Quality assurance engineers are professionals who inspect items for defects and deviations from industry- or corporate-specific guidelines. They are employed either by companies to help ensure the quality of their products before being used in production or sent to market, or by auditing firms or regulatory agencies that perform routine or emergency inspections on manufacturers. The items they inspect can include everything from raw materials to completed products.
In reviewing the QA engineer job description sample shown here, you’ll notice an emphasis is placed on candidates being meticulous and detail-oriented. That’s due to the fact that so much of the work they do involves reviews and inspections.
Your ideal candidate should also be a good communicator, as he or she will typically be tasked with sharing the results of inspections with companies and their stakeholders. The QA engineer job description will show you other attributes applicants should possess.
QA Engineer Job Summary
As an internationally known producer of child safety products, our organization relies heavily on the work done by our skilled team of quality assurance engineers. We would like to invite you to join their ranks. Under the direction of our compliance director at our regional manufacturing facility, you’ll perform quality control inspections on a specified range of products to determine their readiness to be shipped out to suppliers. This job will test your analytical and management skills as you engage with all different levels of employees, from executives performing production reviews to the technicians you’ll supervise when conducting your battery of tests. You’ll also enjoy the satisfaction of knowing the work you and our production team do truly makes a difference in the lives of others.
Job Responsibilities
- Perform routine inspections on item samples from each production batch in your designated product line, comparing each to the quality control standards mandated by regulation as well as our own expectations
- Utilize set protocols in testing products, including visual inspections, material testing, weight and measurement comparisons, and safety tests
- Complete inspection reports detailing your findings and submit such documentation to shipping managers for final approval
- Detail production errors and list the standards they are in conflict with, and share such errors with compliance manager to develop remedy tickets
- Work with production managers to educate frontline employees when defects are determined to be oversights, as well as with IT personnel and equipment engineers when problems appear to be system issues
- Prepare quarterly reports detailing the different batch inspections done for each item in your product line to be shared with upper management teams
- Attend regional and national conferences detailing updates to regulatory standards to maintain a working knowledge of all rules and regulations to ensure continued compliance
Job Skills and Qualifications
Reqiured:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or statistics
- Minimum of two years of previous experience in quality assurance
- Demonstrated oral and written communication skills
- Must be meticulous and detail-oriented
Preferred:
- Prior management experience
- Familiarity with statistical analysis applications and predictive modeling software programs
- Excellent supervisory and delegation skills
- Able to lift 25 pounds
QA Engineer Job Responsibilities
When you are hiring new talent for your quality assurance department, writing a clear and effective QA engineer job description means including a comprehensive and detailed list of job responsibilities. When jobseekers find it easy to browse through the responsibilities, these details help ensure that those who do apply for the position do so with a complete understanding of the role they seek to take on. By mirroring the work experience section of a resume, it allows readers to easily see what the daily work entails while making comparisons to other positions that jobseeker is familiar with.
Organizing the QA engineer job responsibilities section of the document like the bullet points on a work experience section of a resume helps make that comparison easier. To that end, you want to limit the number of bullet points you use to between six and eight. You also want to make sure you use active language when you write. Last but not least, start each line with an action verb that lets jobseekers imagine themselves in the position. Here are a few examples of well-written responsibilities that you might include in your QA engineer job description:
- Design procedures to measure various aspects of production quality including the size and spacing of product design features
- Implement those procedures with clear communications to all involved parties across the various stages of production
- Assemble and analyze data pertaining to the effectiveness of quality control measures
- Devise modifications to procedures whenever results indicate revisions are necessary to meet quality goals
QA Engineer Job Specifications
Along with a high-quality job responsibilities section, a good QA engineer job description also needs to have a complete and clear set of qualifications and skills that help you specify the prerequisite training and educational experience you need from an applicant. Including a complete list of QA engineer job specifications helps candidates self-select based on their qualifications, so it both reduces unqualified applicants and attracts the qualified ones.
As you work on your job qualifications and skills section, discuss the needs of the position with people in your organization who work closely with professionals in that role. Include online sources in your research, too, so your list does not accidentally miss important skills through oversight.
Composing the list requires attention to detail in the language. Keep each item in active voice to help with conciseness, and work on using clear, detailed terms. Include specifics about tools and technology, too. Here are a few examples of common skills and qualifications people commonly find in a well-written QA engineer job description:
- Strong problem sensitivity and problem solving skills
- Proficient with industry-specific QA software
- Excellent written and spoken communication skills
- Hands-on experience implementing new QA processes across multiple departments
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering