Applied Methods
~The MetaEngineeringQuality Engineer

Quality Engineer

Engineers in this role focus on testing and validating complex AI software systems across domains like machine learning frameworks, inference platforms, and autonomous systems. They design automated test frameworks, build CI/CD infrastructure, and collaborate with engineering teams to ensure AI products meet stringent quality and performance standards. What distinguishes them is their emphasis on systems-level thinking—they architect scalable testing solutions that handle the unique challenges of AI workloads, from ML model accuracy validation to hardware-software integration testing. These engineers typically sit within larger quality or systems teams in AI-focused companies, working cross-functionally with ML engineers, infrastructure teams, and product owners to accelerate development velocity while maintaining reliability and safety.

$ titles --canonical
Quality EngineerQA EngineerSDETSoftware Engineer in TestTest Automation EngineerStaff Quality Engineer
Open Jobs51
Companies Hiring21
$ expectations --role quality-engineer

Measured across 48 of 51 open postings.

35%
expect AI in the role's own work
10% state it as a requirement
0%
work directly with customers
19%
manage people
Mid
most common level
44% of open postings
BY LEVEL

This role is advertised at 2 levels, so a single figure for the role would describe none of them. Experience and pay are the midpoints for each level on its own.

LevelShareMedian yearsMedian pay
Mid44%(21)5—
Senior27%(13)—$149k

A dash means too few postings stated it to report a midpoint. Most companies do not publish a salary band, so pay is indicative rather than a market rate. 3 levels with fewer than 10 open postings are not shown.

WHAT THEY ASK FOR, VERBATIM

“help pioneer quality practices specific to LLM applications, such as prompt regression testing and evaluation suites”

LangChain · Developer Productivity

“Leverage AI agents and latest technologies for optimal test automation”

Neural Concept · Product Quality Engineer & Test Automation - India

“Evaluate frontier model releases and the latest OSS model drops, building the infrastructure and quality signals”

Glean · Software Engineer, Evals

“Partner with Engineering to design, test, and deploy cutting-edge Machine Learning (ML) and Generative AI (Gen-AI) models and tools”

Waymo · Software Quality Operations Specialist
$ barriers
26%
advertised as remote
of postings that state a work mode
29%
state a degree requirement
86%
still advertised a month later
about typical for the board

Requirements are a share of every open posting, so a role missing from this list is one where almost nobody asks. Work mode is different: many postings never say, so that figure counts only the ones that do. A posting stops being advertised when it is filled, cancelled or reorganised, so read the last figure as how long these stay on the market, not as time to hire.

$02

Skills

What companies are looking for in this role.

$ skills --core

Test automation and quality strategy

63%

Quality management systems

33%

Incident response and reliability

31%

Hardware test and validation

29%

CI/CD and release automation

29%

Technical issue diagnosis

25%

Process design and improvement

21%

Monitoring and observability

19%

ML systems development

17%

Distributed systems architecture

17%

Backend and API engineering

17%

Cloud infrastructure operations

15%

Systems performance optimization

13%

Hardware and embedded systems

10%

Data quality and governance

8%
$ skills --emerging

AI evaluation design

31%

Test automation and instrumentation

17%

AI autonomy safety assurance

15%

AI support automation

8%
$ skills --soft

Mentoring and code review

13%
$03

Technology

The tools and technologies that define this role.

$ tech --language
Pythonhigh
C++moderate
C/C++low
Golow
Javalow
SQLlow
TypeScriptlow
$ tech --framework
Playwrightmoderate
$ tech --platform
AWSlow
Dockerlow
Kuberneteslow
Linuxlow
$ tech --tool
Jiralow
$ tech --concept
CI/CDmoderate
AI agentslow
Autonomous systemslow
Generative AIlow
Simulationlow
$04

Open Jobs

51 open Quality Engineer jobs across 21 companies.

Graphcore3d
Staff System Software Engineer - Bengaluru, multiple vacancies
Bengaluru, India·Engineering
Sunday Robotics2w
Robotics Systems Software Integration Engineer
Redwood City, CA·Engineering
Together AI3w
Software Development In Test Intern (Summer 2027)
San Francisco·Engineering
Wispr Flow3w
Lead SDET
San Francisco·Engineering
LangChain1mo
Developer Productivity
San Francisco, CA·Engineering
Shield AI1mo
Staff Engineer, Software Test (R5836)
Melbourne·Engineering
Shield AI1mo
Senior Engineer, Test (R5833)
Melbourne·Engineering
Shield AI1mo
Staff Engineer, Quality Assurance (R5799)
Melbourne·Engineering
Graphcore1mo
Senior Software Engineer
Cambridge, UK·Engineering
Waymo1mo
2027 Summer Intern, MS, Software Engineering, Behavior Test
San Francisco, California, USA·Engineering
OpenAI1mo
Systems Test Engineer, End-to-End Validation | Consumer Devices
San Francisco·Engineering
Waabi1mo
Staff Planner SW Quality Architect
Remote US & Canada·Engineering
Shield AI1mo
Senior Engineer, Autonomy Software Integration & Test (R5606)
Kyiv·Engineering
Baseten2mo
Software Engineer - Testing Frameworks
San Francisco·Engineering
Neural Concept2mo
Product Quality Engineer & Test Automation - India
Pune·Engineering
Shield AI2mo
Staff Engineer, Quality Assurance (R5358)
Wichita Metro Area·Engineering
Graphcore2mo
Staff Software Engineer
Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland·Engineering
Graphcore2mo
Staff Software Engineer
Bristol, UK·Engineering
Graphcore2mo
Staff System Software Engineer
Bristol, UK; Cambridge, UK; Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland·Engineering
DualEntry2mo
Senior QA Engineer
Remote (EU, LATAM, Canada)·Engineering