Software Testers and QA Engineers play a critical role in ensuring the quality and reliability of software products. In Poland, salaries in this field range from 5,500 PLN gross per month for junior manual testers to 22,000 PLN gross for senior Software Development Engineers in Test (SDETs) who combine deep programming skills with quality assurance expertise. The average gross salary is around 11,000 PLN per month, translating to approximately 7,920 PLN net under a standard employment contract.
What does a Software Tester / QA Engineer do?
QA Engineers design and execute test plans to verify that software meets functional and non-functional requirements. Manual testers write test cases, perform regression testing, exploratory testing, and report defects. Automation engineers develop and maintain test scripts using frameworks such as Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, or Appium. Senior QA professionals and SDETs also contribute to test architecture decisions, CI/CD pipeline integration, and performance testing with tools like JMeter or k6. The role requires strong analytical thinking, attention to detail, and clear communication with development teams.
Key salary factors
- Automation skills — automated QA engineers earn 30–50% more than manual testers at the same seniority level.
- Programming ability — knowledge of Java, Python, or JavaScript for writing test scripts is increasingly expected even at mid-level.
- Domain expertise — finance and healthcare projects often carry compliance requirements that reward domain-experienced testers.
- ISTQB certification — the foundation-level certificate improves candidacy; advanced levels improve salary negotiations.
Salary by experience level
Junior testers, typically those completing their first year in a QA role, earn 5,500–8,000 PLN gross. The focus at this stage is on mastering test case design, bug reporting tools (Jira), and basic API testing. Mid-level QA Engineers with two to four years of experience — especially those with automation skills — earn 10,000–14,000 PLN gross. Senior QA Engineers and SDETs with strong programming capabilities and leadership experience command 16,000–22,000 PLN gross per month.
Career outlook
Quality assurance remains a stable career with clear progression into automation engineering, QA leadership, or DevOps-adjacent roles. The shift towards Agile and continuous delivery has increased the value of automation expertise and has brought QA engineers closer to development cycles. Polish IT companies and software houses continue to hire QA specialists, and the field offers good remote work opportunities.
Calculate your net salary from your gross QA engineer pay using our salary calculator.