Sales and Related · Holland code ECI

Sales Engineers

Sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a baccalaureate degree in engineering.

Also called: Business Development Engineer, Product Sales Engineer, Sales Engineer, Technical Marketing Engineer, Inside Sales Engineer, Sales Applications Engineer, Technical Sales Engineer.

O*NET 41-9031.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $124,900; Middle half earn $92,890 to $161,230. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 57% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +5% · Faster than average; 56,800 jobs in 2024, projected 59,900. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Sales engineers".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Sell products requiring extensive technical expertise and support for installation and use, such as material handling equipment, numerical-control machinery, or computer systems.
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.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Speaking4.1 / 5
Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Active Listening4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
Writing3.8 / 5
Active Learning3.8 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.5 / 5
Sales and Marketing4.3 / 5
Engineering and Technology4.3 / 5
English Language4.3 / 5
Mathematics3.8 / 5
Administration and Management3.7 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic40
Investigative43
Artistic13
Social30
Enterprising80
Conventional59

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

sales engineer · DE Vertriebstechniker/Vertriebstechnikerin · FR ingénieur technico-commercial/ingénieure technico-commerciale
technical sales representative · DE Fachkraft im Bereich Vertrieb · FR attaché technico-commercial/attachée technico-commerciale
technical sales representative in agricultural machinery and equipment · DE Fachkraft technischer Vertrieb von landwirtschaftlichen Maschinen und Geräten · FR attaché technico-commercial en machines et matériel agricoles/attachée technico-commerciale en machines et matériel agricoles
technical sales representative in chemical products · DE Fachkraft technischer Vertrieb von Chemikalien · FR attaché technico-commercial en produits chimiques/attachée technico-commerciale en produits chimiques
technical sales representative in hardware, plumbing and heating equipment · DE Fachkraft technischer Vertrieb von Bauelementen aus Metall, Sanitär- und Heizgeräten · FR attaché technico-commercial en quincaillerie et fournitures pour plomberie et chauffage/attachée technico-commerciale en quincaillerie et fournitures pour plomberie et chauffage
technical sales representative in machinery and industrial equipment · DE Fachkraft technischer Vertrieb Maschinen- und Anlagenbau · FR attaché technico-commercial en machines et équipements industriels/attachée technico-commerciale en machines et équipements industriels

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Business sales executives (3552)161,000 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.15. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (41-9031).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test