Product Quality Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Product Quality Engineer evaluates and tests products and manufacturing systems, to ensure that products are produced that meet quality and performance standards as well as safety and regulatory requirements. Develops product quality standards and monitors production and product testing.
Job Outlook
There were 52 Product Quality Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 1913 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Validation Engineer industry, which includes the Product Quality Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Product Quality Engineer 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 $107,226.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $107,226.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Product Quality Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $93,551.
Education and Experience
Posted Product Quality Engineer 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 | 79.09% |
| Master's Degree | 22.22% |
| Doctoral Degree | 1.93% |
| Other | 3.82% |
Posted Product Quality Engineer 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 | 19.24% |
| 3 to 5 years | 59.44% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.82% |
| 9+ years | 7.5% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Product Quality Engineer 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.
- Problem Solving (44.01%)
- Communication (39.78%)
- Quality Assurance (35.91%)
- Management (35.34%)
- Operations (26.76%)
- Leadership (23.78%)
- Customer Service (21.38%)
- Investigation (20.39%)
- Planning (19.97%)
- Reliability (19.55%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Quality Management Systems (37.25%)
- ISO 9000 Series (19.77%)
- Auditing (46.42%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (39.54%)
- New Product Development (50.19%)
- Root Cause Analysis (27.47%)
- Product Quality (QA/QC) (58.33%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Statistical Analysis (12.56%)
- Product Inspection (3.5%)
- Process Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (PFMEA) (11.74%)
- Supplier Quality Management (15.29%)
- Eight Disciplines Problem Solving (8D) (15.51%)
- Supplier Quality Engineering (4.04%)
- Supply Chain (9.28%)
- Aerospace Basic Quality System Standards (10.54%)
- Six Sigma Methodology (17.04%)
- Corrective And Preventive Action (CAPA) (23.65%)
- Quality Improvement (13.38%)
- Medical Devices (14.75%)
- Data Analysis (20.21%)
- Advanced Product Quality Planning (19.44%)
- Procurement (3.33%)
- Electrical Engineering (8.3%)
- Mechanical Engineering (15.24%)
- Engineering Drawings (3.93%)
- Production Process (7.7%)
- Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (18.68%)
- Project Management (16.66%)
- Risk Management (13.33%)
- ISO 14000 Series (0.87%)
- ISO 13485 Standard (10.38%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (9.01%)
- Lean Manufacturing (19.93%)
- Product Lifecycle Management (7.65%)
- Manufacturing Engineering (14.42%)
- Product Design (15.73%)
- Internal Auditing (5.24%)
- Metrology (5.3%)
- Process Control (5.63%)
- Quality Management (24.69%)
- Tooling (3.33%)
- Risk Analysis (13.05%)
- Production Part Approval Process (15.29%)
- SAP Applications (5.19%)
- Statistical Process Controls (20.64%)
- Manufacturing Processes (25.94%)
- Statistics (15.78%)
- Process Improvement (21.68%)
- Test Planning (7.86%)
- Industry Standards (7.1%)
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.
- Manufacturing Engineering (20.9%)
- Product Quality (QA/QC) (84.56%)
- Root Cause Analysis (39.83%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Product Quality Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Quality Engineer
- Quality Assurance Engineer
- Production Quality Engineer
- Product Quality Assurance Engineer
- Product Assurance Engineer
- Product Quality Manager
- Plant Quality Engineer
- Development Quality Engineer
- Quality Engineering Intern
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.
- Manufacturing Quality Manager
- Manufacturing Product Design Engineer
- Supplier Quality Engineer
- Quality Manager (General)
- Director of Quality Assurance
- Product Development Engineer
- Manufacturing Engineer (General)
- Quality Engineering Manager
- Industrial Engineer (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Product Quality Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Gast Manufacturing (94)
- Actalent (64)
- Apple (33)
- Amazon (29)
- Lockheed Martin (28)
- Micron Technology (25)
- GE Aerospace (25)
- L3Harris Technologies (23)
- Raytheon Technologies (21)
- Johnson & Johnson (18)
North Carolina
- Actalent (4)
- Teleflex (4)
- Volvo (3)
- Ferguson Enterprises (3)
- Qorvo (3)
- System One (2)
- Honda (2)
- Corning (2)
- Newell Agency (2)
- Johnson Controls (1)
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!
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.