Quality standards are shifting faster than most organisations think. Digital transformation, tighter regulations, and stakeholder pressure are reshaping what employers expect from their QA teams. Technical competence still matters, but it's no longer enough on its own.

Through our work placing Quality Assurance professionals across construction, manufacturing, and infrastructure, we're seeing hiring managers ask different questions. They want to know how candidates handle complexity. How they think about risk. Whether they can turn compliance into a competitive advantage.

Here are the five skills that keep coming up in those conversations.

1. Making Sense of Digital Systems

Quality management systems are increasingly digital. Understanding how these platforms work, how to extract meaningful data from them, and how digital documentation changes audit and compliance tracking has become part of the role.

You don't need to become a software developer. But when a hiring manager asks about your experience with quality systems, they're often trying to gauge whether you're comfortable working in digital environments. 

Organisations implementing new quality platforms need people who can bridge the gap between traditional quality management and digital tools. The ability to maintain rigour while adapting to new systems is increasingly valued, particularly in multi-site operations where consistency matters.

2. Turning Data Into Decisions

Quality metrics have always been tracked. The shift we're seeing is towards professionals who can contextualise those metrics for different audiences. Particularly senior leadership who need to understand business impact rather than technical detail.

Being able to identify patterns across sites, correlate quality data with operational factors, and present findings in ways that inform decision making has become a valued skill. Visual presentation of data, where appropriate, can make complex information more accessible to stakeholders outside the quality function.

In our experience, QA talent who can translate quality performance into business language stand out in competitive hiring situations

3. Thinking Beyond Compliance

ISO 9001 certification is table stakes. What separates good QA professionals from great ones is how they think about risk.

Risk based thinking means asking harder questions. Not just 'are we compliant?' but 'what could go wrong that we haven't planned for?' It's about understanding how quality failures cascade through operations, affect reputation, or trigger regulatory scrutiny.

In sectors like construction and manufacturing, this matters. A quality issue isn't just a failed audit, it can result in delayed projects, penalty clauses, or worse. The QA professionals who understand this broader context bring value that goes well beyond their job description.

We're seeing more roles now that explicitly ask for experience linking quality management with HSE systems. Organisations want people who see the connections between these disciplines rather than treating them as separate silos.

That integrated perspective is becoming harder to find and increasingly valuable.

4. Solving Problems That Don't Have Obvious Answers

An intermittent defect that only shows up under specific conditions. A systemic issue affecting multiple sites but presenting differently at each one. A supplier who's technically compliant but causing recurring problems. These situations require critical thinking, not just process adherence.

Strong root cause analysis helps, but it's not sufficient. The best QA professionals we place are comfortable with ambiguity. They ask good questions. They challenge assumptions, including their own. They can see patterns across seemingly unrelated incidents.

Hiring managers consistently tell us this is one of the hardest qualities to assess in interviews, which is exactly why it's so valuable if you can demonstrate it clearly.

5. Staying Relevant as Everything Changes

Standards get revised. Regulations evolve. New methodologies emerge. The pace isn't slowing down.

What keeps quality professionals employable over the long term isn't what they know, it's their capacity to keep learning. CQI membership, Lean Six Sigma training, courses on emerging standards. These aren't nice-to-haves for career development. They're signals that someone takes their professional growth seriously.

Adaptability shows up in smaller ways too. Being willing to challenge established processes when better approaches exist. Volunteering for projects that stretch your current capabilities. Staying curious about developments in adjacent disciplines.

Organisations hiring for senior quality roles look for evidence of this mindset. They want people who won't need their hand held when the next big change arrives. The professionals who've stayed static for five years find themselves competing against candidates who've actively developed their skills throughout that same period.

The gap compounds over time.

What This Means for Employers

If you're hiring, candidates with this combination of skills aren't just better qualified, they're materially different in the value they can deliver. They don't just maintain your quality systems. They improve them. They spot risks before they become problems. They turn compliance into a strategic function rather than a cost centre.

The challenge is finding them. The challenge is often in how roles are specified. Job descriptions that focus solely on ISO 9001 experience without articulating these broader capabilities tend to attract a narrower candidate pool. Being clear about the strategic elements of the role alongside technical requirements helps identify candidates with the right combination of skills.

At Principal People, we've spent over 35 years learning how to identify quality talent that actually drives business outcomes. We work with organisations across construction, manufacturing, infrastructure, and corporate services who understand that quality recruitment isn't about filling vacancies, it's about building capability.

We know the difference between a solid auditor and someone who can transform your quality function. Both have their place, but the hiring approach for each is completely different.

What This Means for QA Professionals

The good news is you don't need to master all five areas immediately. Pick one. Make tangible progress. Document what you've learned and how you've applied it.

Completed a course on data visualisation and used it to improve how you report quality metrics? That's a stronger CV entry than a generic claim about being 'data-driven.' Led a project to implement new quality management software across three sites? That demonstrates digital literacy far better than listing software names.

Be specific. Show impact. If you're actively developing these skills and looking for organisations that will value them, have a conversation with our QA specialists. We work with employers who get it.

The Reality Check

Quality assurance has always been about more than just meeting standards. The best practitioners understand that quality is a business function, not an administrative one. They connect their work to outcomes that matter to the organisation as a whole.

These five skills (digital fluency, data literacy, risk awareness, critical thinking, and adaptability) are what separate those who maintain systems from those who improve them. That distinction matters more in 2026 than it ever has.

For more on quality trends and hiring insights, visit our Insights page. If you have any further questions, reach out to us and we’d be happy to chat with you.