How to hire a test engineer

How to hire a test engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step test engineer hiring guide:

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

What does a test engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a test engineer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   A test engineer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, test engineers 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.

   Here's a comparison of test engineer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Test Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Test Engineer	A Test Engineer is focused on planning, designing, and evaluating products. They interact with other engineering groups to define, analyze, and perform tests for products, systems, and components.	$28-50
   Engineer Lead Quality Assurance Lead	Engineer Lead Quality Assurance Leads are responsible for managing the designing and operations of hardware or software testing. Their duties include developing testing plans, implement risk mitigation strategies, communicate process improvements to cross-teams such as marketing and engineering, resolve the conflict between teams, and ensures product or software adheres to the organization and industry standards... Show more	$40-68
   Software Engineer-Consultant	A software engineer consultant develops and recommends strategies to optimize a company's software engineering operations. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis to find new opportunities, performing software evaluations and risk assessments, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes, and developing solutions against problem areas... Show more	$40-73

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Python
   • C++
   • C #
   • Test Results
   • Java
   • Test Procedures
   • Test Equipment
   • Test Data
   • Troubleshoot
   • Test Scripts
   • Linux
   • Regression
   • Data Analysis
   • RF

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage design, correction, and modification of the installations monitor in Citect-SCADA software (HMI).
   • Perform quality assurance tests to Intel processors and communications components using advance testing equipment in UNIX and Linux environments.
   • Conduct final acceptance testing for DOD security products.
   • Experience in mobile testing both manual and automation using APPIUM.
   • Used Appium to configure test to run it on different mobile devices.
   • Involve in designing and writing functionalities of the web applications using ruby.

   More test engineer duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, test engineers' average salary in florida is 35% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level test engineers earn 42% less than senior-level test engineers.
   • Certifications. A test engineer 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 test engineer's salary.

   Average test engineer salary

   $79,832yearly

   $38.38 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level test engineer salary

   $60,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 18, 2025

   Average test engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$108,643	$52
   2	Washington	$88,170	$42
   3	Oregon	$82,847	$40
   4	Maryland	$82,247	$40
   5	New Jersey	$80,909	$39
   6	Arizona	$80,034	$38
   7	Massachusetts	$79,607	$38
   8	Virginia	$78,774	$38
   9	New York	$78,439	$38
   10	Connecticut	$74,473	$36
   11	Michigan	$73,837	$36
   12	Nebraska	$73,436	$35
   13	Colorado	$73,349	$35
   14	Texas	$73,236	$35
   15	Kansas	$73,029	$35
   16	Pennsylvania	$72,686	$35
   17	North Carolina	$70,627	$34
   18	Illinois	$70,545	$34
   19	Ohio	$69,314	$33
   20	Indiana	$68,489	$33

   Average test engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$137,469	$66.09	2,978
   2	Apple	$133,702	$64.28	635
   3	Google	$130,972	$62.97	528
   4	Twitter	$128,965	$62.00	2
   5	Zoox	$126,664	$60.90	77
   6	10x Genomics	$123,875	$59.56	2
   7	NVIDIA	$123,158	$59.21	238
   8	Microsoft	$121,815	$58.56	604
   9	Square	$121,235	$58.29
   10	Waymo	$120,451	$57.91	66
   11	Practice Fusion	$120,113	$57.75
   12	Brocade Services Corporation	$119,313	$57.36
   13	Credit Karma	$119,067	$57.24	1
   14	Move	$118,282	$56.87
   15	Amazon	$117,438	$56.46	961
   16	Argo AI	$117,120	$56.31
   17	F5	$116,967	$56.23	22
   18	American Red Cross	$116,435	$55.98	4
   19	The New York Times Company	$114,936	$55.26	9
   20	Cisco	$114,017	$54.82	215

4. Writing a test engineer job description

   A job description for a test engineer role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a test engineer job description:

   Test engineer job description example

   Job Description (Posting)
   
   Knowledge of fundamental hardware blocks & subsystems - CPU/microcontrollers, LVDS signaling, PCIe, USB, clocking, signal integrity & power issues Debugging hardware and script development/debug skills. Ability to widely apply networking principles, theories and field concepts to product test Ability to draw parallels between hardware architecture and OSI networking fundamentals Extensive experience with instrument control & automation Participates on a project team of engineers involved in the specification, design, development and test of hardware. Defines the unit and system level test processes and procedures Responsible for unit and system level test architecture design (what to test and how to test to exercise all the components on a board). Writes complete unit and system level test plans for an entire product family Performs complex system level unit and integration test. Debug/Mitigate complex system level problems Interfaces with Customer Eng., Marketing, and Sales to understand customer problems and requirements to continually improve internal engineering test methodologies and test cases These functions work closely with hardware design engineers, software/diagnostic engineers and manufacturing test engineers to determine a product test strategy, develop the necessary scripts, test the products and drive any issues to resolution for successful release to manufacturing Leverage automation to implement test strategy & improve productivity Test product's compliance to internal specs as well as industry standards Provide detailed issue mitigation & drive issues to closure Document test plans, procedures, & test reports Root cause field issues & support customer escalation (1.) To collect requirement and create engineering documentation and Test plan (2.) To select critical components meeting product specifications (3.) To design schematics in ECAD tools and review connectivity (4.) Perform Design analysis like Signal Integrity, Power Integrity , Derating analysis (5.) Prepare PCB layout guidelines and work with PCB team in reviewing the layout for design rules and DFx (6.) Support and work with cross-functional team for HW dependencies with ME Team, SW team, FPGA team , Manufacturing team (7.) Preform HW Design verification test, Regulatoryorsafety compliance test and Prepare test reports for the same.
   
   Qualification
   
   BE/B.Tech (Hons)
   
   Skill (Primary)
   
   Technical Skills (ERS)-HW Board-Board bringup & debug

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right test engineer for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your test engineer job on Zippia to find and attract quality test engineer candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit test engineers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   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.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a test engineer 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 test engineer

   Once you've decided on a perfect test engineer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   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.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

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.)

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