Quality Assurance Analyst: What is the cost of hiring?

What is a Quality Assurance Analyst?

A Quality Assurance Analyst helps plan testing strategies for software programs, technology and products by identifying specific features that need to be analyzed. They often work closely with programmers and other QA team members to execute and analyze test scripts. QA Analysts also document testing activities and report discovered bugs.

Why hire a Quality Assurance Analyst?

Quality Assurance Analysts help ensure your products or services meet high standards by identifying bugs, inconsistencies and process gaps before launch. This can help reduce errors and improve customer satisfaction.

Your business might benefit if it operates within a high-stakes industry like healthcare or manufacturing, or if you develop complex products that require thorough testing to ensure reliability and performance.

Contributions of a great Quality Assurance Analyst: 

• Early identification of flaws or defects in the development phase
• Improved QA processes
• Development and implementation of higher quality standards

Defining your hiring needs for a Quality Assurance Analyst

As you decide how to hire a Quality Assurance Analyst, defining your hiring needs helps guide the selection process. Identify the contract type, which could be full-time, part-time or freelance, depending on the anticipated workload and your budget for the hire. 

It’s also helpful to clarify the scope of responsibilities for your QA needs to determine if an analyst role is a good fit. Other possible leadership roles within the Quality Assurance department include QA Managers and Quality Inspectors.

What are the types of Quality Assurance Analysts?

Quality Assurance Analysts may specialize in testing methodologies or focus on different aspects of a product. Types of QA Analysts typically include:

• Manual Quality Assurance Analysts: This type of analyst plans and designs testing scripts that are executed manually without automation tools. 
• Automation Quality Assurance Analysts: In this role, the QA Analyst develops automated testing scripts using QA automation tools. Candidates need to be versed in testing and QA processes and the specific automation tools your organization uses. QA Analyst positions might focus on manual or automated testing or incorporate both types.
• QA Security Analysts: A QA Analyst position might focus specifically on a product’s security to identify potential security risks and weaknesses. The testing might analyze processes such as encryption, authentication and access controls. The goal is to test security features and suggest improved security options.

When writing your Quality Assurance Analyst job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on Quality Assurance Analyst jobs, according to Indeed data.

• Quality assurance
• QA tester
• Quality
• QA
• QA analyst
• Quality assurance analyst
• Analyst
• Data analyst
• Manufacturing

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Where to find Quality Assurance Analysts

Options for sourcing candidates for your Quality Assurance Analyst position include:

• Internal promotions: Look within your QA department to identify current employees who might be ready to advance into an analyst role. Existing team members may already be familiar with the QA processes and tools you use.
• Tech-focused recruitment firms: Recruitment agencies have connections with active job seekers and can handle some or all of the recruitment process. Select a firm that specializes in tech candidates. 
• Networking: Reaching out to your business contacts and professionals in the QA industry can help you connect with job seekers who have the skills you need. Asking your current employees for referrals may also provide new candidate options.
• Social media: Posting your vacancies on your social media pages helps you reach people who are familiar with your company. It also allows you to share details about the job.
• Post your job online: Try posting your Quality Assurance Analyst job on Indeed to find and attract candidates.

Skills to look for in a Quality Assurance Analyst

A successful Quality Assurance Analyst candidate will typically have the following skills and competencies, which may be gained through a variety of experiences, training or education:

• Experience with Agile, Scrum or Waterfall development methodologies and how QA integrates with each
• Proficiency in logging and tracking defects using tools like Jira, Bugzilla or Azure DevOps
• Ability to write, execute and maintain manual test cases based on business requirements
• Basic programming knowledge in languages like Python, Java, JavaScript or SQL for test scripting
• Hands-on experience with API testing tools such as Postman or SoapUI
• Understanding of CI/CD tools like Jenkins or GitLab for integrating automated tests into pipelines
• Competence in using test management platforms such as TestRail or Zephyr to organize and report testing activities

Writing a Quality Assurance Analyst job description

Now that you know the key skills, salary expectations, popular job seeker search terms and hiring insights for a Quality Assurance Analyst, you’re ready to write a job description.

A Quality Assurance Analyst job description typically includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position. You may also want to include information about your company culture, benefits and perks to attract candidates to your open role.

Ready to get started? See our full guide for writing Quality Assurance Analyst job descriptions.

Interviewing Quality Assurance Analyst candidates

QA-specific interview questions help you evaluate the types of skills each candidate offers. Strong candidates for Quality Assurance Analyst positions will be confident answering questions about:

• Creating and executing test plans
• Tracking defect lifecycle in QA tools
• Experience designing test plans for web-based applications
• Documenting assurance activities and findings, such as testing and bugs
• Collaborating with other QA team members and the programming team

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of QA interview questions for examples (with sample answers).