Post job

Pre sales engineer vs solutions engineer

The differences between pre sales 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 pre sales engineer and a solutions engineer. Additionally, a pre sales engineer has an average salary of $116,651, which is higher than the $95,482 average annual salary of a solutions engineer.

The top three skills for a pre sales engineer include sales process, pre sales and cloud. The most important skills for a solutions engineer are cloud, pre sales, and java.

Pre sales engineer vs solutions engineer overview

Pre Sales EngineerSolutions Engineer
Yearly salary$116,651$95,482
Hourly rate$56.08$45.90
Growth rate6%6%
Number of jobs68,855123,287
Job satisfaction4-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4444
Years of experience66

What does a pre sales engineer do?

A pre-sales engineer's role is to assist clients by offering technology recommendations and advice, aiming to secure sales and client satisfaction. Aside from selling products and services, a pre-sales engineer is also responsible for coordinating with various sales personnel, identifying the needs of clients, discussing how the equipment and devices can help attain business goals, and answering any inquiries about the subject. Furthermore, it is essential to develop positive relationships with clients, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.

What does a solutions engineer do?

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.

Pre sales engineer vs solutions engineer salary

Pre sales engineers and solutions engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Pre Sales EngineerSolutions Engineer
Average salary$116,651$95,482
Salary rangeBetween $84,000 And $160,000Between $68,000 And $134,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateOregonCalifornia
Best paying companyAppleByteDance
Best paying industryTechnologyStart-up

Differences between pre sales engineer and solutions engineer education

There are a few differences between a pre sales engineer and a solutions engineer in terms of educational background:

Pre Sales EngineerSolutions Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Pre sales engineer vs solutions engineer demographics

Here are the differences between pre sales engineers' and solutions engineers' demographics:

Pre Sales EngineerSolutions Engineer
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 83.5% Female, 16.5%Male, 85.1% Female, 14.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 8.4% White, 75.4% 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 Percentage7%7%

Differences between pre sales engineer and solutions engineer duties and responsibilities

Pre sales engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage OEM accounts on organizing their sales initiatives as well as any technical issues that they encounter during the product lifecycle.
  • Configure and maintain Cisco routers, [] switches and VPN concentrators for client installations.
  • Collaborate in closing a major contract with Morgan Stanley for one of the world's largest UNIX to Linux migrations.
  • Provide OEM customers new product training and pre-sales systems analysis and configuration support.
  • WAN network consist of mix of ATM, ISDN and T1 solutions.
  • Support all aspects of Unix program delivery.
  • Show more

Solutions engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage NDS tree for CSRS and all TCP/IP resolve via DHCP.
  • Subject matter expert in SAAS solution sets, manage services and manufacturing/logistics.
  • Develop tools to automate troubleshooting tasks such as DNS resolutions and log collection.
  • Manage a small team thereby training the team on data center and VPN technologies.
  • Manage a team of 20 resources providing functional and technical CRM support to global customers.
  • Utilize Google docs & JavaScript or VBA to develop solutions to automate data processing for operation.
  • Show more

Pre sales engineer vs solutions engineer skills

Common pre sales engineer skills
  • Sales Process, 8%
  • Pre Sales, 8%
  • Cloud, 7%
  • POC, 5%
  • Azure, 4%
  • Linux, 4%
Common solutions engineer skills
  • Cloud, 8%
  • Pre Sales, 8%
  • Java, 7%
  • Architecture, 6%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 5%
  • Infrastructure, 4%