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Sales Engineers: Career Overview
Sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a baccalaureate degree in engineering.
What Do Sales Engineers Do?
Typical responsibilities of sales engineers cover:
- Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-specific solutions.
- Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements, to promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support.
- Create sales or service contracts for products or services.
- Visit prospective buyers at commercial, industrial, or other establishments to show samples or catalogs, and to inform them about product pricing, availability, and advantages.
- Keep informed on industry news and trends, products, services, competitors, relevant information about legacy, existing, and emerging technologies, and the latest product-line developments.
- Identify resale opportunities and support them to achieve sales plans.
- Confer with customers and engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements.
- Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs.
Key Skills and Knowledge
Effective sales engineers draw on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.
Top Skills
The abilities most important for this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:
Core Knowledge
Types of Sales Engineers Jobs
People in this occupation may also be known by titles such as:
- Aeronautical Products Sales Engineer
- Aerospace Products Sales Engineer
- Agricultural Equipment Sales Engineer
- Business Development Engineer
- Ceramic Products Sales Engineer
- Channel Sales Engineer (CSE)
- Chemical Equipment Sales Engineer
- Customer Engineer
Job Outlook
There are roughly 269,943 sales engineers working in the United States today. Employment is projected to grow by +12.1% over the projection horizon.
Sales Engineers Pay
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual median | $32,143 |
| Hourly median | $15.45 |
| 10th percentile | $21,307 |
| 25th percentile | $26,725 |
| 75th percentile | $37,561 |
| 90th percentile | $42,979 |
Pay can vary substantially based on experience, location, and industry.
How Much Do Sales Engineers Make in Different U.S. States?
| State | Annual median salary |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $179,490 |
| Arizona | $169,470 |
| Delaware | $166,400 |
| New Jersey | $145,410 |
| Tennessee | $144,030 |
| New York | $137,700 |
| Colorado | $136,080 |
| Virginia | $135,080 |
| California | $134,990 |
| Montana | $134,900 |
| West Virginia | $132,590 |
| Texas | $126,810 |
| Nevada | $124,990 |
| Maryland | $123,980 |
| Louisiana | $122,250 |
| Washington | $122,240 |
| Wisconsin | $117,410 |
| Oregon | $117,070 |
| Florida | $114,770 |
| Vermont | $113,290 |
| Utah | $110,400 |
| Oklahoma | $107,260 |
| Georgia | $105,850 |
| North Carolina | $103,480 |
| South Dakota | $103,460 |
| Michigan | $103,350 |
| South Carolina | $100,430 |
| Idaho | $100,000 |
| Illinois | $98,820 |
| Pennsylvania | $98,810 |
| Connecticut | $96,970 |
| Maine | $96,660 |
| Kentucky | $95,000 |
| Minnesota | $94,950 |
| Rhode Island | $94,200 |
| Arkansas | $91,260 |
| Ohio | $90,360 |
| Alabama | $89,770 |
| Kansas | $88,990 |
| Iowa | $87,690 |
| Nebraska | $80,790 |
| Indiana | $77,160 |
| Missouri | $73,700 |
Top-Paying U.S. Regions
Compensation for sales engineers differ across the country. Top regions by median wage:
| Region | Median annual wage | Share of U.S. jobs | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest | $131,116 | 18.8% | 1.62 |
| Far Western US | $130,967 | 16.6% | 1.05 |
| Rocky Mountains | $129,350 | 6.4% | 2.17 |
| Middle Atlantic | $126,813 | 14.5% | 1.02 |
| Southeast | $111,409 | 18.1% | 0.84 |
| Great Lakes | $98,957 | 12.9% | 1.06 |
| Plains States | $86,437 | 4.3% | 0.67 |
| New England | $21,585 | 8.3% | 2.06 |
Where the Jobs Cluster
| Metro area | State | Median annual wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | CA | $173,640 | 1,640 |
| Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN | TN | $170,400 | 590 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | AZ | $169,560 | 1,130 |
| Knoxville, TN | TN | $163,270 | 160 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | NY | $156,170 | 3,390 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | CA | $154,420 | 1,430 |
| Lafayette, LA | LA | $154,010 | 50 |
| Fort Collins-Loveland, CO | CO | $149,910 | 130 |
Top Industries Employing Sales Engineers
Most sales engineers are found across these industries:
| Industry | Employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale Trade | 15,430 | $116,590 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 15,240 | $130,860 |
| Manufacturing | 10,380 | $101,940 |
| Information | 9,230 | $143,960 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 1,580 | $121,080 |
| Construction | 1,380 | $96,370 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services | 820 | n/a |
| Retail Trade | 810 | $60,980 |
Below are examples of industries where sales engineers work:
Tools and Technology
- Data base user interface and query software: Amazon Web Services AWS software (hot technology)
- Expert system software: Ansible software (hot technology)
- Data base management system software: Apache Cassandra (hot technology)
- Data base management system software: Apache Hadoop (hot technology)
- Operating system software: Apple iOS (hot technology)
- Content workflow software: Atlassian JIRA (hot technology)
- Computer aided design CAD software: Autodesk AutoCAD (hot technology)
- Switch or router software: Border Gateway Protocol BGP (hot technology)
- Development environment software: C (hot technology)
- Object or component oriented development software: C++ (hot technology)
- Computer aided design CAD software: Dassault Systemes SolidWorks (hot technology)
- Application server software: Docker (hot technology)
The Day-to-Day Environment
Daily working conditions for sales engineers is shaped by the following characteristics:
- Telephone Conversations
- Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
- Deal With External Customers or the Public in General
- Frequency of Decision Making
Education and Training
Typical sales engineers positions require a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education. This occupation sits in Considerable Preparation Needed (Job Zone 4), reflecting the level of preparation typically expected.
Other Careers to Consider
Similar Occupations
- Architectural and Engineering Managers (Primary-Short)
- Logistics Engineers (Primary-Short)
- Project Management Specialists (Supplemental)
- Computer Systems Analysts (Primary-Long)
- Software Developers (Supplemental)
- Computer Systems Engineers/Architects (Supplemental)
- Electrical Engineers (Supplemental)
- Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (Primary-Long)
References
Data on this page comes from the following authoritative sources:
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
- BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
- O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.
SOC code: 41-9031.00 (Sales Engineers).
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