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Advanced ManufacturingGreen JobOccupation aligned to O*NET green economy classifications.

Quality Assurance Director

Plan, direct, or coordinate quality assurance programs. Formulate quality control policies and control quality of laboratory and production efforts.

Annual openings

170

Median wage

$141,020

Typical education

A minimum of a Bachelor's degree plus work experience

Growth 2026–2032

+11%

Median wage source: Colorado BLS OEWS (2025).

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Career requirements

What does this career require?

Explore education, required qualifications, voluntary credentials and employer preferences for this role. Check the details to see which apply.

Typical education

A minimum of a Bachelor's degree plus work experience

Credential requirement

Credential requirements not reported

Work experience

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. Work experience as a Supervisor is highly valued.

Employer competency information

Feedback from employers identifies the following competencies as being critical to support a successful move up to the Director level

  • Planning & Organizing — Plan and organize the successful completion of tasks and projects for multiple teams; set expectations for team members and hold them accountable.
  • Personnel & Human Resources and Interpersonal Skills — Understand behaviors (Psychology) of team members; motivate, empower and get a diverse team to work well together; lead and manage staff; deal with others with fairness and integrity; and hire and fill skills gaps effectively.
  • Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, & Decision Making — Continue to elevate these skills for use in activities that cross teams, including strategic thinking and vision setting across an organization.
Salary/Demand information crosses multiple jobs in multiple industries.
As a Director Quality Assurance, you’re in charge of making sure every product meets safety codes and customer expectations. You’ll be familiar with every detail of the manufacturing process, from the raw materials to the packaging and transportation of the final product. You oversee the department of quality assurance, training employees and consulting with other department heads.
Being a director of quality assurance means interacting with your customers from the very beginning. You’ll understand what the customer wants from the first meeting and help engineers and technicians create a manufacturing system that results in the very best product using the best materials available. If the customer is unhappy for any reason, you’ll know how to fix it.

Is this work a fit?

What the work actually feels like

How people in this career tend to spend their time, the interests it draws on, and a look at a typical day.

A typical day

  1. Stop production if serious product defects are present.
  2. Review and update standard operating procedures or quality assurance manuals.
  3. Monitor performance of quality control systems to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
  4. Review quality documentation necessary for regulatory submissions and inspections.
  5. Analyze quality control test results and provide feedback and interpretation to production management or staff.
  6. Verify that raw materials, purchased parts or components, in-process samples, and finished products meet established testing and inspection standards.
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