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Australia
Quality Assurance Engineer salary guide Australia 2026
The typical Quality Assurance Engineer salary in Australia is $110,000, with pay ranging from $74,000 at entry level to $140,000 for senior professionals.
Overview
What does a Quality Assurance Engineer earn?
The median salary of Quality Assurance Engineers in Australia is $110,000. Most professionals take home within a typical range of $84,000–$140,000, advancing from $74,000 in early-career positions up to $140,000 as they master test automation frameworks. Gaining industry certifications like the ISTQB Foundation or specialising in cloud environments can position your remuneration towards the higher end of the spectrum.
Optional — pick a state first
Median for Quality Assurance Engineer, nationally across Australia.
10th $84,000
25th $110,000
50th (median) $140,000
75th $161,000
90th
Figures above update by state/city. For a full breakdown by seniority, see the table below.
Location
Quality Assurance Engineer salary by city
Sydney offers the highest Quality Assurance Engineer salaries among Australia's major cities, at around $125,000. Close behind is Perth at $125,000, while flexible remote arrangements continue to create competitive pay across other metropolitan centres.
What drives salary
Factors that affect Quality Assurance Engineer pay
Your earning potential as a Quality Assurance Engineer depends on your technical versatility and domain knowledge. Several key factors influence where your package lands within the market range.
Engineers who bridge communication gaps by framing test suites in plain business terminology earn a noticeable premium. Demonstrating expertise with frameworks like Cucumber or SpecFlow proves that you can link technical quality directly to product delivery.
Modern development teams increasingly look for professionals who incorporate artificial intelligence into everyday test pipelines. Applying machine learning tools to generate synthetic test data or triage defects positions you at the forefront of the discipline.
Heavily regulated sectors place strict demands on audit trails and data protection. If you have delivered testing across core banking platforms or fintech applications, organisations will often pay more for your domain knowledge.
Working across multi-tenant infrastructures and diverse client contracts instils strong operational agility. Candidates with service-provider backgrounds adapt quickly to fresh codebases, making them valuable to consultancies and scale-ups.
Attaining credentials like the ISTQB Foundation or Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation provides an established baseline of quality engineering practices. Pairing these credentials with a Bachelor of Engineering or practical coding skills signals reliability to prospective employers.
Comparison
How Quality Assurance Engineers compare to related roles
A Quality Assurance Engineer typically earns above a Test Analyst, reflecting the deeper automation and software engineering skills the role demands. Compared to a Systems Engineer or Data Analyst, pay aligns closely, while advancing past a Business Analyst as your test architecture capabilities mature.
| Role | Range | Relative | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Analyst | $94,000–$145,000 | $119,000 | |
| Systems Engineer | $91,000–$142,000 | $114,000 | |
| Quality Assurance Engineer You are here | $84,000–$140,000 | $110,000 | |
| Test Analyst | $85,000–$120,000 | $100,000 | |
| Data Analyst | $81,000–$120,000 | $98,000 |
Employment Hero Job Data
Salary figures are derived from Employment Hero proprietary data. All figures represent base salary only and exclude bonuses, superannuation and other benefits. Last updated October 2026.
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