Quality assurance is an essential systemic process in business where an organization’s products and services are checked thoroughly against certain quality standards. Quality assurance plays a significant role in making sure the foods we consume, clothes we wear, mobile devices we use, and prescription medications we take are safe and effective. There’s typically one person that oversees the entire review process of materials and final products – the quality assurance supervisor. Quality assurance supervisors have an upper-level managerial role in helping companies improve the quality and consistency of their operations. It’s their duty to guarantee that the organization is being compliant with all local, state, and federal regulations. Auditing is an important task given to quality assurance supervisors to quickly find errors and make suggestions on key improvements.
Salary
According to Salary.com, the average median salary for quality assurance supervisors is $96,318. This could be equated to a mean hourly wage of $46 and an average weekly income of $1,852. When bonuses, social security, disability, health insurance, pension, and time off are included in the base salary, quality assurance supervisors bring home an average of $139,493 annually.
Beginning Salary
When just being promoted to quality assurance supervisor, it’s likely that you’ll land in the bottom tenth percentile of earnings with a decent yearly salary of $74,741. However, quality assurance supervisors with years of experience and significant responsibility in larger companies often report a base salary soaring above the $125,000 mark each year.
Key Responsibilities
Quality assurance supervisors have the primary responsibility of planning, directing, and coordinating the implementation of quality control policies to hold the company to high operating standards. As their title suggests, quality assurance supervisors supervise a team of inspectors, auditors, accountants, and other Q/A professionals for carrying out the detailed assessment on products or services. On a typical workday, quality assurance supervisors may be found drafting new quality control standards, recording quality data, overseeing inspections, documenting internal audits, investigating consumer complaints, analyzing statistical data, implementing corrective actions, and assessing product returns. Quality assurance supervisors develop continuous improvement programs to reduce the number of errors and overall business costs.
Necessary Skills
In order to be successful in spearheading quality assurance, supervisors must have keen analytical skills for collecting and evaluating vast amounts of statistical quality data. Having good judgment, decision-making skills, and problem-solving abilities is essential for quality assurance supervisors to implement changes that boost value. Quality assurance supervisors must be supremely organized to keep meticulous records on inspection results and quality control standards. Being a skilled communicator with excellent interpersonal and leadership skills is a must for supervisors to effectively manage the quality assurance staff. It’s also important for quality assurance supervisors to be team players, customer service oriented, and attentive to every little detail.
Degree and Education Requirements
Before you can be promoted to quality assurance supervisor, you’ll need to obtain at least a four-year baccalaureate degree from an accredited post-secondary institution. Some universities offer bachelor’s programs specifically in quality assurance, but choosing a major in accounting, business administration, or even engineering could work too. For solid career preparation, fill up your electives with courses on quality assurance, auditing, project management, industrial production, quality improvement, statistics, and measurement science. Going the extra mile to attend graduate school can be advantageous for speeding up the advancement process to supervisor. Earning a master’s degree in quality assurance, accounting, project management, management, or operations management could be a good fit.
Pros and Cons of the Position
Working as a quality assurance supervisor will come with its fair share of rewards and challenges that you should weigh first. On the positive side, quality assurance supervisors earn a handsome annual salary that often crosses the six-figure mark later in their career. Quality assurance supervisors are given the flexibility to specialize their leadership skills in various industries ranging from healthcare and aerospace to hospitality and software. Being the quality assurance supervisor is ideal for extroverts with a passion for leading a team. Quality assurance supervisors also receive the intrinsic reward of making sure products are safe and production costs are low. On the other hand, quality assurance supervisors will face heated competition for few job openings, especially in manufacturing. Many work longer than the traditional 40-hour week to oversee every quality control test in their department. Quality assurance supervisors may also deal with the stress of making wrong decisions or missing looming deadlines.
Getting Started
While earning your degree, it’s essential that you start building your resume with hands-on quality assurance experience to gain a competitive edge. Take advantage of practicum, internships, co-operatives, consulting projects, and other service learning opportunities to get your feet wet. From there, you’ll likely have to find entry-level positions related to quality assurance. Many aspiring supervisors get their start as internal auditors, quality control inspectors, accountants, and production managers. Having some actual work experience on the assembly line could help obtain a quality assurance supervisor job in manufacturing too. Marketing yourself as a true professional through certification is advised. Through the American Society for Quality (ASQ), you could become a Certified Manager of Quality Excellence (CMQE), Certified Quality Auditor (CQA), or Certified Quality Process Analyst (CQPA). Being a Six Sigma Black Belt professional would also be beneficial.
Future Outlook
Quality assurance has taken center stage of the business world to make certain products are free from defects, operational costs are minimized, and production policies are efficient. It’s expected that there will be a continued demand for quality assurance supervisors to oversee testing across most manufacturing industries. Even though aspects of quality control have become automated thanks to technology, quality assurance supervisors will still be needed to make sure the inspections are accurate and form recommendations to management. According to the BLS, jobs in quality assurance will grow slightly slower than average at six percent, thus creating around 25,700 new positions before 2022. Quality assurance supervisors with certification will likely find the most favorable prospects in pharmaceuticals, computer systems design, and biotechnology.
Overall, quality assurance supervisors are highly trained managers who track production data and monitor quality control inspections to make certain business operations are efficient. Quality assurance supervisors provide crucial advice on changes that must be made to achieve higher quality production that eliminates wasted time and money. If you make the decision to specialize your accounting career as a quality assurance supervisor, you’ll have the rewarding chance to establish quality standards for keeping up with the company’s competitors.
