How to become a quality assurance manager

Official title: Quality assurance manager

Also called: Quality assurance consultant, Quality manager, Quality improvement manager, Risk and quality manager, QA manager, Quality systems manager

Quality assurance managers make sure a company's products and services meet and uphold industry standards.

Main tasks

• Make sure products meet industry standards
• Monitor success of processes
• Evaluate quality of materials and products
• Use data to improve products
• Lead and manage quality teams
• Develop and maintain quality management systems
• Prepare reports on progress and issues
• Train and mentor staff

How to become one

You usually need experience to become a quality assurance manager and a qualification may be useful. You usually need NCEA Level 3 to do the study or training for this job. Other requirements: experience in similar work; a Diploma in Quality Assurance; a relevant tertiary qualification in business and management, process and resources engineering or similar area; knowledge of relevant legislation and policies.

See the full Tahatū profile

Ways in

• University: Business & Commerce degrees, Offered by 6 universities in New Zealand
• University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 5 universities in New Zealand

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

• Most common pay: $80,000 to $139,000 a year (median $107,000), a TEC estimate before tax.
• Lower: $64,000 a year · Upper: $176,000 a year
• TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
• Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Steady (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

• About 2,100 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
• In the group Other Specialist Managers, 45% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
• Where people in the group Other Specialist Managers work (2023 Census): Auckland 37.8%, Wellington 12.1%, and Canterbury 12%.

Related jobs

• Sustainability manager
• Fundraising manager
• Watchmaker and repairer
• Safety engineer
• Fire engineer
• Validation engineer

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Questions people ask

How do I become a quality assurance manager?

You usually need experience to become a quality assurance manager and a qualification may be useful. You usually need NCEA Level 3 to do the study or training for this job. Other requirements: experience in similar work; a Diploma in Quality Assurance; a relevant tertiary qualification in business and management, process and resources engineering or similar area; knowledge of relevant legislation and policies.

How much does a quality assurance manager earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $107,000 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $80,000 to $139,000 a year.

Has the number of people working as a quality assurance manager grown in New Zealand?

It has held steady: TEC records the number of people doing this job as steady between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.

Will AI change the work of a quality assurance manager?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026