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Product sales engineer vs field sales engineer

The differences between product sales engineers and field 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 product sales engineer and a field sales engineer. Additionally, a product sales engineer has an average salary of $92,735, which is higher than the $90,950 average annual salary of a field sales engineer.

The top three skills for a product sales engineer include product sales, UL and product development. The most important skills for a field sales engineer are HVAC, customer satisfaction, and technical support.

Product sales engineer vs field sales engineer overview

Product Sales EngineerField Sales Engineer
Yearly salary$92,735$90,950
Hourly rate$44.58$43.73
Growth rate6%6%
Number of jobs139,76285,486
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Average age4444
Years of experience66

What does a product sales engineer do?

Production sales engineer positions will require good judgment and business sense, resilience, and even, in an increasing capacity, foreign language skills, as well as teamwork and problem-solving skills. Those who choose this career path will be called upon to provide pre-sales technical assistance and product education, as well as make technical presentations and demonstrations. They will also be required to form liaisons with the sales team and other technical experts and solve any issues clients may have.

What does a field sales engineer do?

Usually, a field sales engineer prepares and delivers technical representations explaining a company's products or services to clients. Field sales engineers confer with engineers and customers for the assessment of the necessary equipment and in the identification of the required system. They conduct research and report the status of engineering projects. It is the duty of the field engineers to ensure everything in the field works efficiently and smoothly and that the engineering designs are followed.

Product sales engineer vs field sales engineer salary

Product sales engineers and field sales engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Product Sales EngineerField Sales Engineer
Average salary$92,735$90,950
Salary rangeBetween $67,000 And $126,000Between $65,000 And $125,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew York
Best paying companyGoogleVuzix
Best paying industryTechnologyTechnology

Differences between product sales engineer and field sales engineer education

There are a few differences between a product sales engineer and a field sales engineer in terms of educational background:

Product Sales EngineerField Sales Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Most common majorBusinessElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityStanford University

Product sales engineer vs field sales engineer demographics

Here are the differences between product sales engineers' and field sales engineers' demographics:

Product Sales EngineerField Sales Engineer
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 74.8% Female, 25.2%Male, 90.1% Female, 9.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 6.5% White, 77.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.3% Asian, 5.7% White, 77.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage7%7%

Differences between product sales engineer and field sales engineer duties and responsibilities

Product sales engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage inbound domestic and international logistics and domestic shipping with respect to carrier selection, forwarding, brokering and expediting.
  • Maintain opportunity pipeline and sales forecast in CRM.
  • Stimulate customer satisfaction score (CSAT) from 55 to 85 out of 100 by CRM.
  • Close a key sale to a large OEM account that are pending for more than twelve months prior to employment.
  • Review project specifications and blueprints, determine best HVAC equipment, system design, and pricing for the RFP proposal response.
  • Maintain strong understanding of competitive HVAC equipment and gather pricing feedback from contractors and engineers.
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Field sales engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage merchandising and POS materials at the retail store level ensuring meticulous compliance with all current corporate initiative regulations.
  • Assign Vlans on different IP subnets.
  • Test storage configurations utilizing iSCSI over IP in HDS test labs.
  • Work directly with large OEM accounts (agriculture, marine, automotive, mobile off-highway, medical, etc . )
  • Develop account relationships at all levels including procurement, technical and senior management level within the OEM and distributor channels.
  • Consult, repair and troubleshoot electrical/electronic control circuits.
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Product sales engineer vs field sales engineer skills

Common product sales engineer skills
  • Product Sales, 19%
  • UL, 15%
  • Product Development, 6%
  • Sales Process, 6%
  • Trade Shows, 5%
  • CRM, 5%
Common field sales engineer skills
  • HVAC, 5%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 5%
  • Technical Support, 5%
  • Product Line, 5%
  • Trade Shows, 5%
  • Semiconductor, 4%