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.
Product sales engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real product sales engineer resumes:
- 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.
- Cultivate relationships with new and existing OEM customers needing highly engineer tooling for production machinery.
- Manage inbound domestic and international logistics and domestic shipping with respect to carrier selection, forwarding, brokering and expediting.
- Automate documentation of electrical panel manufacturing process in Solidworks and AutoCAD.
Product sales engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Product Sales Engineers are proficient in Product Sales, UL, and Product Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Problem-solving skills, and Self-confidence.
We break down the percentage of Product Sales Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Product Sales, 19%
Leverage extensive personal relationships to drive product sales.
- UL, 15%
Designed UL & CSA listed cables to be used in several new markets for CCI & high-profile customers.
- Product Development, 6%
Increased sales & profitability through comprehensive research, product development and integration.
- Sales Process, 6%
Participated in all aspects of sales process: qualifying opportunities, assessing business drivers, requirement analysis and determining sales strategy.
- Trade Shows, 5%
Provided product training to customers and distributors and attended trade shows to represent company.
- CRM, 5%
Stimulated customer satisfaction score (CSAT) from 55 to 85 out of 100 by CRM.
Most product sales engineers use their skills in "product sales," "ul," and "product development" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential product sales engineer responsibilities here:
Interpersonal skills. The most essential soft skill for a product sales engineer to carry out their responsibilities is interpersonal skills. This skill is important for the role because "strong interpersonal skills are a valuable characteristic for sales engineers, both for building relationships with clients and effectively communicating with other members of the sales team." Additionally, a product sales engineer resume shows how their duties depend on interpersonal skills: "maintained and developed interpersonal relationships with key personnel within the engineering, procurement, and project management departments. "
Problem-solving skills. Many product sales engineer duties rely on problem-solving skills. "sales engineers must be able to listen to the customer’s desires and concerns, and then recommend solutions, such as customizing a product for the customer.," so a product sales engineer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways product sales engineer responsibilities rely on problem-solving skills: "worked with regional direct sales staff and the local representatives to provide technical support, application solutions. "
Self-confidence. This is an important skill for product sales engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how product sales engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "sales engineers should be confident and persuasive when making sales presentations." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a product sales engineer: "provided full technical support as a pre-sales until such time vars became confident and expert in their role4. ".
Technological skills. For certain product sales engineer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "technological skills." The day-to-day duties of a product sales engineer rely on this skill, as "sales engineers must have extensive knowledge of the technologically sophisticated products they sell in order to explain their advantages and answer questions." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what product sales engineers do: "validate, investigate, propose, and support technological speech solutions to pre-sales accounts. "
The three companies that hire the most product sales engineers are:
- CROSSMARK94 product sales engineers jobs
- Stone Creek Coffee
40 product sales engineers jobs
- Siemens11 product sales engineers jobs
Compare different product sales engineers
Product sales engineer vs. Outside sales
An outside sales representative is responsible for generating the company's sales and revenues by offering goods and services to existing and potential clients, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, and researching on possible leads. Outside sales representatives monitor the current industry trends to identify new business opportunities that would help the business adjust to market changes to achieve profitability goals. An outside sales representative must have excellent communication and customer service skills, immediately resolving complaints and assisting on marketing promotions to gain sales prospects.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a product sales engineer are more likely to require skills like "product sales," "ul," "product development," and "switchboards." On the other hand, a job as an outside sales requires skills like "first hand," "ongoing support," "work ethic," and "flyers." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Outside sales really shine in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $83,118. Comparatively, product sales engineers tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $89,897.outside sales tend to reach lower levels of education than product sales engineers. In fact, outside sales are 6.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Product sales engineer vs. Field applications engineer
The field applications engineer works with regional sales managers, company customers, and manufacturer's representatives to design and manage technical methods for quality control to ensure compliance with the ISO laboratory accreditation. They are technically expert and knowledgeable about sales techniques to boost sales and to develop new organizational objectives by maintaining their relationship with the consultants, inspectors, subcontractors, and potential clients regularly. Some of their duties and responsibilities include customer assistance to help customers understand all products and services, providing technical support and configure services, and analyzing customer requirements.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real product sales engineer resumes. While product sales engineer responsibilities can utilize skills like "product sales," "ul," "sales process," and "crm," field applications engineers use skills like "technical support," "c++," "semiconductor," and "fae."
Field applications engineers earn a higher average salary than product sales engineers. But field applications engineers earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $106,007. Additionally, product sales engineers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $89,897 annually.In general, field applications engineers achieve higher levels of education than product sales engineers. They're 6.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product sales engineer vs. Application engineer
An application engineer is responsible for creating and re-designing system applications based on clients' specifications and sales demands. Application engineers run diagnostic tests on software programs, identify areas of improvement, install necessary updates, upgrade optimization, revise system codes, and provide technical support for customers' needs. They also generate ideas and locate other business opportunities by analyzing current trends in the technology market that would help build revenues and increase profitability for the company. An application engineer must have a strong command of programming languages, software application processes, and general technology disciplines.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, product sales engineers are more likely to have skills like "product sales," "sales process," "account management," and "business development." But a application engineer is more likely to have skills like "technical support," "java," "c++," and "c #."
Application engineers make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $100,321. On the other hand, product sales engineers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $89,897.Most application engineers achieve a similar degree level compared to product sales engineers. For example, they're 3.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product sales engineer vs. Implementation engineer
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.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between product sales engineers and implementation engineers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a product sales engineer might have more use for skills like "product sales," "ul," "product development," and "sales process." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of implementation engineers require skills like "java," "troubleshoot," "infrastructure," and "san. "
In general, implementation engineers earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $94,497. The highest-paying industry for a product sales engineer is the technology industry.implementation engineers reach similar levels of education compared to product sales engineers, in general. The difference is that they're 1.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of product sales engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
