QA jobs in San Diego, United States
San Diego sits in the tier b hub group for QA hiring in United States. It has 7 open QA roles, and United States has 1166 in total. The country's busiest listing hub is San Jose with 54 roles. A mid-level QA Automation Engineer earns about $110k gross a year here, set from the national median with the B-tier pay index of 88.
Index vs New York = 100. 12% below New York. Estimated from tier, not measured.
Open QA roles in San Diego
7 roles based in San Diego, newest first. Pay is shown upfront.
Sr. SDET
Senior Director, GxP Quality Assurance
Systems Test Engineer, System Behavior Analysis
SDET Manager, Mail & Messages Automated Testing Frameworks
Quality Engineer - Production
Manager Software Test Automation
What is hiring in San Diego
Share of the 7 listings in San Diego.
- SDET3 43%
- Manual QA Tester2 29%
- QA Automation Engineer2 29%
Pay in San Diego
Mid-level gross pay in USD, from the United States median with a pay index of 88.
| Role | P10 | Median | P90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual QA Tester | $59k | $72k | $88k |
| QA Automation Engineer | $87k | $110k | $130k |
| SDET | $95k | $120k | $140k |
| QA Lead / Manager | $79k | $97k | $120k |
Country figures: United States salary snapshot · QA Automation Engineer pay in United States.
Working hours from San Diego
San Diego is on UTC-7 (PDT). A 09:00-17:00 day here shares 8 h with US West (09:00-17:00 local), 5 h with US East, 8 h with US West, 0 h with London and 0 h with Central Europe.
San Diego changes its clocks: UTC-8 in winter and UTC-7 in summer. Today it is on UTC-7 (PDT). Europe moves its clocks on 25 Oct 2026 and the US on 1 Nov 2026. For that week US East and London overlap 4 h on a 09:00-17:00 day, against 3 h today.
San Diego as a QA market
A Tier B city is a growing hub with regular listings.
San Diego has about 1.4 million residents (city-proper estimate, GeoNames). It is the 8th largest of the 62 United States cities we list.
Population: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). City-proper figures are not comparable across countries.
Employers in United States hire QA mostly in AI / ML, SaaS, Healthcare / MedTech. Listings name Jira, Selenium, Playwright most often. 409 of 1166 United States roles are remote, against 14% of the listings based in San Diego.
The largest QA market in the data, with hiring concentrated in SaaS, fintech, gaming and AI companies on both coasts and in Texas.
Hiring in United States
- Contracts
- Full-time employee (W-2), Contractor (1099 / corp-to-corp), Contract-to-hire
- Notice
- No statutory notice for most employees. Two weeks is the common courtesy, and senior roles often agree longer terms.
- Paid leave
- No federal paid-leave minimum. Employers typically offer 15 to 25 days of PTO plus public holidays.
- Working week
- 40 hours is standard. Non-exempt staff get overtime under federal and state rules.
Typical values only. Full hiring guide for United States. Flex work from United States is open: how Flex works.
QA roles in San Diego: jobs and pay
Open a role for local openings and the pay by level in San Diego.
Manual QA Tester
Mid-level median $84k
QA Automation Engineer
Mid-level median $120k
SDET
Mid-level median $130k
QA Lead / Manager
Mid-level median $110k
Mobile QA Engineer
Mid-level median $110k
Performance Test Engineer
Mid-level median $150k
Security / Penetration Tester
Mid-level median $190k
Game QA Tester
Mid-level median $68k
Accessibility Tester
Mid-level median $100k
Business / Test Analyst
Mid-level median $92k
Data / ETL QA Engineer
Mid-level median $100k
Localization QA Tester
Mid-level median $49k
AI / LLM Evaluation QA
Mid-level median $110k
Release / DevOps Engineer
Mid-level median $150k
Technical Writer (QA / Docs)
Mid-level median $93k
QA jobs in San Diego: FAQ
How much does a QA automation engineer earn in San Diego?
A mid-level QA Automation Engineer in San Diego earns about $110k gross a year, with a p10 to p90 band of $87k to $130k. Junior roles start near $82k and senior roles reach $140k. This applies a pay index of 88 (anchor city = 100) to the United States median.
How many QA jobs are open in San Diego?
San Diego has 7 open QA roles today, 1 of them remote, and United States has 1166 in total. Remote roles in the same time zone are open to candidates here.
How much time-zone overlap does San Diego have with US and European teams?
On a 09:00-17:00 day in San Diego (UTC-7 (PDT)), the overlap is 5 h with US East, 8 h with US West, 0 h with London and 0 h with Central Europe. San Diego changes its clocks: UTC-8 in winter and UTC-7 in summer. Today it is on UTC-7 (PDT).
What does it cost to live in San Diego compared with New York?
Our approximate cost-of-living index for San Diego is 86 against New York at 100, and the pay index is 88. Both are tier-based estimates, not measured prices.
Which industries hire QA testers in United States?
In United States listings, the most common industries are AI / ML, SaaS, Healthcare / MedTech. The tools named most often are Jira, Selenium, Playwright.
How big is San Diego and how does it rank as a QA talent pool?
San Diego has about 1.4 million residents (city-proper estimate, GeoNames). It is the 8th largest of the 62 United States cities we list. Population alone does not set pay: the pay index of 88 comes from the city tier, and the 7 local listings show how much QA hiring is visible today. Remote roles in the same time zone widen the pool for candidates here.
What notice period and paid leave should I expect in United States?
No statutory notice for most employees. Two weeks is the common courtesy, and senior roles often agree longer terms. No federal paid-leave minimum. Employers typically offer 15 to 25 days of PTO plus public holidays. These are typical values, not legal advice.