Jobs / Science and research / 19-4099.01
Quality Control Analysts
Conduct tests to determine quality of raw materials, bulk intermediate and finished products. May conduct stability sample tests.
- US jobs
- 73,910 (SOC 19-4099 group, "Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other")
- Median wage
- $62,280 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of quality control analysts?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:
- Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
- Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Conduct routine and non-routine analyses of in-process materials, raw materials, environmental samples, finished goods, or stability samples.
- Interpret test results, compare them to established specifications and control limits, and make recommendations on appropriateness of data for release.
- Calibrate, validate, or maintain laboratory equipment.
- Ensure that lab cleanliness and safety standards are maintained.
- Perform visual inspections of finished products.
- Complete documentation needed to support testing procedures, including data capture forms, equipment logbooks, or inventory forms.
- Compile laboratory test data and perform appropriate analyses.
- Identify and troubleshoot equipment problems.
- Write technical reports or documentation, such as deviation reports, testing protocols, and trend analyses.
- Investigate or report questionable test results.
- Monitor testing procedures to ensure that all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.
- Identify quality problems and recommend solutions.
Other job titles for this occupation (41)
Lab Analyst · Lab Technician (Lab Tech) · Laboratory Analyst · Microbiology Lab Analyst · QA Auditor (Quality Assurance Auditor) · QA Lab Tech (Quality Assurance Lab Technician) · QA Tech (Quality Assurance Technician) · Quality Control Analyst (QC Analyst) · Quality Control Lab Technician (QC Lab Tech) · Quality Control Technician (QC Tech) · Chemistry Quality Control Analyst (Chemistry QC Analyst) · Chemistry Quality Control Technician (Chemistry QC Technician) · Data Quality Analyst · IT Quality Control Analyst (Information Technology Quality Control Analyst) · Laboratory Technician (Lab Tech) · Microbiology Quality Control Technician (Microbiology QC Tech) · Performance Quality Auditor · QA Analyst (Quality Assurance Analyst) · QA Associate (Quality Assurance Associate) · QA Lab Tech (Quality Assurance Laboratory Technician) · QA Specialist (Quality Assurance Specialist) · QA Testing Analyst (Quality Assurance Testing Analyst) · QC Clerk (Quality Control Clerk) · QC Lab Analyst (Quality Control Laboratory Analyst) · QC Microbiology Analyst (Quality Control Microbiology Analyst) · Quality Analyst · Quality Assurance Coordinator (QA Coordinator) · Quality Auditor · Quality Control Associate (QC Associate) · Quality Control Auditor (QC Auditor) · Quality Control Checker (QC Checker) · Quality Control Expert (QC Expert) · Quality Control Specialist (QC Specialist) · Quality Control Tester (QC Tester) · Quality Controller · Quality Coordinator · Quality Improvement Analyst · Quality Improvement Specialist · Quality Process Auditor · Quality Specialist · Quality Systems Specialist