Software Quality Assurance Engineer Hiring Guide

As your business builds its product, your team will encounter bugs at nearly every step. If these issues aren’t spotted early, they can affect multiple functions, making them harder to fix.

Hiring SQA engineers can be difficult for hiring teams who don’t have the technical knowledge to vet potential hires. To make matters worse, this role is very in-demand, with openings growing by nearly 18% by 2033. In other words, you’ll need to really nail the hiring process to find a good fit.

Read on as we cover everything you need to know about SQA, from hiring to implementation, to help you build your dream team.

What Does Software Quality Assurance Include?

Software quality assurance involves testing and improving software as developers write the code to prevent functional and compliance issues after release.

Through the SQA process, an analyst will:

• Inspect code: Manually inspect code or create automations that can spot errors in written code
• Test code: Conduct tests to ensure the code is functioning correctly
• Conduct audits: Review processes and protocols to find areas to improve
• Ensure compliance: Review and test code for security and accessibility requirements
• Mitigate risk: Intervene early to resolve any defects they find and create solutions to prevent them
• Track error resolution: Keep track of errors to report on their frequency, time to resolution, and other key performance indicators

SQA prevents and resolves any potential issues before implementation. It starts during planning and ideation and continues to software improvements after release. 

What Is the Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control?

Many use quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) interchangeably, but they’re not exactly the same. QA is primarily proactive, and SQA professionals focus on building processes for fewer issues during development. 

Software quality control professionals focus more on fixing the software after it’s developed, resolving potential issues with the final product.

Why Is SQA Important?

SQA helps spot errors or blind spots in code as software is written. It can spot functional, security, or compliance errors so your team isn’t scrambling to create patches after implementing your software.

As technology, customer needs, and security risks change, these factors can all affect how software works. SQA allows your product to meet these challenges so it continues to work as it should. SQA provides critical benefits like:

• Continuous improvement: Resolves issues early, for multiple smaller fixes, rather than larger undertakings as the project approaches completion.
• Improved quality: Provides frameworks for developers to create higher-quality output as their work continues.
• Compliance: Ensures software complies with security protocol, accessibility standards, and project goals.
• Reduced costs: Saves costs with preventive measures instead of needing to resolve costly issues such as data leaks.
• Increased customer satisfaction: Creates a better end product for improved customer satisfaction.
• Enhanced reputation: Creates a higher-quality product upon release, boosting reputation.

However, the main benefit of hiring an SQA professional is to take preventative action to create a better end product and reduce post-release software issues.

What Do SQA Professionals Do?

SQA professionals inspect and test software as other developers are writing it. There are a few different types of SQA professionals, and we’ll go further into detail later, but their general responsibilities include:

• Design reviews: Review front-end experience to ensure it’s accessible and works correctly
• Resolve errors: Inspects code for errors and fixes them
• Software testing: Run tests on the code to check accuracy, efficiency, and user experience
• Use case analysis: Ensure software developers understand the goal of their project and that the code fulfills all needs

Types of SQA Engineers

Even within the SQA profession, there are still some different roles. These engineers may have special expertise that’s best suited for certain types of projects or software needs.

Manual QA 

Manual QA engineers complete tasks themselves and actively review, test, and alter the code. Unlike automation QA engineers, manual engineers don’t build automated QA processes—they do it themselves.

On a typical day of testing functionality, a manual QA engineer will read through the software’s code, then test a section for errors. Next, they’ll come up with a plan to prevent similar errors from occurring during future projects.

Automation QA 

Automation QA engineers create automated workflows that will QA software for the company. Unlike manual QA engineers, automation engineers specifically create automated workflows that prevent errors throughout the coding process.

For example, an automation engineer working on product accessibility would spend a typical workday creating an automated tool that reviews front-end code. It would report on different features like if the  font contrast doesn’t comply with WACG guidelines.

QA Specialists

QA specialists are the jacks of all trades when it comes to SQA. They combine manual and automated QA strategies for a “best of both worlds” approach to software quality assurance. 

These professionals weigh how to best resolve each problem, choosing manual or automated processes based on their goals. For example, a QA specialist might use automation to audit their team’s processes, but prefer to review the code themselves.

What Are The Requirements for a QA Engineer?

Many talented QA engineers might not have a related degree, learning coding independently or through experience. Here are some things to keep in mind when vetting SQA engineers:

• Education: If your company requires formal education, look for candidates with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or a related field. 
• Experience: Typically, those with 5+ years of experience are considered senior QA analysts. Ask about past work experience, challenges, and successes to understand what potential candidates can do.
• Skills needed: Look for candidates with skills like automation, programming, defect management, and software testing. They should also be familiar with multiple scripting languages, CI/CD pipelines, automation, and cloud platforms. 

