Resume template · Updated October 2026
QA engineer resume template
Short answer
Leslie suits a QA engineer because the jobs print right under the summary, so the defects you caught and the releases you signed off are read before the tool rows. The fictional sample grew from software tester to QA engineer over seven years of insurance and payroll software in Kansas City, with risk-based test plans, an exploratory find before 40,000 quotes went out, Postman API tests in CI and an ISTQB certificate.
Download the QA engineer sample
Lauren is a fictional QA engineer. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Leslie suits a QA engineer resume
A tester's value lies in judgement: what you chose to test, what you found, when you said a release was not ready. Leslie places the jobs immediately under the summary, ahead of the skills rows, so that judgement is read before a tool list (Jira, TestRail, Postman) that looks similar on most QA resumes, with a single blue accent in the header.
Second choice: Henrietta. Henrietta also prints experience before skills, follows it with education and has a plain business look; its skills grid drops the group labels.
What goes in each section, in Leslie's order
Leslie prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. Say what you test (web, mobile, APIs, data), in which domain, and how your time splits between manual, exploratory and automated work. A software tester stepping up to a QA engineer title should name the planning and automation already in the job.
- Work Experience. Lead with ownership (test plans, release sign-off), then one defect story with the cost it avoided, then the automation or API coverage you added. QA numbers that read well: regression time, tests running in CI, escaped defects, browsers and devices covered.
- Skills. Test design techniques in Technical, named tools in Tools, collaboration in Soft Skills. Include SQL if you check data after batch jobs or calculations; finance and insurance teams often test that way.
- Education. Any subject on one line. A maths degree or a background in the business domain is worth leaving visible, because it helps with calculation and rules testing.
- Certifications. ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) is the base certificate of the ISTQB scheme and a prerequisite for its other certifications; the current syllabus is v4.0. Write it in full with the year.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Lauren Ostrowski
QA Engineer, Manual and API Testing (ISTQB CTFL)
Kansas City, MO | lauren.ostrowski@example.com | (816) 555-0129 | linkedin.com/in/sample-lauren-ostrowski
QA engineer with seven years testing web and mobile insurance and payroll software, from software tester to owning the test plan for a policy and claims platform. Designs risk-based tests, tests APIs in Postman, automates the regression checks that keep coming back, and signs off releases with the product owner.
Experience
QA Engineer, Prairieview Insurance, Kansas City, MO (03/2022 to Present)
- Own test planning for the claims portal across two Scrum teams: risk-based test charters each sprint, regression scope for each release and the sign-off report.
- Found a rounding defect in premium calculation during exploratory testing of a rate change, before it reached 40,000 renewal quotes.
- Built 300 API tests in Postman and Newman for the policy service and added them to the CI pipeline; integration defects now surface on the day they are merged.
- Automated the 60 most-repeated regression checks in Cypress with a developer, cutting manual regression from four days to one.
- Run defect triage with developers twice a week and keep reports reproducible: steps, data, logs and a screen recording.
Software Tester, Lattice Point Software, Overland Park, KS (06/2019 to 02/2022)
- Wrote and ran test cases in TestRail for a payroll web app across Chrome, Edge and Safari.
- Tested the iOS and Android apps on real devices before each release and logged defects in Jira.
- Checked data in SQL Server after payroll batch jobs to confirm totals matched the source files.
Education
BA, Mathematics, Missouri Plains University (05/2019)
Certifications
- ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL), ISTQB (2019)
Skills
Test planning, Risk-based testing, Exploratory testing, API testing, Regression testing, SQL, Accessibility checks, Jira, TestRail, Postman, Newman, Cypress, BrowserStack, Git, Defect triage, Reproducible bug reports, Working with product owners
How to make the sample yours
Show the defect you are proudest of
The sample catches a premium rounding error before 40,000 renewal quotes. Pick your own: what you found, how, and what it would have cost if it had shipped.
State your manual and automation split honestly
If you automated the regression pack with a developer, say "with a developer". Overstating automation leads to an SDET interview you did not prepare for.
Name platforms, browsers and devices
Chrome, Edge and Safari; real iOS and Android devices; a device cloud. Coverage is part of a tester's scope and worth a few words.
Put sign-off and planning first in each job
Owning the test plan or the go/no-go call is what makes the work QA engineering rather than test execution, so let it open the bullet list.
Retitle a Software Tester job carefully
Keep your real title on the job line and put "QA Engineer" in the headline only if your bullets show planning, API testing or automation.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- quality assurance
- software testing
- test planning
- test cases
- exploratory testing
- regression testing
- API testing
- Postman
- Cypress
- Jira
- TestRail
- defect management
- SQL
- Agile and Scrum
- ISTQB CTFL
Mistakes to avoid
- Test cases written as the headline achievement. Count what they caught or protected instead.
- Calling yourself an automation engineer when you run scripts others wrote.
- Defect bullets that blame developers or another team.
- Leaving out the domain. Knowing insurance or payroll rules is part of why you find the bugs others miss.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
Frequently asked questions
Is a QA engineer resume different from a software tester resume?
They overlap. A software tester resume centres on designing and running tests; a QA engineer resume adds planning, release decisions, API testing and some automation. If you do those things under a tester title, show them and use the QA title in your headline.
How much automation should a QA engineer show?
What you really do. One or two bullets on automated API or regression tests suit most QA roles; a page full of framework work belongs on a test automation engineer resume.
Is the ISTQB Foundation certificate worth listing?
Yes, if you hold it. ISTQB treats CTFL as the prerequisite for its other certifications, and it shows you know the shared vocabulary for test levels, techniques and defect management.
How do I describe a defect without making the team look bad?
Describe the defect, how you found it and what was avoided, and leave out who introduced it. "Found a rounding defect during exploratory testing of a rate change" is neutral and specific.
Is manual testing still worth putting on a resume?
Yes, described as skill rather than routine: exploratory testing, risk-based charters, domain rules checked. Those are the parts automation does not replace.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Leslie PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 5 section headings and all 8 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
Guides and templates for this resume
Sources, checked 29 October 2026
We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.
- ISTQB: Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) v4.0 (current syllabus v4.0; CTFL is a prerequisite for the other ISTQB certifications that require Foundation Level)
More in resume templates by job title.