Amid uncertainty in manufacturing, AI adoption, labor market fluctuations, and salary disparities across industries and geographic regions, quality professional compensation can be difficult to calculate. Without current job-level salary benchmarks, quality professionals, from technicians to executives, often enter salary negotiations with incomplete information, potentially lowering their compensation and ending up with less-than-desired work arrangements. Similarly, organizations may struggle to develop appropriate compensation structures that both attract talent and maintain internal equity.

The Quality Professionals Salary Report

In response, the Quality Professionals Salary Report was created to provide a comprehensive, regularly updated salary intelligence tool focused exclusively on quality management compensation trends across the United States. Whether the reader is a job seeker, employer, or researcher, the report offers data and analysis to help professionals understand the changing quality management job market.

Unlike a traditional salary survey that may become outdated or rely on self-reported data from limited participant pools, this tool leverages advanced web-scraping technology to analyze thousands of actual job postings on Indeed.com, one of the nation’s largest employment platforms. This methodology helps capture real-time market conditions, giving quality professionals visibility into what employers will be willing to pay in today’s market. The report primarily investigates salary trends for quality management roles, from executive and C-suite positions to entry-level technicians. The three priorities for the report involve providing salary ranges by position, showing geographical variations, and highlighting the differences in compensation across industries. (The data can be filtered for specific urban areas and states to give more localized views. The job postings used to create these summary reports are listed after the charts on the results page.)

Current findings

The above chart documents the average salary by job level between October 2024 and February 2025.

The current report covers the quality job market using the most recent and relevant data (between December 2024 and February 2025). It produced the following results and trends.

Compensation decline was clear across the board: Every level saw a salary decrease between December 2024 and February 2025. The decline was especially noticeable for senior and midlevel management. For example, senior management roles saw an average salary peak of $178,000 in January compared to $110,000 in February, a 38% decline, whereas executive level positions saw an average salary peak of $168,000 in December compared to $151,000 in February, a 10% dip with a slight recovery.

Midlevel management positions saw an average salary peak of $115,000 in December compared to $75,000, closely mirroring the senior management trend above.

Lead roles in the quality sector hit an average salary of $70,000 in December compared to $52,000 in February, a 26% decrease, whereas technician roles saw an average salary of $60,000 compared to $40,000 in February, a 33% decline.

Lead and midlevel management roles showed a hiring surge with reduced salaries: Lead roles saw a noticeable rise in January (an increase of 180 listings) but with little to no corresponding salary increase. Midlevel management roles had a similar story in February: Listings grew, but salaries didn’t follow proportionally. (One explanation suggests budget-limited demand, where companies are trying to fill middle roles with lower salary offerings.)

Executive hiring was restrained but stable in pay: The number of job listings fell, but salaries held relatively firm. Companies may be choosing to retain existing leadership instead of hiring new executives, maintaining salary levels to avoid churn.

The above chart shows the average salaries for each job level between October 2024 and February 2025.

Technician roles had fewer listings and lower pay: The technician category declined in both salary and listings, whether due to automation, outsourcing, or budget cuts focused on cost-saving at the operational level.

California, New York, and Illinois led the nation in the number of job listings:
California, New York, Illinois, Texas, and Colorado were the top five states by number of job listings.

State and number of job listings:
• California: 151
• New York: 67
• Illinois: 65
• Texas: 51
• Colorado: 38
• Ohio: 36
• Florida: 32
• Minnesota: 32
• Washington: 32
• Indiana: 28

At least one out of 10 jobs was a fully remote or hybrid job: Of the 1,262 quality job listings on Indeed.com between December 2024 and February 2025, 13.5% (170) were either fully remote jobs or hybrid jobs (“hybrid” meaning that the job includes working onsite, remotely, or a combination of the two). Of these jobs, 54% were hybrid, compared to 46% fully remote.

New York and San Diego had the highest median minimum salary: Of the top 10 most populous U.S. cities, New York and San Diego had the highest median minimum salaries, whereas Houston had the lowest median minimum salary and tied with Phoenix for the lowest median maximum salary. Chicago saw the highest number of job listings.

The above chart depicts the number of job listings by level between October 2024 and February 2025, showing frequent fluctuations.

About our methodology

Job postings have been categorized according to seniority level:
• Executive level
• Senior management
• Midlevel management
• Lead role
• Technician

The report is not a survey of current quality management professionals. Instead, it’s based on publicly available salary data from job postings on Indeed. This approach allows more up-to-date, market-reflective insights every month, because Indeed.com is one of the most popular job boards online with a large database of job postings.

The objective is to create a categorization system that provides meaningful insights and supports reader analysis objectives. Because of this iterative process, data collection and reporting methods may be adjusted with more data and feedback.

How to use this report

Job seekers: Individuals exploring careers in quality management or seeking to advance their existing roles can better understand the career progression and opportunities within the field. The salary ranges associated with each category offer transparency and help job seekers set realistic expectations when negotiating compensation packages. This knowledge empowers job seekers to make informed decisions about their career paths, target appropriate positions, and ultimately achieve their professional goals in the quality management domain.

Employers: For employers, this report serves as a benchmarking tool to ensure their compensation packages remain competitive in attracting and retaining top talent. By seeing the industry standards for salaries across different job categories, employers can adjust their offerings accordingly. This is particularly useful with tight, competitive job markets where skilled quality management professionals are in high demand. Furthermore, this report can inform talent management strategies by using the data to identify potential skill gaps within their teams and make informed decisions.

Researchers and industry analysts: For researchers and analysts, this report offers a large dataset to explore various aspects of the quality management job market. Researchers can identify patterns, trends, and disparities within the field by examining the categorization structure and associated salary ranges. This analysis can lead to valuable insights into factors influencing compensation. Researchers can also build upon this dataset by incorporating additional variables, such as education levels, years of experience, and certifications.

Report applicability

Quality professionals facing workplace challenges increasingly drive career transitions. Poor employee engagement from inadequate communication or recognition can push talented quality specialists to seek opportunities elsewhere. When quality initiatives lack visible support from leadership, professionals question not just their current role but their long-term career trajectory in the organization. Additionally, the integration of automation and advanced technologies in quality control processes is reshaping job roles. Given this, even for quality professionals who aren’t seeking employment, it may be sensible to monitor the job market. Visit the Quality Professionals Salary Report for monthly updates.