Know All Quality Analyst Roles and Responsibilities

Check out the top quality analyst roles and responsibilities, along with skills and educational requirements necessary to excel and grow professionally. 

With an analytical, goal-oriented bent of mind with problem-solving abilities, a quality analyst ensures the product is defect-free before reaching the consumer. They must have skills in effective collaboration, project management, software testing, programming, customer service, and more. Today, we will see over the quality analyst job description and the skills required to become one. 

Who is a Quality Analyst?

A quality analyst assesses products based on standard quality assurance principles/guidelines. They must be able to ensure that products are fit for purpose and without any errors/defects. 

These professionals evaluate whether the product works fine in the manual testing phase. Upon their approval, it is taken to the automation testing phase. 

As a quality management professional, the quality analyst is present through software project planning, design, and implementation. In short, they are present in the entire software development life cycle – from requirement gathering to maintenance. 

The job description of a quality analyst also extends to managing customer queries on the product. They have to make sure the product not only meets the company’s quality standards, but also caters to the requirements of the end user. These professionals must be proficient in programming, use software engineering or QA tools and know how to debug issues. 

In the next section, let’s move over to the roles and responsibilities of a quality analyst. 

Quality Analyst Roles and Responsibilities

A quality analyst’s career is in many industries, from healthcare and FMCG to software and eCommerce. Some quality analysts may focus on software improvement, but others may be involved in process improvement. 

But, all in all, the Quality Analyst must contribute directly or greatly to the ISO Quality Management Principles. These principles include customer focus, leadership, people engagement, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision-making, and relationship management. 

Here are the main roles and responsibilities of a quality analyst. 

• Creating and preparing test plans and reports, including developing policies for maintaining quality assurance testing standards, standard operating procedures (SOPs), etc
• Providing training and working closely with the software development team
• Collaborating with different departments across all levels of management and streamlining processes
• Being the point of contact for clients, development team, and customers
• Monitoring quality metrics to analyse data and updating it regularly
• Conducting software audits regularly and managing risks
• Identifying inefficiencies in processes using root cause analysis strategy and suggesting improvements to Subject-Matter Experts
• Validating test cases and process control activities
• Making sure the final product meets the expectations and the quality requirements of the user

What All Are Required to Become a Quality Analyst?

Educational Requirements

Most entry-level quality analysts have a bachelor’s degree in computer science. But in mid-career, QA professionals must have certifications in any or more of these areas. 

• Project management certifications
• Programming certifications
• Software development certifications
• Six Sigma certifications
• Quality management certifications

Do note that some companies also prefer quality analysts on the process improvement side with an MBA degree. 

Skills Required for a Quality Analyst

The most important skills for a quality analyst are listed below. 

Apply Quality Assurance

Quality analysts require most of the skills in quality assurance. They must be good at testing products to meet quality standards set in the organisation. Reporting bugs, looking into processes that are going inefficient, documentation, and monitoring quality metrics, are day-to-day activities. 

Strong Computer Knowledge

QAs must use Quality Management Systems (QMS) to manage quality processes. They have to know how to use these systems to input, retrieve, and analyse data.

Depending on the industry, Quality Analysts may also use other specialised software. For instance, they might use Computer-Aided Design (CAD) or Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software in manufacturing. In healthcare, they might use Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems.

Other than that, Quality Analysts often need to collect, manage, and analyse large amounts of data. This can involve using databases, spreadsheets, and statistical analysis software. They are expected to structure and query data, perform complex calculations, and visualise data meaningfully.

Quality Analyst roles may require basic programming skills or familiarity with scripting languages in the software world. Similarly, proficiency with SQL or other database query languages can be beneficial for managing and analysing data.

Problem-Solving Skills

Throughout the entirety of the Quality Analyst career, problem-solving is the most revered. For instance, they have to break down complex systems or problems into their constituent parts to understand how they work and identify potential issues. Along with that, they evaluate information critically to identify underlying issues or potential problems. 

Communication Skills

Working closely with development teams, specifying bug improvements, etc., require the quality analyst to have the best communication skillset. They are decision-makers. 

Check out some free business communication courses too.