Also called: Quality Assurance Manager
Makes sure a company's products meet safety and quality standards, and leads the fix when something goes wrong.
A customer reports cracked parts, so you pull the batch records, gather the team and trace the cause to a machine setting. Later you walk an outside auditor through your ISO certification paperwork.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 8 years after high school. Bachelor's in engineering or a science; ASQ certifications (CQE, CMQ/OE) help.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Industrial Engineering, Quality Management, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry.
Growing about average. Tied to manufacturing, medical devices and aerospace, where quality rules are strict.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI vision catches defects and sorts data; tracing root causes, leading fixes and facing auditors stays human.
Classes: Chemistry, AP Statistics, Engineering CTE.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-3051.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.