June 11th, 2025 | 
Credo Systemz | 
Career InsightsIntroduction
In the software development lifecycle, Software testing is crucial as it ensures the product quality, performance, security, and user experience.
As technology advances, testing roles have evolved as automated, and domain-specific tasks. Each testing role is paid based on the complexity, specialization and market demand.
Highest-Paid Testing Roles in the Industry
The top-paying testing roles in 2025 in the IT industry are:
- Performance Test Engineer / SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test)
- Security / Penetration Testers (Ethical Hackers)
- Test Automation Architects
- AI/ML Test Engineers
- Mobile Test Engineers (Automation + Cloud)
1. Performance Test Engineer / SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test)
Software development engineer in test (SDET) is a highly paid testing job role as these professionals blend development and testing. They perform critical tasks in developing the modern applications, such as:
- Writing test automation code,
- Working with CI/CD pipelines,
- Ensuring scalability and performance.
The average salary of performance test engineer are ₹12,00,000 per year, with a range of ₹7,00,000 to ₹17,30,000 in India
Top Skills of Performance test engineer
- Java/Python
- Selenium
- REST APIs
- CI/CD
- Jenkins
- JMeter
- LoadRunner
2. Security / Penetration Testers (Ethical Hackers)
As security breaches can cost millions, ethical hackers are one of the highly paid job roles in the testing field. They can simulate attacks, find vulnerabilities, and protect systems.
Ethical hackers can earn up to ₹12,00,000 per year to ₹14,00,000+ per year in India.
Skills of security / penetration testers:
- Ethical hacking
- Network security
- OWASP
- Burp Suite
- Metasploit
- Kali Linux
3. Test Automation Architects
Apart from testing, Test Automation architect focuses on architecting scalable and reusable testing frameworks.
The Test Automation Architect can earn ₹22,00,000 per year in India with essential skills, like:
- Framework design
- Selenium
- Cypress
- API testing
- DevOps
- Cloud testing
4. AI/ML Test Engineers
With the rise of AI and AI-powered applications, testing AI models is vital to check for accuracy, fairness, and performance. AI/ ML Test engineers are responsible for testing AI models and applications by gaining the skills, like:
- Python
- TensorFlow
- Model validation
- Data testing
- AI bias detection
The highest salary of AI/ ML Test engineers ranges from ₹41.0 Lakhs to ₹52.3 Lakhs per year.
5. Mobile Test Engineers (Automation + Cloud)
Mobile apps dominate the market as companies are focused on fast, flawless releases across multiple devices and OS versions. This increases the demand of mobile test engineers who possess top skills, such as:
- Appium
- Espresso
- XCUITest
- Cloud device testing (e.g., BrowserStack, AWS Device Farm)
Mobile Test engineers can earn upto a high pay of ₹10,00,000 – ₹15,00,000+ per annum.
Factors That Influence Testing Salaries
- Skillset
- Domain knowledge
- Certifications (ISTQB Advanced, CEH, AWS Certified)
- Geographic location (USA, UK, Germany, Australia pay more)
- Years of experience and leadership roles
Future Outlook
As AI is becoming a game-changer in software testing, Job roles involving AI-powered test automation, smart test case generation, and AI model testing will lead to high-paying job opportunities.
Conclusion
To sum up, The highest-paid testing jobs need the combined skills of automation, security, cloud, AI/ML, and DevOps skills. Upskilling in these areas can boost your salary in the testing profession. Gain the domain expertise and working on real-world projects by joining Credo Systemz testing courses.
Join Credo Systemz Software Courses in Chennai at Credo Systemz OMR, Credo Systemz Velachery to kick-start or uplift your career path.