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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Quality Analyst

💰 $ - $

Quality AssuranceQuality AnalystQACompliance

🎯 Role Definition

The Quality Analyst is a quality assurance professional responsible for designing, executing, and improving quality control and testing processes that ensure products, services or systems meet defined standards, compliance requirements and customer expectations. This role involves collecting and analyzing quality data, identifying issues and defects, collaborating with cross‑functional teams to resolve quality concerns, and contributing to continuous improvement of quality management systems across operations, manufacturing or software environments.


📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Quality Assurance Intern
  • Junior QA Analyst
  • Quality Control Technician

Advancement To:

  • Senior Quality Analyst
  • Quality Assurance Manager
  • Quality Systems Lead

Lateral Moves:

  • Process Improvement Specialist
  • Compliance Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  1. Develop, implement and maintain quality assurance standards, protocols and procedures to ensure product or service excellence.
  2. Design, document and execute test plans, test cases and quality checks that validate system functionality and product specifications.
  3. Conduct regular audits, inspections and evaluations of processes, products, data or systems to detect deviations from quality requirements.
  4. Identify, log and prioritize defects, inconsistencies or non‑conformance issues using appropriate tracking tools and reporting methods.
  5. Collaborate closely with development, engineering and production teams to investigate quality issues and drive timely resolution.
  6. Analyze quality data, trends and key performance metrics to generate insights for strategic improvement recommendations.
  7. Prepare, present and communicate detailed quality reports and status updates to management and stakeholders.
  8. Conduct root cause analysis on defects and assist in developing corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
  9. Lead quality reviews and collaborate on cross‑functional reviews for release decisions or project milestones.
  10. Monitor compliance with industry regulatory standards, internal policies and quality frameworks.
  11. Work with audit teams to support quality audits and implement audit recommendations.
  12. Mentor and train team members on quality standards, testing tools and quality processes.
  13. Validate corrective actions for effectiveness and monitor closure of remediation items.
  14. Update and administer quality documentation, quality management systems (QMS) and SOPs.
  15. Ensure traceability, version control and documentation integrity for quality records and test results.
  16. Participate in continuous improvement initiatives, recommending refinements to quality systems and workflows.
  17. Coordinate with suppliers or external partners to validate materials, components or services meet quality standards.
  18. Support customer quality inquiries and collaborate with service teams to address customer‑reported quality issues.
  19. Drive quality risk assessments and help implement preventative quality strategies across projects.
  20. Review product and process requirements to ensure testability and alignment with customer needs.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad‑hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proficiency in quality assurance methodologies, test design and execution.
  • Experience with quality management systems (QMS) and quality control tools.
  • Strong analytical skills for data interpretation, metrics and trend analysis.
  • Familiarity with defect tracking and test management systems (e.g., JIRA, TestRail).
  • Ability to perform root cause analysis and support corrective/preventive actions.
  • Knowledge of regulatory compliance standards relevant to industry (ISO, Six Sigma, etc.).
  • Proficiency in documenting quality plans, reports and SOPs.
  • Statistical analysis and quality metric reporting skills.
  • Skilled in designing, executing and evaluating audit activities.
  • Technical ability to interpret specifications, requirements and quality benchmarks.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy in quality evaluations.
  • Strong problem‑solving and critical thinking abilities.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills for reporting and collaboration.
  • Ability to work independently and within cross‑functional teams.
  • Effective time management and organizational skills.
  • Relationship building and stakeholder engagement.
  • Adaptability to changing project priorities and quality requirements.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Quality Assurance, Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related discipline.

Preferred Education:

  • Quality certifications such as Six Sigma, ISO Lead Auditor, ISTQB, CSTE or equivalent.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Quality Assurance & Control
  • Engineering (Software, Industrial, Mechanical)
  • Information Technology
  • Business Analytics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
2‑5+ years of quality analysis, quality assurance, software testing, audit or compliance experience.

Preferred:
Proven experience in statistical quality analysis, defect management and implementing quality improvement projects.