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Test automation lead vs automation engineer

The differences between test automation leads and automation 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 test automation lead and an automation engineer. Additionally, an automation engineer has an average salary of $92,597, which is higher than the $89,324 average annual salary of a test automation lead.

The top three skills for a test automation lead include java, scrum and jira. The most important skills for an automation engineer are python, java, and PLC.

Test automation lead vs automation engineer overview

Test Automation LeadAutomation Engineer
Yearly salary$89,324$92,597
Hourly rate$42.94$44.52
Growth rate--
Number of jobs43,456133,941
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Test automation lead vs automation engineer salary

Test automation leads and automation engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Test Automation LeadAutomation Engineer
Average salary$89,324$92,597
Salary rangeBetween $69,000 And $115,000Between $70,000 And $121,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonCalifornia
Best paying companyCitiMeta
Best paying industryUtilitiesRetail

Differences between test automation lead and automation engineer education

There are a few differences between a test automation lead and an automation engineer in terms of educational background:

Test Automation LeadAutomation Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common majorComputer ScienceElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Test automation lead vs automation engineer demographics

Here are the differences between test automation leads' and automation engineers' demographics:

Test Automation LeadAutomation Engineer
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 78.0% Female, 22.0%Male, 87.0% Female, 13.0%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage11%11%

Differences between test automation lead and automation engineer duties and responsibilities

Test automation lead example responsibilities.

  • Enter the defects into JIRA and manages the resolution and documentation of these defects.
  • Perform inter-departmental audits documenting ISO compliant results with associate corrective action requests in order to achieve company-wide certification.
  • Used JIRA for creating and tracking defects.
  • Establish connection between automation scripts and PostgreSQL / DB2 to validate UI applications.
  • Involve in writing functional test cases in java language for every feature of product.
  • Coordinate communication between QA, development, BA's, UAT, and upper management throughout the entire QA cycle.
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Automation engineer example responsibilities.

  • Perform inter-departmental audits documenting ISO compliant results with associate corrective action requests in order to achieve company-wide certification.
  • Design and develop automation framework settings and implementation of Java, JavaScript.
  • Develop automation scripts for quality assurance in Perl and ruby.
  • Develop and maintain an automation tool written in Perl which are used to perform the build verification and regression test.
  • Execute the batches (shell scripts) in UNIX that invokes Java programs and SQL loader to load data into tables.
  • Involve in documenting test cases and packaging test suites and making them available to all of engineering and QA using JIRA.
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Test automation lead vs automation engineer skills

Common test automation lead skills
  • Java, 8%
  • Scrum, 5%
  • Jira, 5%
  • QA, 4%
  • Automation Framework, 4%
  • API, 4%
Common automation engineer skills
  • Python, 12%
  • Java, 8%
  • PLC, 5%
  • HMI, 5%
  • GIT, 4%
  • Control Systems, 4%

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