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The differences between business development engineers and sales engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a business development engineer and a sales engineer. Additionally, a business development engineer has an average salary of $105,267, which is higher than the $93,727 average annual salary of a sales engineer.
The top three skills for a business development engineer include java, business development and project management. The most important skills for a sales engineer are pre sales, customer service, and sales process.
| Business Development Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $105,267 | $93,727 |
| Hourly rate | $50.61 | $45.06 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 136,516 | 132,324 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A business development engineer's role is to help companies build strong and positive relationships with clients and business partners. They conduct market research and analysis to find new business and client opportunities, plan and implement programs, and develop strategies for business and profit growth. They also produce proposals, streamline project requirements, perform risk assessments, study the competitor and consumers' behavior, and assist sales teams as necessary. Moreover, in some companies, there are instances when a business development engineer communicates directly with clients to close deals and negotiate contracts.
A sales engineer is responsible for assisting customers with their technical equipment and advanced scientific product needs. Sales engineers must have excellent knowledge of the scientific processes and component functions of the products they're selling to deliver presentations and orient the customers. Sales engineers' duties also include troubleshooting, identifying product defects, and upgrading systems for better optimization. They are also responsible for analyzing cost estimates documents, performing adjustments as needed, process payments, arranging deliveries, and settling customers' complaints by replacing damaged items or doing refunds.
Business development engineers and sales engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Business Development Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Average salary | $105,267 | $93,727 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $146,000 | Between $66,000 And $132,000 |
| Highest paying City | Springfield, VA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | Virginia |
| Best paying company | Meta | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Technology |
There are a few differences between a business development engineer and a sales engineer in terms of educational background:
| Business Development Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between business development engineers' and sales engineers' demographics:
| Business Development Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.4% Female, 13.6% | Male, 90.1% Female, 9.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.7% Asian, 11.6% White, 73.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 7.1% White, 76.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |