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The differences between business development engineers and solutions 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 solutions engineer. Additionally, a business development engineer has an average salary of $105,267, which is higher than the $95,482 average annual salary of a solutions engineer.
The top three skills for a business development engineer include java, business development and project management. The most important skills for a solutions engineer are cloud, pre sales, and java.
| Business Development Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $105,267 | $95,482 |
| Hourly rate | $50.61 | $45.90 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 136,516 | 123,287 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| 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 solutions engineer is an individual who assists customers in identifying their computer software needs and generates customized business software solutions for them. Solutions engineers collaborate with other department engineers to create practical demonstrations of proposed solutions and showcase them to the other members of the team. They are required to test the installed software and fix programming bugs that create errors with the system. Solutions engineers also maintain customer relations by providing post-installation follow-ups.
Business development engineers and solutions engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Business Development Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average salary | $105,267 | $95,482 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $146,000 | Between $68,000 And $134,000 |
| Highest paying City | Springfield, VA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | ByteDance |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a business development engineer and a solutions engineer in terms of educational background:
| Business Development Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between business development engineers' and solutions engineers' demographics:
| Business Development Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.4% Female, 13.6% | Male, 85.1% Female, 14.9% |
| 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, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 10.8% White, 74.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |