Supplier Quality Engineers in China: Average Salary and Job Description

Today, we’re going over some 2024 local data sets..! …On SQEs / Supplier Quality Engineers in China!!!

Our data today come from two of the largest Chinese Job Boards. That’s BOSS Zhipin (BOSS直聘) and Zhilian Zhaopin (智联招聘).

These large platforms seem to have the most relevant and abundant data points when it comes to the modern Chinese job markets. In this case, we’ve self-reported salary info for over 85,000 recent reference points. We’ll be sure to include the number of data points we have for each statistic we pull out. We’ll also be updating this annually to keep up with the newest salary data out there..

So let’s dive into some neat data on SQEs, also known as Supply Quality Engineers or Supplier Quality Engineers, in China! First we’ll look at a standard Job Description, then average salary data coverage.

The Most Common Responsibilities on a Chinese SQE Job Description

The Supplier Quality Engineer JD most often has these responsibilities associated with it in China.

Job Responsibilities:

1. Preparation of the supplier’s annual audit plan;

2. Conducting audits in accordance with the supplier’s annual audit plan, organizing audit reports, tracking closures found in the audit, and promoting & guiding suppliers within deadlines for non-conformities found in the audit. Rectification is in place;

3. Handling, follow-up, and rectification of supplier quality issues reported in various aspects such as incoming inspection, production process, customer feedback, after-sales, and other aspects, and proactively follow up on the verification effect of rectification measures;

4. Managing supplier monthly PPM Statistics: give the main statistical problems, push suppliers to submit rectification reports, follow up on the implementation of rectifications, formulate annual PPM indicators for sub-suppliers, and manage the worst TOP3 suppliers;

5. Maintenance and update of the supplier management dashboard;

6. Submitting claims to suppliers for internal and external failure costs caused by supplier product quality problems in each link;

7. Review and approval of supplier PPAP;

8. Reviewing supplier shipment reports;

9. Maintenance of supplier-related information in QSS Update and making weekly and monthly reports to China;

10. Preparing incoming material inspection instructions according to the control plan;

11. Daily management of incoming material inspectors.

Average Salary Data on SQEs in China

Supplier Quality Engineer (SQE)

Nationwide in China

Average Salary: ¥15,577 RMB ($2,164 USD) per month

Median Salary: ¥14,788 RMB ($2,055 USD) per month

Job Data Points: 85,130

In a sample size of 85,130 jobs, the average salary for a Supplier Quality Engineer in China was ¥15,577 RMB per month. The median salary from this set was ¥14,788 RMB per month.

This is a nationwide data set and we don’t (yet) have the city-level info for it. Different cities in China command different levels of compensation. For more on that, check out our breakdown of average Chinese salaries by city.

It’s also important to note that the salaries used are self-reported much like Glassdoor and are most often verified (real ID) users.

We also like to point out that salary data from local job sites is mostly for Chinese-speaking positions. SQE job salaries in China with English or other foreign language requirements are usually at least higher than the median.

More Salary Data on Supplier Quality Engineers in China!

Recruitment Salary Distribution for SQEs in China

This chart takes the same data points and distributes by City or Region in China. Interestingly, the top 4 regions on this list are ‘smaller’, lesser-known ones – even though a city like Dongying (#4) still has over 2 million residents!

SQE’s are usually stationed near manufacturing hubs, so we tend to see a larger variety of locations come up for this type of position. Companies are willing to pay more in manufacturing areas where there is not enough existing SQE talent present.

Further down the list, we can find some familiar Chinese mega-cities like Beijing (#5), Lanzhou (#7), and Shanghai (#9).

Recruitment Demand Distribution for SQEs in China

This chart shows a March 2024 snapshot of how many open Supplier Quality Engineer positions there are by city on the major jobs platform BOSS Zhipin.

The results here are straightforward – the economic powerhouses of Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Suzhou take the top spots, with other major manufacturing and technology hubs rounding out the list.

One interesting point is the concentration of positions at the top of this list – The top-seated Shanghai has twice as many open positions as the #4 city Ningbo, and about four times as the #10 spot Changzhou.

Educational Distribution of Supplier Quality Engineers in China

Here we’ve got a distribution of the education requirements for SQE positions across China.

53.2% of positions require an undergraduate University degree. Another 39.5% require at least a College degree – which amounts to 2+ years of technical coursework. On the other end, only 0.6% of jobs in the data set required a Master’s degree or above.

Experience Distribution of Supplier Quality Engineers in China

And here we have a breakdown of the experience required for SQE positions.

41.2% of jobs listed required 3-5 years of experience.

Next up were jobs with 1-3 years and 5-10 years of experience required, accounting for 23.9% and 21.6% of positions, respectively.

Less than 1% of jobs listed put applicant experience requirements at under 1 year. This plays into the classic trope of 1) new grads needing experience to get hired, but are 2) unable to obtain the experience due to a lack of entry-level jobs in the market.

It is, however, important to note that these requirements are the ones advertised by companies on BOSS Zhipin’s platform. We don’t have the data to extract exactly how close hiring managers stick to these requirements when assessing candidates. Simply put – jobs listing an experience requirement of 3-5 years may, in reality, consider candidates with under 3 years of experience.

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