Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Quality Control Systems Managers
Occupation · SOC 11-3051.01
Plan, direct, or coordinate quality assurance programs. Formulate quality control policies and control quality of laboratory and production efforts.
Also called: Quality Assurance Director (QA Director) · Quality Assurance Manager (QA Manager) · Quality Control Manager (QC Manager) · Quality Manager · Product Quality Director · Quality Control Supervisor (QC Supervisor) · Quality Director · Quality Systems Director · Quality and Food Safety Manager · Quality and Process Improvement Manager · Construction Quality Control Manager · Quality Assurance Coordinator (QA Coordinator)
Job family: Management Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-11-3051-01/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- About average employment outlook (+1.9% by 2034)
- 17,100 openings/yr
- Moderate AI exposure
- Median pay $121,440/yr
- Work is mostly on-site (not teleworkable)
- A reversal from 2013 — rated low automation risk then (19th), high AI task-overlap now (60th)
60th-percentile task overlap — yet about 17,100 openings a year (+1.9% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Moderate | 60th | 0.5 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) High | 85th | 0.9 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Moderate | 38th | 0.1 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.5), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.9). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.0 · 19th percentile among occupations · Low
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | About average · +1.9% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 17,100 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 241,900 → 246,500 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Quality Control Systems Managers sits at the 72nd percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure rose from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
38% mean task exposure (2025)
72nd percentile of 427 placed occupations
+2 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing Managers · 1321 | 38% | Minimal |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Tasks
All 27 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Stop production if serious product defects are present. Core · importance 4.6
- Review and update standard operating procedures or quality assurance manuals. Core · importance 4.3
- Monitor performance of quality control systems to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. Core · importance 4.3
- Review quality documentation necessary for regulatory submissions and inspections. Core · importance 4.2
- Analyze quality control test results and provide feedback and interpretation to production management or staff. Core · importance 4.2
- Verify that raw materials, purchased parts or components, in-process samples, and finished products meet established testing and inspection standards. Core · importance 4.2
- Oversee workers including supervisors, inspectors, or laboratory workers engaged in testing activities. Core · importance 4.2
- Direct product testing activities throughout production cycles. Core · importance 4.2
- Instruct staff in quality control and analytical procedures. Core · importance 4.1
- Direct the tracking of defects, test results, or other regularly reported quality control data. Core · importance 4.1
- Participate in the development of product specifications. Core · importance 4.1
- Identify quality problems or areas for improvement and recommend solutions. Core · importance 4.0
- Collect and analyze production samples to evaluate quality. Core · importance 4.0
- Produce reports regarding nonconformance of products or processes, daily production quality, root cause analyses, or quality trends. Core · importance 3.9
- Communicate quality control information to all relevant organizational departments, outside vendors, or contractors. Core · importance 3.9
- Monitor development of new products to help identify possible problems for mass production. Core · importance 3.9
- Identify critical points in the manufacturing process and specify sampling procedures to be used at these points. Core · importance 3.8
- Create and implement inspection and testing criteria or procedures. Core · importance 3.8
- Document testing procedures, methodologies, or criteria. Core · importance 3.8
- Review statistical studies, technological advances, or regulatory standards and trends to stay abreast of issues in the field of quality control. Core · importance 3.6
- Coordinate the selection and implementation of quality control equipment, such as inspection gauges. Core · importance 3.6
- Generate and maintain quality control operating budgets. Core · importance 3.6
- Instruct vendors or contractors on quality guidelines, testing procedures, or ways to eliminate deficiencies. Core · importance 3.5
- Audit and inspect subcontractor facilities including external laboratories. Supplemental · importance 3.4
- Confer with marketing and sales departments to define client requirements and expectations. Core · importance 3.3
- Evaluate new testing and sampling methodologies or technologies to determine usefulness. Core · importance 3.3
- Review and approve quality plans submitted by contractors. Core · importance 3.2
Work activities
- Inspect condition or functioning of facilities or equipment.
- Direct operational or production activities.
- Review details of technical drawings or specifications.
- Maintain knowledge of current developments in area of expertise.
- Prepare operational budgets.
- Evaluate new technologies or methods.
- Manage control system activities in organizations.
- Evaluate quality of materials or products.
- Review documents or materials for compliance with policies or regulations.
- Document organizational or operational procedures.
- Prepare operational progress or status reports.
- Develop specifications for new products or processes.
- Monitor facilities or operational systems.
- Advise customers on technical or procedural issues.
- Analyze data to assess operational or project effectiveness.
- Recommend organizational process or policy changes.
- Conduct employee training programs.
- Develop organizational methods or procedures.
- Direct organizational operations, projects, or services.
- Implement organizational process or policy changes.
- Develop operating strategies, plans, or procedures.
- Confer with organizational members to accomplish work activities.
- Communicate organizational policies and procedures.
- Communicate organizational information to customers or other stakeholders.
- Analyze data to inform operational decisions or activities.
