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The differences between implementation 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 an implementation engineer and a sales engineer. Additionally, a sales engineer has an average salary of $93,727, which is higher than the $88,779 average annual salary of an implementation engineer.
The top three skills for an implementation engineer include java, troubleshoot and infrastructure. The most important skills for a sales engineer are pre sales, customer service, and sales process.
| Implementation Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $88,779 | $93,727 |
| Hourly rate | $42.68 | $45.06 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 91,303 | 132,324 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
An implementation engineer is responsible for evaluating the company's technology solutions to support business operations and processes. Implementation engineers assist with the overall technical design concept and diagnostic tests to ensure that the features and performance meet the highest quality standards and business requirements. They also identify the systems' potential failures and develop troubleshooting reports as necessary. An implementation engineer must have excellent communication and technical skills to strategize improvements on the systems' infrastructure for optimization.
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.
Implementation engineers and sales engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Implementation Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Average salary | $88,779 | $93,727 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $121,000 | Between $66,000 And $132,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Virginia |
| Best paying company | Apple | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between an implementation engineer and a sales engineer in terms of educational background:
| Implementation Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between implementation engineers' and sales engineers' demographics:
| Implementation Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.7% Female, 16.3% | Male, 90.1% Female, 9.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 10.7% White, 74.5% 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% |