Quality Engineer Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 5,896 US job postings by 1,805 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for quality engineers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 5,896 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for quality engineers in US job postings is $108,000 a year (1,531 postings from 550 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $90,000 to $131,000.
- The skills that most set quality engineer postings apart are fmea, spc, root cause analysis.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 3 years of experience.
Quality Engineer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $108,000
- Median advertised pay (1,531 postings)
- $90,000–$131,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 5,896
- US job postings from 1,805 employers
- 3 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a quality engineer make?
The median advertised pay is $108,000 a year, from 1,531 US job postings by 550 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $165,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 1,531 US quality engineer job postings: median $108,000 a year, middle half $90,000 to $131,000.
- Median: $108,000
- 25th percentile: $90,000
- 75th percentile: $131,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $30K–$40K | 0.1% |
| $40K–$50K | 1.1% |
| $50K–$60K | 2.6% |
| $60K–$70K | 2.3% |
| $70K–$80K | 5.6% |
| $80K–$90K | 12.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 14.7% |
| $100K–$110K | 13.5% |
| $110K–$120K | 10.8% |
| $120K–$130K | 9.6% |
| $130K–$140K | 8.2% |
| $140K–$150K | 3.9% |
| $150K–$160K | 3.6% |
| $160K–$170K | 2.5% |
| $170K–$180K | 3.0% |
| $180K–$190K | 1.7% |
| $190K–$200K | 0.8% |
| $200K–$210K | 1.3% |
| $210K–$220K | 0.8% |
| $220K–$230K | 0.4% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $110,000 | $93K–$132K | 1,191 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $108,000 | $90K–$131K | 1,531 |
What is the starting salary for a quality engineer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Quality engineer levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked. Senior quality engineers have a median advertised pay of $119,000 a year.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 78.6% | 3 years | $102,000 |
| Senior | 11.5% | 5 years | $119,000 |
Highest-paying quality engineer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier Quality Engineer | $109,000 | 293 | 145 |
| Quality Engineer (general) | $103,000 | 963 | 402 |
Quality engineer 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 | $135,000 | $115,000–$170,000 | 225 | 15.7% |
| Massachusetts | $109,000 | $94,000–$126,000 | 101 | 6.7% |
| Michigan | $95,000 | $92,000–$103,000 | 164 | 7.5% |
Skills employers ask for in quality engineer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 45% |
| Problem-solving | 30% |
| Analytical skills | 22% |
| Excel | 22% |
| Root cause analysis | 17% |
| Microsoft Office | 17% |
| Fmea | 15% |
| Organizational skills | 14% |
| Spc | 14% |
| Interpersonal skills | 14% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set quality engineers apart
- Fmea116.6× as often as in all postings · 15%
- Spc108.3× as often as in all postings · 14%
- Root cause analysis33.1× as often as in all postings · 17%
- Iso 900183.9× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Ppap165.8× as often as in all postings · 11%
- 8d142.5× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Apqp155.4× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Control plans160.7× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Quality engineering177.3× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Minitab94.6× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Pfmea109.5× as often as in all postings · 8%
- As910080.5× as often as in all postings · 8%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a quality engineer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a quality engineer do?
Employers post these jobs as Supplier Quality Engineer, Senior Quality Engineer, Manufacturing Quality Engineer, Quality Engineer II, Senior Supplier Quality Engineer and other titles. The largest specializations are Supplier Quality Engineer (16%), Validation Engineer (11%), Quality Engineering Manager (2%), Compliance Engineer (2%), Design Quality Engineer (2%), CSV Engineer (2%).
The closest official occupation is Industrial Engineers (17-2112.00). Its most important tasks:
- Estimate production costs, cost saving methods, and the effects of product design changes on expenditures for management review, action, and control.
- Plan and establish sequence of operations to fabricate and assemble parts or products and to promote efficient utilization.
- Analyze statistical data and product specifications to determine standards and establish quality and reliability objectives of finished product.
- Confer with clients, vendors, staff, and management personnel regarding purchases, product and production specifications, manufacturing capabilities, or project status.
- Communicate with management and user personnel to develop production and design standards.
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 engineer?
Among 2,768 postings that state a minimum, the median is 3 years. 3% say 0 years and 9% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 2,768 US quality engineer job postings: median 3 years, and 9% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 3% |
| 1 yr | 6% |
| 2 yrs | 18% |
| 3-4 yrs | 33% |
| 5-7 yrs | 32% |
| 8-9 yrs | 5% |
| 10+ yrs | 4% |
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 99% of the 356 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a quality engineer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Quality Engineer | 912 (50.5%) |
| Supplier Quality Engineer | 239 (13.2%) |
| Senior Quality Engineer | 139 (7.7%) |
| Manufacturing Quality Engineer | 85 (4.7%) |
| Quality Engineer II | 83 (4.6%) |
| Senior Supplier Quality Engineer | 56 (3.1%) |
| Validation Engineer | 55 (3.0%) |
| Customer Quality Engineer | 53 (2.9%) |
| Product Quality Engineer | 49 (2.7%) |
| Quality Engineer III | 48 (2.7%) |
| Quality Engineer I | 46 (2.5%) |
| Supplier Development Engineer | 43 (2.4%) |
| Sr. Quality Engineer | 42 (2.3%) |
| Quality Engineering Manager | 41 (2.3%) |
| Validation Specialist | 40 (2.2%) |
| Supplier Quality Manager | 34 (1.9%) |
| Senior Validation Engineer | 33 (1.8%) |
| Sr. Supplier Quality Engineer | 30 (1.7%) |
| Staff Quality Engineer | 29 (1.6%) |
| Quality Systems Engineer | 28 (1.6%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Quality engineer 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Validation Engineer | 211 | 55 | – | – | – |
Quality Engineer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Engineer | $108K | 3 years | 5,896 | – |
| Quality Assurance Specialist | $105K | 3 years | 5,481 | 15 |
| Manufacturing Engineer | $110K | 3 years | 10,109 | 14 |
| Quality Inspector | $25.19/hr | 2 years | 7,868 | 13 |
| Materials Engineer | – | 3 years | 659 | 12 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assurance Specialist | 15 | $105K |
| Manufacturing Engineer | 14 | $110K |
| Quality Inspector | 13 | $25.19/hr |
| Materials Engineer | 12 | – |
| Continuous Improvement Manager | 12 | $116K |
| Production Manager | 11 | $86K |
Applying for quality engineer jobs?
- Quality engineer 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 engineer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a quality engineer 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; 20 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.