SaaS Salary Benchmarks

Lead Quality Assurance Engineer Salary Benchmarks

Compensation data for the Lead Quality Assurance Engineer role at US SaaS companies, based on 18 verified salaries.

Quartile breakdownAll SaaS roles
Base salary · US SaaS18 salaries
$160,000
Median base salary
Bottom 25% avg$0Top 25% avg$160,000
Average base salary
$137,444
Typical range (P25–P75)
$102,000–$160,000
Salaries analyzed
18

Hiring for this role? At the median, one Lead Quality Assurance Engineer costs $160,000 a year in base salary.

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Overview
18 salaries

Lead Quality Assurance Engineer Salary Overview

Bottom 25% AverageNo salaries in this band in the current sample
—
Middle 50% AverageAverage of the middle half · 7 salaries
$102,000
Top 25% AverageAverage of the highest-paid quarter · 11 salaries
$160,000

Median Lead Quality Assurance Engineer base pay by pay period

Per year
$160,000
Per month
$13,333
Every two weeks
$6,154
Per hour
$76.92
Base-pay equivalents before tax; hourly assumes 2,080 working hours a year.

Lead Quality Assurance Engineer salaries at SaaS companies average $137,444, with typical salaries ranging from $102,000 to $160,000. Based on 18 real salary data points from SaaS companies.

Quartile bands
Employees · annualized base

Detailed Lead Quality Assurance Engineer Compensation Breakdown

Lead Quality Assurance Engineer base salary by percentile band
Percentile BandSalary rangeAverage Base Salary# of salaries
Top 25%$160,000 and up$160,00011 salaries
Middle 50%$102,000–$160,000$102,0007 salaries
Bottom 25%——0 salaries
By seniority
Employees · median base

Quality Assurance Engineer Salary by Seniority Level

Median base salary for each Quality Assurance Engineer level with its own benchmark, from Quality Assurance Engineer to Lead Quality Assurance Engineer. Step-up compares each median with the level below.

Quality Assurance Engineer base salary by seniority level
LevelMedian baseStep-up
Quality Assurance Engineer$81,344—
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer$169,956*+109%
Lead Quality Assurance EngineerThis page$160,000*−6%
* Fewer than 50 salaries: a small sample, so expect this level's figures to move more between data refreshes.
Hiring budget
Base salary · fully loaded

What Does a Lead Quality Assurance Engineer Cost to Hire?

Budget for Lead Quality Assurance Engineer hires at the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of this benchmark, as base salary and as fully loaded cost.

Pay level
Hires
1

One Lead Quality Assurance Engineer hire at the median: $160,000 a year in base salary, $200,000–$224,000 fully loaded.

Cost of one hire by pay level
Per hireP25MedianP75
Base salary / year$102,000$160,000$160,000
Base salary / month$8,500$13,333$13,333
Fully loaded / year1.25–1.4× base$127,500–$142,800$200,000–$224,000$200,000–$224,000
Fully loaded / month1.25–1.4× base$10,625–$11,900$16,667–$18,667$16,667–$18,667
Fully loaded adds employer payroll taxes, health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment at 1.25–1.4× base salary. That multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonus, equity, and recruiting fees are not included.

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Key insights

Lead Quality Assurance Engineer Pay by the Numbers

  • The middle half of Lead Quality Assurance Engineer salaries spans $102,000–$160,000: a $58,000 spread, 36% of the $160,000 median.
  • A 75th-percentile Lead Quality Assurance Engineer earns 1.6× the 25th-percentile salary.
  • The Lead Quality Assurance Engineer median is 49% above the median Engineering & Product role ($107,210 across 64 roles).

What Drives Higher Lead Quality Assurance Engineer Pay?

  • Years of experience and proven track record
  • Company stage and funding (later stage typically pays more)
  • Technical expertise and specialization
  • Location and remote work policies
FAQ
Lead Quality Assurance Engineer salary

On a median base salary of $160,000, a Lead Quality Assurance Engineer at a US SaaS company makes about $13,333 a month, $6,154 every two weeks, or $76.92 an hour over 2,080 working hours a year. The middle half of salaries (25th–75th percentile) works out to $8,500–$13,333 a month. These are base-pay equivalents before tax, and they leave out bonus, commission, and equity.

Expect the lower half of this benchmark. Across 18 verified SaaS Lead Quality Assurance Engineer salaries, the 25th percentile is $102,000 and the median is $160,000. A Lead Quality Assurance Engineer at a seed or Series A startup, or at a bootstrapped company under roughly $10M ARR, will often land between those two figures. Base pay typically moves toward and past the $160,000 75th percentile as the company adds headcount and ARR. Those stage bands are a rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a breakdown by company size, which the dataset does not report.

Budget for more than base salary. On a median base of $160,000, the fully loaded cost of a US Lead Quality Assurance Engineer is roughly $200,000–$224,000 per year once employer payroll taxes (~7.65% FICA plus federal and state unemployment), health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment are added. That 1.25–1.4x multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to the benchmark on this page, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonuses, and equity sit on top where the role carries them. Also budget one-off hiring costs: agency recruiting fees commonly run 15–25% of first-year base, and a new hire takes weeks to months to reach full productivity.

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