exact specifications.
- Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
- Post a job on free websites.
Interview candidates
During your first interview to recruit systems testers, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.
It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.
Sometimes, it's not enough to interview systems tester candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:
- TestDome
- CodeSignal
- Testlify
- BarRaiser
- Coderbyte
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Send a job offer and onboard your new systems tester
Once you've found the systems 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.
It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.
After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new systems tester. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.
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.)
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How much does it cost to hire a systems tester?

There are different types of costs for hiring systems testers. One-time cost per hire for the recruitment process. Ongoing costs include employee salary, training, onboarding, benefits, insurance, and equipment. It is essential to consider all of these costs when evaluating hiring a new systems tester employee.

You can expect to pay around $95,834 per year for a systems 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 systems testers in the US typically range between $35 and $59 an hour.

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Updated December 13, 2025

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How to hire a systems tester