Director of Quality Assurance
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Director of Quality Assurance oversees and directs the overall operations of quality assurance within a company to ensure continuous improvement and compliance.
Job Outlook
There were 345 Director of Quality Assurance job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 8681 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Quality Control Systems Manager industry, which includes the Director of Quality Assurance career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Director of Quality Assurance jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $159,539.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $157,155.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Director of Quality Assurance postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $122,495.
Education and Experience
Posted Director of Quality Assurance jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 73% |
| Master's Degree | 36.8% |
| Doctoral Degree | 8.26% |
| Other | 1.91% |
Posted Director of Quality Assurance jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 3.29% |
| 3 to 5 years | 24% |
| 6 to 8 years | 22.15% |
| 9+ years | 50.57% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Director of Quality Assurance positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Leadership (68.9%)
- Quality Assurance (66.59%)
- Management (61.15%)
- Communication (52.63%)
- Operations (46.73%)
- Problem Solving (37.35%)
- Safety Assurance (35.77%)
- Quality Control (34.26%)
- Influencing Skills (23.12%)
- Planning (21.63%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Quality Management Systems (41.57%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (43.04%)
- Corrective And Preventive Action (CAPA) (25.34%)
- Auditing (57.37%)
- Quality Management (42.4%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Regulatory Affairs (8.3%)
- Supply Chain (10.71%)
- Supplier Quality Management (10.59%)
- Six Sigma Methodology (9.86%)
- Agile Methodology (5.63%)
- Data Analysis (9.23%)
- Medical Devices (10.58%)
- Biology (10.19%)
- Automation (9.68%)
- Quality Improvement (13.76%)
- Test Automation (6.16%)
- Change Control (13.42%)
- ISO 9000 Series (11.4%)
- Biotechnology (9.45%)
- Chemistry (12.55%)
- Biopharmaceuticals (8.67%)
- Change Management (7.02%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (29.89%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (17.54%)
- Lean Manufacturing (8.93%)
- External Auditing (10.55%)
- Regulatory Compliance (17.32%)
- Microbiology (7.2%)
- Manufacturing Processes (7.95%)
- Risk Analysis (9.74%)
- Risk Management (17.98%)
- Root Cause Analysis (15.65%)
- Internal Auditing (12.74%)
- Project Management (20%)
- Pharmaceuticals (22.08%)
- Product Quality (QA/QC) (19.64%)
- New Product Development (15.03%)
- Process Improvement (19.77%)
- Regulatory Requirements (9.67%)
- Strategic Leadership (3.5%)
- Industry Standards (13.26%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Quality Strategy (6.33%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Quality Management Systems (80.07%)
- Corrective And Preventive Action (CAPA) (48.81%)
- Quality Strategy (12.2%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Director of Quality Assurance skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Director of Quality
- Quality Manager
- Director of Quality Control
- Quality Assurance Lead
- Director of Quality Management
- Associate Director of Quality Control
- Director of Global Quality Assurance
- Quality Control Manager
- Director of Quality and Regulatory
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Quality Assurance Manager
- Quality Assurance Supervisor
- Quality Manager (General)
- Quality Engineering Manager
- Product Quality Engineer
- Clinical Quality Manager
- Quality Control Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Director of Quality Assurance jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Merck & Co. (248)
- Cardinal Health (152)
- Eli Lilly (122)
- GPAC (121)
- Lonza (92)
- Sumitomo Pharma (89)
- Fujifilm (82)
- The Judge Group (74)
- Actalent (72)
- Citigroup (67)
North Carolina
- Eli Lilly (28)
- Merck & Co. (25)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (19)
- Pfizer (15)
- Fujifilm (14)
- Day & Zimmermann (6)
- Bank of America (5)
- Catalent (4)
- Wells Fargo (4)
- Dsj Global (4)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Regulatory Science in Agriculture Graduate Certificates
- Regulatory Science in Agriculture Undergraduate Certificates
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.