What does a QA Engineer do?
A QA engineer ensures software works correctly and reliably before it reaches users by designing test cases, running manual and automated tests, and reporting defects. In India they typically write test plans, automate regression suites with tools like Selenium or Cypress, verify features against requirements, and partner with developers to catch bugs early and keep release quality high.
A qa engineer usually has around 0–7 yrs of experience and earns typically ₹3L–₹16L/yr in India. The day-to-day blends Manual testing, Selenium, Cypress / Playwright and more — this page gives you a ready-to-use qa engineer job description template you can copy, plus the exact skills and salary employers expect.
QA Engineer job description template
Copy the 8 responsibilities, 5 requirements and 9 skills below into your job post, then edit the parts that are specific to your company — pay band, location and reporting line.
Select the text above to copy it manually if the button is unavailable.
What are a QA Engineer's key responsibilities?
A qa engineer is typically responsible for the 8 duties below, which cover the day-to-day work most employers expect the role to own outright. Paste them into your job post as they are, or cut the ones another team already handles — a responsibility list that claims work the hire will not actually do is the fastest way to lose a candidate at offer stage:
- Write detailed test cases and test plans from product requirements
- Execute manual functional, regression and exploratory testing
- Build and maintain automated test suites (Selenium, Cypress, Playwright)
- Log, prioritise and track defects to closure with developers
- Perform API, integration and cross-browser/device testing
- Set up and run tests within CI/CD pipelines
- Verify bug fixes and sign off on releases against acceptance criteria
- Contribute to test strategy and quality metrics for the team
What qualifications does a QA Engineer need?
Employers hiring a qa engineer in India usually ask for the 5 qualifications below, typically alongside 0–7 yrs of experience. Keep only the ones you will genuinely screen on: every extra must-have narrows the pool, and in the Indian market a long mandatory list filters out strong candidates whose background simply reads differently on paper:
- Understanding of the software testing life cycle and test-case design
- Hands-on experience with at least one automation framework
- Familiarity with bug-tracking and test-management tools (Jira, TestRail)
- Basic SQL and API-testing skills (Postman)
- Sharp attention to detail and clear defect-reporting ability
What skills should a QA Engineer have?
These are the 9 skills employers name most often on live qa engineer listings in India. Treat the first few as the ones worth screening for directly and the rest as signals a candidate can pick up on the job — asking for all of them at once is what turns a reasonable role into an unfillable one:
Listing the three or four skills you genuinely screen on — rather than all 9 — is what keeps a qa engineer posting from filtering out candidates who could do the job.
What does a QA Engineer earn in India?
Typical salary (India)
typically ₹3L–₹16L/yr
Experience range
0–7 yrs
These are typical ranges and vary by city, company and skills. For live, role-specific pay data, see the OnJob salary guide.
QA Engineer job description — FAQs
What does a QA engineer do?
A QA engineer makes sure software works correctly before release by designing and running tests, both manual and automated, and reporting any defects they find. They verify features against requirements and help the team ship reliable releases.
What is the difference between manual and automation testing?
Manual testing means a person runs through the application by hand to find issues, useful for exploratory and usability checks. Automation testing uses scripts and tools like Selenium or Cypress to run repeatable tests fast, ideal for regression suites.
What is an SDET?
SDET stands for Software Development Engineer in Test — a QA professional who writes code to build automated test frameworks and tooling. SDET roles require stronger programming skills than traditional manual QA and are in growing demand in India.
How much does a QA engineer earn in India?
Manual QA freshers typically earn ₹3L–₹5L per year, automation QA engineers ₹6L–₹12L, and senior QA/SDET roles ₹14L+. Crossing from manual pay into automation pay comes down to building and maintaining suites in Selenium, Cypress or Playwright and running them inside CI/CD pipelines, backed by API testing in Postman and enough SQL to verify data. Indian listings here span roughly 0–7 years.