QA Engineer resume keywords
Most qa engineer applications are screened by software before a person reads them: the ATS ranks resumes by how many of the posting's words they contain. The lists below are the terms that show up most in qa engineer job ads. Use the ones that are true for you, with the same spelling the ad uses.
Hard skills and ATS keywords
- Test automation (Playwright, Cypress)
- API testing (Postman)
- Test planning
- CI/CD integration
- Regression testing
- Bug tracking (Jira)
- SQL
- Mobile testing
- Test automation
- Selenium
- Cypress
- Playwright
- API testing
- Regression testing
- Test plans
- Bug tracking (Jira)
- CI/CD
- Performance testing
Soft skills recruiters look for
- Attention to detail
- Curiosity
- Communication
- Persistence
- Collaboration
Soft skills only count when a bullet proves them. "Team player" is ignored; "Built an automation suite of 1,800 tests running on every pull request." shows it.
Action verbs to start your bullets
- Automated
- Reduced
- Caught
- Built
- Tested
- Improved
- Designed
- Cut
How to use these keywords
- Mirror the job ad: if it says "Test automation", do not write a synonym.
- Put the top 6–8 in a skills section and repeat the key ones inside experience bullets with a number.
- Never list a skill you cannot talk about in an interview.
- Keep the file text-based (no skills inside images or tables), or the ATS cannot read it.
Which ones is your resume missing?
Every posting is different. Paste your resume and the job ad — free ATS Match Score Score your resume free (0-100)
No signup. It lists the keywords from the ad that your resume does not contain.
Need the resume itself? See the qa engineer resume example and generate one free from rough notes.