Here are the keywords and skills that appear most frequently on recent Quality Engineer job postings. In other words, these are the most sought after skills by recruiters and hiring managers. Go to Sample Templates ↓ below to see how to include them on your resume.
Remember that every job is different. Instead of including all keywords on your resume, identify those that are most relevant to the job you're applying to. Use the free Targeted Resume tool to help with this.
Does your resume contain all the right skills? Paste in your resume in the AI Resume Scan ↓ section below and get an instant score.
Paste your resume below and our AI will identify which keywords are missing from your resume from the list above (and what you need to include). Including the right keywords will help you get past Applicant Tracking Systems (i.e. resume screeners) which may scan your resume for keywords to see if you're a match for the job.
Go through the Quality Engineer posting you're applying to, and identify hard skills the company is looking for. For example, skills like Automotive, Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and Quality Management are possible skills. These are skills you should try to include on your resume.
The following word cloud highlights the most popular keywords that appear on Quality Engineer job descriptions. The bigger the word, the more frequently it shows up on employer's job postings. If you have experience with these keywords, include them on your resume.
Here are examples of proven resumes in related jobs and industries, approved by experienced hiring managers. Use them as inspiration when you're writing your own resume. You can even download and edit the resume template in Google Docs.
A UX (user experience) engineer is responsible for building design systems and front-end engineering rather than finalizing the look and design of a product. UX engineers collaborate with designers, researchers, and programmers and need a solid understanding of design principles as well as technical skills including familiarity with creative software, programming languages, and experience testing and debugging.
UX engineers need a lot of technical skills, so make sure you explicitly list skills and keywords. This is just as important for getting past a resume screener as well as showcasing your fit to a hiring manager. You can include hard skills and certifications in your work experience bullet points or in an additional skills section.
Make sure you’re tailoring your resume to each specific job you’re applying to. Listing the job title at the top of your resume in particular is an easy way to get past automated resume screeners and onto the desk of a hiring manager. Keep your work experience and skills section focused on the most relevant information, including recent certifications and proficiency with UX design software.
Senior Quality Engineers are higher level Quality Engineers. In addition to testing products and finding defects, they often have managerial responsibilities with managing teams, guiding, and training other employees. If you already have management or training experience, make sure to make this evident on your resume. Also, prioritize your experiences where you have held similar skills or roles — this will show that you are prepared.
Make sure that you are adapting each version of your resume to fit the specific job that you’re applying for. If you had previous jobs with different titles, try to match them as much as possible to your next position. In this resume, each previous job has some variation of the words, “Quality Engineer” in the title.
As you begin to take on senior level positions, employers will also be looking for leadership initiatives, in addition to your technical expertise. This resume uses the examples, “Managed 66 suppliers,” “Mentored 6 quality technicians,” and “Promoted within 18 months.” Make sure you are able to blend your metrics and achievements, with specific leadership examples.
Supplier Quality Engineers work with logistics, supply chain management, and manufacturing. They ensure that all products meet company, industry, and government standards and lack any defects. To advance in this field, it’s important to show your strong technical and analytical skills through previous roles, using numbers and specific examples to quantify your proven results.
You must have strong technical qualifications to succeed in specialized and technical fields like Quality Engineering. Look at job descriptions and see what programs and software employers will expect you to know. If it’s listed in the description, make sure to include it in your skills section or throughout your bullet points.
When you have 10+ years of experience, you’ll want to emphasize examples of leading teams, advancing, and training others. Also, make sure to highlight with metrics how you improved your team, department, or company as a whole. For example, like this resume, “implemented continuous integration process, resulting in 200% decrease in production incidents and 3x shipping speed.”
Manufacturing quality engineers are expected to have an understanding of the overall manufacturing process with a specific focus on being able to assess the quality of the final product. Efficiency is everything to manufacturing engineers, but weighing that against quality is a specific ability. Indicate your experience by emphasizing quality-related skills and techniques.
As a manufacturing quality engineer, it's in your best interest to highlight your quality assurance and control work in particular. Each of your accomplishments should relate to data points such as reducing load times, reducing the number of returns, or improving processing times.
Along with listing your technical skills and quality control techniques in a separate skill bank, you should incorporate them into the body of your resume to lend credibility to your expertise with them. Reference using software such as CAD or IQ, OQ, and PQ validations, as examples, to impart your successful hands-on utilization of them.
A Cisco network engineer is specially trained to use Cisco products in planning, implementing, and managing network systems. Cisco networks are used widely, and the demand for Cisco-certified networking professionals is high. If you want to become a Cisco network engineer, your resume should show recruiters that you have excelled as a network engineer and that you’ve attained the necessary education to work with Cisco products.
To become a Cisco network engineer, you need to get certified as a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and become knowledgeable about these specialized systems. The CCNA is also a respected credential that adds to your professional credibility and marketability -- so make sure to display it in a prominent location, such as the top of your resume.
The job candidate in this example has spent over a decade working as a network engineer, and has worked specifically with Cisco systems. Having the CCNA certification is a great start, but if you can show that you’ve had hands-on experience with Cisco networks and equipment, you’ll be an even better candidate for the job you’re after.
The title technical sales engineer is considered to be interchangeable with sales engineer. Both roles have many of the same responsibilities described above. This resume highlights the mid-career of a technical sales engineer.
Showing increased responsibilities as a technical sales engineer on your resume through action verbs like “led”, “supervised” and ”initiated”, demonstrates initiative and professional growth.
This example highlights several measurable achievements from the candidate’s current and past roles as a technical sales engineer. In this case, adding specific numbers to reflect increased profits, savings and other activities adds impact and credibility.
The most common skills and keywords we found on Quality Engineer resumes and job postings were Quality Management, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Quality Assurance, Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), Continuous Improvement, Quality System and Automotive.
Skills like Root Cause Analysis, Lean Manufacturing, ISO Standards, Kaizen and Supplier Quality also appeared on related job postings.
Popular skills we often see on resumes for Quality Engineering Specialist positions include:
In comparison, skills we see on Advanced Quality Engineer resumes include:
Depending on the specific role you apply to, you may need to emphasize different skill sets. Here are a few examples:
While the keywords above are a good indication of what skills you need on your resume, you should try to find additional keywords that are specific to the job. To do this, use the free Targeted Resume tool. It analyzes the job you are applying to and finds the most important keywords you need on your resume.
It is personalized to your resume, and is the best way to ensure your resume will pass the automated resume filters.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