- Supervise employees.
- Monitor organizational procedures to ensure proper functioning.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
Abilities
| Problem Sensitivity | 4.1 | |
| Oral Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Written Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Oral Expression | 4.0 | |
| Written Expression | 4.0 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 4.0 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 4.0 | |
| Near Vision | 4.0 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.8 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.5 | |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.5 |
Essential skills
| Reading Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Active Listening | 3.9 | |
| Writing | 3.9 | |
| Speaking | 3.9 | |
| Monitoring | 3.9 | |
| Critical Thinking | 3.8 | |
| Active Learning | 3.6 |
Transferable skills
| Quality Control Analysis | 4.0 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 4.0 | |
| Coordination | 3.8 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.8 | |
| Systems Evaluation | 3.8 | |
| Systems Analysis | 3.6 | |
| Time Management | 3.5 | |
| Social Perceptiveness | 3.3 | |
| Persuasion | 3.3 | |
| Instructing | 3.3 | |
| Operations Monitoring | 3.3 | |
| Management of Personnel Resources | 3.3 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Showing the top 40 of 46.
Tools & technology
Showing the top 40 of 51.
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
- Typical entry-level education
- Bachelor's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
- Preparation level
- SVP (7.0 to < 8.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services , Engineering , Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians , Health Professions and Related Programs . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| Bachelor's Degree | 100.0% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Work styles
| Dependability | 8.0 | |
| Attention to Detail | 7.0 | |
| Integrity | 6.0 | |
| Cautiousness | 5.0 | |
| Intellectual Curiosity | 4.0 | |
| Achievement Orientation | 3.0 |
Interest areas
| Management/Administration | 5.9 | |
| Mathematics/Statistics | 3.6 | |
| Engineering | 3.2 | |
| Information Technology | 2.8 | |
| Business Initiatives | 2.7 | |
| Medical Science | 2.6 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Conventional | 5.4 | |
| Enterprising | 5.1 | |
| Investigative | 4.1 | |
| Realistic | 3.6 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $74,900 |
| 25th percentile | $94,620 |
| Median (50th) | $121,440 |
| 75th percentile | $156,330 |
| 90th percentile | $197,310 |
| People employed | 234,380 |
Wages and employment are reported by BLS for the broader occupation group this specialty belongs to (SOC 11-3051), not for the specialty alone.
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing · Sector | 174,750 | $119,930 |
| Wholesale Trade · Sector | 15,530 | $111,080 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 10,730 | $142,420 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 7,440 | $155,630 |
| Machine Shops · National industry | 4,590 | $101,690 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 3,600 | $106,340 |
| Utilities · Sector | 3,470 | $157,180 |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 3,250 | $132,380 |
| Construction · Sector | 2,540 | $114,990 |
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 2,460 | $114,660 |
| Engineering Services · National industry | 2,130 | $128,080 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 2,080 | $95,270 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Shops · National industry | 11.62× | 4,590 |
| Manufacturing · Sector | 9.01× | 174,750 |
| Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation · National industry | 8.67× | 940 |
| Nuclear Electric Power Generation · National industry | 6.91× | 390 |
| Utilities · Sector | 3.94× | 3,470 |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 3.73× | 3,250 |
| Jewelry and Silverware Manufacturing · National industry | 3.63× | 110 |
| Testing Laboratories and Services · National industry | 3.17× | 820 |
Related occupations
Part of the Advanced Manufacturing , Management & Entrepreneurship and Supply Chain & Transportation career clusters.
- Quality Control Analysts · 19-4099.01 Compare →
- Validation Engineers · 17-2112.02 Compare →
- Industrial Engineers · 17-2112.00 Compare →
- Industrial Production Managers · 11-3051.00 Compare →
- Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers · 15-1253.00 Compare →
- Manufacturing Engineers · 17-2112.03 Compare →
- Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors · 17-2111.00 Compare →
- Chemical Technicians · 19-4031.00 Compare →
- Regulatory Affairs Managers · 11-9199.01 Compare →
- Compliance Managers · 11-9199.02 Compare →
- Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians · 17-3026.00 Compare →
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians · 17-3028.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Quality Control Systems Managers — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Bachelor's degree · typical entry level
- Job zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services · field of study
- Engineering · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 72nd percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Quality Control Systems Managers show 60th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 17,100 annual U.S. openings
- Quality Control Systems Managers rank in the 60th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 17,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be about average (+1.9%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $121,440, across about 234,380 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Quality Control Systems Managers show 60th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 17,100 annual U.S. openings • Quality Control Systems Managers rank in the 60th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 17,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be about average (+1.9%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $121,440, across about 234,380 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) Source: Singulariki — "Quality Control Systems Managers". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-3051-01 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
Sources for this page
Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Quality Control Systems Managers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-3051-01
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Quality Control Systems Managers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-3051-01
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-11-3051-01,
title = {Quality Control Systems Managers},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-3051-01}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.