Quality Assurance Specialist Salary Overview
Quality Assurance Specialists at SaaS companies focus on manual and exploratory testing, process documentation, and defect tracking to maintain product quality. They work closely with Software Engineers on bug triage and reproduction, DevOps Engineers on release readiness, and Engineering Managers on quality standards and release criteria.
QA Specialist compensation reflects an important contributor role in the software delivery pipeline. Those who invest in automation skills can transition into Technical Lead or QA Engineer roles with significantly higher pay. View all SaaS salary benchmarks.
Detailed Quality Assurance Specialist Compensation Breakdown
Percentile Band | Average Base Salary | # of salaries |
|---|---|---|
| Top 25% | $81,949 | 25 salaries |
| Middle 50% | $54,283 | 48 salaries |
| Bottom 25% | $39,708 | 23 salaries |
What Drives Higher Quality Assurance Specialist Pay?
Scripting skills (Python, JavaScript) enabling semi-automated testing
Domain expertise in regulated industries (fintech, healthtech)
Experience with test management tools (TestRail, Zephyr, qTest)
API testing experience with tools like Postman or REST-assured
Quality Assurance Specialist Compensation Structure
Base salary is the primary component (85–95% of total comp)
Equity rare at this level; occasionally seen at early-stage startups
Performance bonuses tied to release quality metrics (5–10% of base)
Certification bonuses for ISTQB and similar credentials at some companies