You might also look for certifications, such as those from the International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB). Certifications and other courses are especially important if the candidate doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.

SQA Engineer Salary by Experience Level

The table below breaks down average annual salaries in the U.S. by experience level. SQA engineer salaries in the U.S. increase with experience, ranging from $70K to $173K per year. 

The average salary for all years of experience is approximately $92K – $147K/yr.

Key Metrics for Measuring Software Quality Assurance Effectiveness

How do you know if your SQA process is effective? Measuring SQA performance is important to ensure your team has the proper resources and protocol to ensure code quality at scale.

Measure these key metrics throughout each SQA project to help measure SQA outcomes:

• Defect density: Defect density is the proportion of mistakes in the code compared to the project size. An increase means the team is making more mistakes, even on smaller projects.
• Test coverage: Test coverage is how much of the software analysts check during QA tests. If the team doesn’t have the time or resources to test the software thoroughly, the final project may have more issues.
• Customer-reported issues: If customers report more issues than normal post-deployment, more mistakes are slipping past the SQA process.
• Mean time to detect (MTTD): MTTD is the mean time it takes for the SQA team to discover a bug after it’s been introduced to the code. The shorter this metric, the better.
• Mean time to repair (MTTR): MTTR is the mean time it takes the SQA team to fix a bug after it’s discovered. This metric should be shorter, especially if customers discover bugs.
• Automation test pass rate: This metric is the percentage of automated tests the software has passed during each cycle of automation testing. If it increases, it indicates there are more issues after each cycle.

How to Know If Your Team Needs SQA Help

If you see success metrics for SQA falling or stagnating, consider whether your team has enough resources to properly QA their projects. Red flags to look out for include:

• Frequent bugs in production: Engineers make more mistakes or don’t catch as many defects as they should.
• Missed release deadlines: Engineers and SQA analysts cannot complete their projects on time due to overloaded schedules. 
• High customer churn: Customer churn increases due to increased software defects or long waiting periods.
• Lack of structured testing: Engineers stray from the set protocol, or the protocol doesn’t exist.

If your team shows these challenges, it doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t handle their responsibilities. Consider interventions such as new tools, extra training, or a new hire to help your current team succeed.

How To Implement Software Quality Assurance

Once you’ve identified the need for software quality assurance, here’s how you can implement it effectively:

1. Develop a plan: Meet with stakeholders and share why the team needs software quality assurance support. During this time, you can reach an agreement with stakeholders on the scope of work and project expectations to inform a hiring and execution plan.
2. Implement the plan: Next, hire your SQA engineers and identify their roles. Share the plan with them, including the project’s goal and how you’ll measure their performance.
3. Evaluate: As the team works, measure their performance based on the SQA metrics you shared with them. Gather feedback from the SQA team, customers, and other stakeholders to give context to the quality of their work.
4. Make improvements: Analyze the feedback and your findings from the previous step to communicate updates with stakeholders. If necessary, use data visualization. Then, update the SQA process based on this data to continue to improve your process.

Best Tools for Software Quality Assurance

The right tools help SQA engineers test faster, collaborate better, and catch bugs before they go live. Here are a few of the most popular software quality assurance tools used by top-performing teams:

• Selenium: An open-source automation tool for testing web applications across browsers and platforms.
• TestRail: A comprehensive test case management tool that helps QA teams organize and track testing efforts.
• Jira: Widely used for issue tracking and agile project management, with QA-specific integrations.
• Postman: Ideal for testing APIs with automation features, mock servers, and detailed reporting.
• Appium: An open-source tool for automating mobile app testing across iOS and Android platforms.
• JUnit: A unit testing framework for Java developers that supports repeatable automated tests.
• Katalon Studio: A beginner-friendly automation platform supporting web, API, desktop, and mobile testing.
• BrowserStack: A cloud-based testing platform for cross-browser and cross-device testing without infrastructure setup.
• LoadRunner: Enterprise-grade performance testing tool for simulating thousands of users and measuring system behavior.
• Cypress: A fast, reliable testing tool for anything that runs in a browser, with a developer-friendly setup.

These tools support both manual and automated testing, helping QA engineers stay productive and deliver reliable software.

