Quality Assurance Specialist Salary & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 5,481 US job postings by 2,515 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for quality assurance specialists: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 5,481 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for quality assurance specialists in US job postings is $105,000 a year (1,316 postings from 643 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $75,000 to $135,000.
- The skills that most set quality assurance specialist postings apart are quality assurance, iso 9001, root cause analysis.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 3 years of experience.
Quality Assurance Specialist job postings in the US, October 2026
- $105,000
- Median advertised pay (1,316 postings)
- $75,000–$135,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 5,481
- US job postings from 2,515 employers
- 3 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a quality assurance specialist make?
The median advertised pay is $105,000 a year, from 1,316 US job postings by 643 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $168,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 1,316 US quality assurance specialist job postings: median $105,000 a year, middle half $75,000 to $135,000.
- Median: $105,000
- 25th percentile: $75,000
- 75th percentile: $135,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.2% |
| $30K–$40K | 1.8% |
| $40K–$50K | 8.3% |
| $50K–$60K | 4.4% |
| $60K–$70K | 6.4% |
| $70K–$80K | 7.5% |
| $80K–$90K | 8.5% |
| $90K–$100K | 8.5% |
| $100K–$110K | 8.1% |
| $110K–$120K | 8.9% |
| $120K–$130K | 9.2% |
| $130K–$140K | 6.1% |
| $140K–$150K | 5.7% |
| $150K–$160K | 2.9% |
| $160K–$170K | 3.8% |
| $170K–$180K | 1.3% |
| $180K–$190K | 1.7% |
| $190K–$200K | 1.8% |
| $200K–$210K | 1.4% |
| $210K–$220K | 0.2% |
| $220K–$230K | 0.3% |
| $230K–$240K | 1.1% |
| $240K–$250K | 0.7% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | Most common titles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $25.00 | $21.50–$37.00 | 273 | Quality Assurance Specialist, Quality Intern, Quality Specialist |
| Postings that state an annual salary | $115,000 | $90K–$140K | 969 | Quality Manager, Quality Supervisor, Quality Control Manager |
| All pay postings, annualised | $105,000 | $75K–$135K | 1,316 | – |
What is the starting salary for a quality assurance specialist?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Quality assurance specialist levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 88.9% | 3 years | $105,000 |
| Senior | 4.8% | 5 years | – |
Highest-paying quality assurance specialist jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Manager | $130,000 | 372 | 222 |
Quality assurance specialist pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $120,000 | $81,000–$152,000 | 155 | 9.7% |
Skills employers ask for in quality assurance specialist job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 44% |
| Problem-solving | 25% |
| Excel | 21% |
| Microsoft Office | 21% |
| Organizational skills | 20% |
| Attention to detail | 19% |
| Analytical skills | 17% |
| Leadership | 16% |
| Interpersonal skills | 14% |
| Word | 13% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set quality assurance specialists apart
- Quality assurance33.9× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Iso 900150.8× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Root cause analysis17.7× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Quality management systems69.9× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Quality systems51.9× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Leadership3.2× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Six sigma19.3× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Quality control13.8× as often as in all postings · 5%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a quality assurance specialist job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a quality assurance specialist do?
Employers post these jobs as Quality Manager, Quality Supervisor, Quality Control Manager, Quality Assurance Manager, Quality Control Supervisor and other titles. The largest specializations are Quality Manager (28%), Quality Assurance Manager (9%), Quality Control Manager (9%), Quality Supervisor (8%), Quality Coordinator (6%), Quality Specialist (6%).
The closest official occupation is Quality Control Systems Managers (11-3051.01). Its most important tasks:
- Stop production if serious product defects are present.
- Review and update standard operating procedures or quality assurance manuals.
- Monitor performance of quality control systems to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
- Review quality documentation necessary for regulatory submissions and inspections.
- Analyze quality control test results and provide feedback and interpretation to production management or staff.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a quality assurance specialist?
Among 2,969 postings that state a minimum, the median is 3 years. 1% say 0 years and 11% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 2,969 US quality assurance specialist job postings: median 3 years, and 11% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 1% |
| 1 yr | 10% |
| 2 yrs | 19% |
| 3-4 yrs | 27% |
| 5-7 yrs | 33% |
| 8-9 yrs | 4% |
| 10+ yrs | 7% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 98%, Part-time 2% of the 497 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a quality assurance specialist: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Quality Manager | 607 (24.1%) |
| Quality Supervisor | 178 (7.1%) |
| Quality Control Manager | 152 (6.0%) |
| Quality Assurance Specialist | 143 (5.7%) |
| Quality Assurance Manager | 137 (5.5%) |
| Quality Control Supervisor | 73 (2.9%) |
| Quality Specialist | 71 (2.8%) |
| Quality Assurance Supervisor | 58 (2.3%) |
| Quality Intern | 50 (2.0%) |
| Director of Quality | 49 (1.9%) |
| Quality Coordinator | 45 (1.8%) |
| Quality Analyst | 34 (1.4%) |
| Quality Systems Manager | 33 (1.3%) |
| QA Associate | 32 (1.3%) |
| Quality Assurance Associate | 32 (1.3%) |
| QA Manager | 32 (1.3%) |
| Quality Assurance Coordinator | 32 (1.3%) |
| QA Supervisor | 32 (1.3%) |
| Manager, Quality Assurance | 30 (1.2%) |
| Quality Assurance | 29 (1.1%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Quality assurance specialist job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Assurance Manager | 154 | 137 | – | – | – |
Quality Assurance Specialist compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Assurance Specialist | $105K | 3 years | 5,481 | – |
| Quality Engineer | $108K | 3 years | 5,896 | 15 |
| Manufacturing Engineer | $110K | 3 years | 10,109 | 14 |
| Production Manager | $86K | 3 years | 8,027 | 15 |
| Quality Inspector | $25.19/hr | 2 years | 7,868 | 16 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Engineer | 15 | $108K |
| Manufacturing Engineer | 14 | $110K |
| Production Manager | 15 | $86K |
| Quality Inspector | 16 | $25.19/hr |
| Laboratory Technician | 16 | $22.84/hr |
| Continuous Improvement Manager | 13 | $116K |
Applying for quality assurance specialist jobs?
- Quality assurance specialist resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find quality assurance specialist jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a quality assurance specialist make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 18 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.