Sales Engineers: Salary Overview
Sales engineers sell scientific and technological products or services to businesses.
In order to be able to market these products and services, sales engineers need extensive knowledge of the science and technology behind these products and services.
Their job description typically includes preparing and delivering technical presentations that explain the products and services to potential customers, talking with customers and engineers to determine the system requirements, collaborating with sales teams, securing and renewing orders, and arranging delivery.
A sales engineer’s responsibilities may also include planning and modifying products, helping clients solve problems, recommending improved materials or machinery to customers, and helping in researching and developing new products.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for sales engineers was $103,900 in May 2019.
This means that half the workers in this occupation earned less than this amount and half earned more.
Salaries in this field vary depending on a wide range of factors, including the industry of employment, the engineer’s experience, and education.
The lowest 10 percent made less than $59,180 a year while the highest 10 percent earned more than $174,270 per year.
Sales Engineer Salary by Industry
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sales engineers held about 66,700 jobs in the United States in 2018.
Their biggest employers are merchant wholesalers of durable goods, the manufacturing industry, computer systems designs and related services, and wholesale electronic markets, agents and brokers, and the telecommunications industry.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual wage of sales engineers who worked in the field of computer systems design and related services was $112,140.
Professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesaler paid sales engineers, on average, with $115,300.
The mean annual wage was $105,810 for sales engineers who worked for merchant wholesalers and $113,950 per year for those who worked for wholesale electronic markets and agents and brokers.
The mean annual wage for sales engineers who worked for machinery, equipment, and supplies merchant wholesalers was $93,780 per year.
The highest mean annual salary for sales engineers was reported in the field of utility system construction, a field where sales engineers earned, on average, $152,610 per year.
Another field where the reported salaries were above the mean for all industries was the field of electronics and appliance stores, a sector where the average salary for sales engineers was $140,860 a year.
Bonuses, Commissions and other Benefits
Along with a fixed annual salary, some employers also offer bonuses, commission, and profit-sharing to sales engineers in order to motivate them.
According to a report published by payscale.com in May 2020, the average commission for sales engineers was $19,490 per year.
However, sales engineers can make anywhere between $5,000 and $43,000 per year in commissions.
As of May 2020, they earned, on average, $8,213 in bonuses and $4,045 in profit sharing.
In conclusion, if you have good technical skills but also communication and customer service abilities, as a sales engineer, you can earn commission on sales that can supplement your cash compensation by several tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Many sales engineers also have medical and dental insurance.
According to Payscale, 90% of all workers in this profession were medically insured in May 2020, 80% of them had dental insurance and 69% had visual insurance.
Job Prospects
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for sales engineers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2018 to 2028.
As more technologically sophisticated products come on the market, sales engineers will be needed to market these products.
However, job opportunities vary depending on the field of employment.
For example, employment for sales engineers in computer systems design and related services is projected to grow 24 percent from 2018 to 2028, which is much faster than the average for all occupations.
* Based on information from the May 2023 salary report from the BLS. The figures represent accumulated data for all states of employment for Sales Engineers. BLS data represents averages and medians for workers at all levels of education and experience. This data doesn't represent starting salaries.
* Employment conditions in your area may vary.