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Hiring SQA Engineers

If you’re unfamiliar with hiring SQA engineers, here are the most common mistakes we see employers making:

• Starting long contracts: SQA needs are constantly changing, so it’s best not to be locked in for a long SQA contract if it’s not what you need. If the SQA analyst finishes their work early, you could be on the hook to pay an employee who doesn’t have anything to do.
• Hiring more than you need: Start slow with a smaller team, then see if they need more help before hiring more SQA engineers. Otherwise, your team might struggle to share responsibility and fill their schedules. This way, you can maximize your budget and reduce onboarding resources.
• Promoting within instead of hiring externally: Unless you have the perfect candidate, hiring within for a specialized role can create issues like limited experience, or overlooking mistakes in code they worked on.
• Spending too much on hiring in-house: It’s important to thoroughly vet SQA engineers, which can be very expensive in-house.
• Not hiring remote SQA professionals: SQA professionals have more niche experience than other software engineering jobs. Don’t limit your search to professionals living in your company’s area.
• Excluding overseas SQA engineers: Don’t overlook expert potential candidates just because of their location. This limits your talent pool and can keep you from finding the best fit. Overseas engineers, especially those in Eastern Europe, are known as some of the most talented SQA engineers in the world. 

4 Tips for Finding the Right SQA

As you begin to build your dream SQA team, keep these tips in mind to streamline the process:

1. Define your QA needs early: If you have specific QA needs, you can provide more information to potential hires and find a better match for your projects.
2. Prioritize experience in your tech stack: Include information about your current tech stack, including current scripting languages, project management tools, and development platforms.
3. Look for proactive communication skills: Ask for examples of projects where the candidate proactively raised issues or resolved bugs. This will help you find more thorough SQA professionals with an eye for detail.
4. Hire from trusted platforms with vetted talent: Internal hiring processes can be complicated and costly. Work with a third-party developer network like Lemon.io, which can vet prospects, conduct technical interviews, and find the perfect fit with less effort.

Top Questions Tech Leaders and Hiring Decision Makers Ask Lemon.io About QA Roles

Whether you’re a CTO, VP of engineering, product manager, or hiring manager, here are the most common concerns we hear about hiring through Lemon.io.

• How do you vet QA engineers on the platform—and how deep does the technical screening go? Our vetting process includes a technical screening with non-Googleable questions and practice challenges that evaluate how well developers think on their feet.
• Do your QA freelancers specialize in manual testing, automation, or both? All of the above! We can help you find the right fit if you just want an expert manual testing engineer, are looking for an automation QA specialist, or need someone who can tackle any project.
• How experienced are they with setting up test frameworks from scratch? We have many experts who can help you create testing frameworks from scratch. Only 1.2% of applicants make it through our screening process, so you can trust Lemon.io developers to provide expert support.
• Can I find QA engineers with experience in our specific stack or field? Yes! We have a wide breadth of developers with their own expertise and experience. We’ll work with you to find a hire that fits seamlessly into your current team.
• How quickly can we start working with a QA engineer—and what happens if it’s not a good fit? The average matching time through Lemon.io is just 24 hours. If it doesn’t work out, you can switch hires at no cost.

Fix Your SQA Talent Gaps With Lemon.io

Software quality assurance (SQA) analysts spot and resolve those bugs throughout development. With their help, your team can tackle smaller adjustments early in development, instead of working overtime to see which defects might have branched out to break your final code draft.

If the SQA hiring process is making your head spin, you don’t need to do it on your own. Hire software quality assurance engineers from Lemon.io and discover talented professionals who will help you finalize your software on time, without the headache.

FAQ

What’s the Difference Between an SQA Engineer and Specialist?

SQA engineers and specialists work in similar roles, but an engineer conducts more general quality assurance tests, while a specialist may have a preferred field, such as security testing.

What Is the Primary Goal of Software Quality Assurance?

The main goal of software quality assurance is to spot and resolve functional, quality, and compliance issues in software before shipping it.

What Are the 5 P’s of Quality Assurance?

The five P’s of quality assurance are people, processes, procedures, premises, and products. They’re a helpful reminder of what a company needs to build an effective QA team. Here’s what each means:

• People: Hire trained software engineers who have the skills required for quality assurance.
• Processes: Create internal methods with clearly defined goals to conduct SQA.
• Procedures: Build defined protocols for consistent resolutions.
• Premises: Supply the proper equipment, resources, and facilities to carry out protocol.
• Products: Review the outcomes of SQA projects to ensure they meet the functional and compliance requirements.

Why Is a Quality Assurance Tester Needed on a Software Development Team?

QA testers are necessary for development teams because they work proactively to improve processes and fix errors in the code. This allows other team members to create a higher-quality product in less time.

Author

Zhenya Kruglova

Head of Talent Acquisition at Lemon.io

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Talent acquisition expert Zhenya Kruglova leads strategic hiring at Lemon.io, combining nearly a decade of experience with a focus on empathy, structure, and long-term team fit

Read more from Zhenya