Key findings
- Tester is the title that hides the most. 47% of 1,041 tester postings are manual roles and 36% are automation or SDET roles. It is also the most used noun (34% of 3,098 postings below lead).
- Engineer leans automation (74% automation roles, 12% manual); specialist leans manual (85% manual roles), and analyst mixes analysis work (55% business or test analyst roles) with manual testing (34%).
- Frameworks barely separate the nouns: 61% of engineer, 55% of tester and 49% of analyst postings name one. Only SDET (71%) and quality engineer (90%) stand out.
- Posted US pay: engineer $155k (n=58), tester $112k (n=32), analyst $100k (n=28). Engineer titles cluster in AI and ML companies (37% against 20% of analyst postings).
01Which noun employers use
We took 3,098 public QA postings below lead level and read the noun in the title: tester, engineer, analyst, specialist, SDET, quality engineer. Titles that name no noun at all ('Quality Assurance', 'QA') are counted separately.
'Tester' is the most common noun, ahead of engineer. 586 postings (19%) say only 'QA' or 'Quality Assurance' and leave the reader to guess.
02Same noun, different job
Our role classifier reads the title and the description and files each posting under one of 15 roles. Here is what each noun turns out to be.
- Manual QA tester
- QA automation or SDET
- Business or test analyst
- Other role
'Specialist' (85% manual) points to manual work and 'analyst' to analysis (55%) and manual (34%) work. 'Engineer' (74% automation) and 'SDET' point to code. 'Tester' sits in the middle: 494 manual and 374 automation postings carry it.
- Names a framework
- Does not
570 tester postings name a framework, and only 194 of them say 'automation' in the title: the rest are plain tester ads that list Selenium or Playwright. On the other side 194 engineer postings name none of the twelve; 113 of them are still automation roles, using tools outside our list.
03Level, remote and contract
| Title noun | Postings | Junior | Senior | Remote | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tester | 1,041 | 7% | 21% | 20% | 22% |
| Engineer | 497 | 6% | 30% | 38% | 7% |
| Analyst | 435 | 7% | 24% | 20% | 13% |
| Specialist | 162 | 7% | 15% | 20% | 16% |
| SDET | 196 | 4% | 42% | 20% | 18% |
| Quality engineer | 103 | 3% | 20% | 9% | 9% |
The noun says little about seniority: junior postings are 6% to 7% of every group. SDET and quality engineer are the exceptions (4% and 3% junior). Remote work does separate them: 38% of engineer postings are remote, against 20% of tester and 20% of analyst postings.
04Posted pay
Employer-published US dollar annual ranges, grouped by the title noun. Groups with fewer than four ranges are left out.
- Middle half of ranges
- Median
- Lowest to highest
- › line continues past the axis
Engineer postings sit $44k above tester postings, and analyst postings sit $12k below them. Part of this is who uses which noun: 37% of engineer postings and 46% of SDET postings come from AI and ML companies, against 15% of tester and 20% of analyst postings.
05Titles by country
The same work gets a different noun in different countries. Share of postings in each country by title noun (the five countries with the most postings).
| Country | Tester | Engineer | Analyst | Specialist | SDET | No job noun | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 26% | 18% | 17% | 8% | 8% | 17% | 823 |
| India | 25% | 11% | 18% | 3% | 17% | 22% | 388 |
| Canada | 46% | 13% | 16% | 7% | 7% | 8% | 263 |
| Poland | 59% | 14% | 6% | 5% | 1% | 17% | 169 |
| United Kingdom | 42% | 19% | 16% | 5% | 7% | 7% | 126 |
Poland is the most tester-heavy market (59%). India uses SDET most (17%). India has the most postings with no noun at all (22%). If you apply across borders, mirror the nouns of the market you apply to.
06Quick answers
Is QA tester an entry-level role?
Not by the title. 7% of tester postings are junior, about the same as 6% of engineer postings. Entry-level roles show up under 'junior', 'associate', 'trainee' and 'intern': see how many junior QA roles exist.
Are a QA tester and a QA engineer the same?
Often, and sometimes not. 74% of engineer postings are automation roles; tester postings split 47% manual to 36% automation. Read the tool list: frameworks are named in 61% of engineer and 55% of tester postings.
How much does a QA tester get paid?
In US postings with a published range the median is $112k for tester, $155k for engineer and $100k for analyst. Country and level matter more than the noun: see how much QA engineers earn.
What is the hierarchy of QA positions?
Junior tester or engineer, mid, senior, lead, manager, director or head. The noun does not rank: a senior tester and a senior engineer sit at the same level. The lead and manager rungs have their own article.
07How to use this
- Search by tool, then by title. Your keyword list is on the CV checker; the noun comes second.
- Mirror the posting. If the advert says 'QA Analyst', put 'QA Analyst' next to your real title on the CV, even if your employer calls you an engineer.
- Read the tool list before the title. A 'Tester' ad that names Playwright is an automation role; a 'QA Engineer' ad with Jira only is not.
- Do not pay for the noun. Ask for the level and the scope in the interview. A 'senior tester' who owns a suite is the same job as a 'senior engineer'.
Want a recruiter to read the ads for you and tell you which of them match your skills? Get a personal QA recruiter.
08Method and limits
Sample: 3,863 public postings harvested 20 Oct 2026 from employer career pages and public job feeds. Listings are postings, not people or confirmed openings: one role open in several cities counts several times (2,417 distinct titles across 3,863 postings). PassRidge talent-pipeline roles (149) are excluded from every statistic.
The noun is the first of engineer, analyst, tester, specialist in the part of the title before a comma, bracket or dash; SDET and quality engineer are matched first. Lead, manager, director and head titles, technical writers, penetration testers and release engineers are left out.
The role is assigned by our classifier from the title and the description. A framework is any of 12 test frameworks in our tool list.
Pay figures use only ranges the employer published (605 postings). Ranges in other currencies are converted at the indicative rates in our rate table dated 2026-10-01; hourly ranges are annualised at 2,080 hours. Employers that publish a range are not a random sample of employers, and most of them are US companies.
The method for roles, tools and pay is documented on our salary methodology page. Spot an error? Write to [email protected].
Go deeper
- All QA roles
- Manual QA Tester role
- Business / Test Analyst role
- CV checker
- Get a personal QA recruiter
Sources
- PassRidge public listing snapshot, 20 Oct 2026