How to hire a sales engineer, account manager

How to hire a sales engineer, account manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step sales engineer, account manager hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a sales engineer, account manager job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new sales engineer, account manager
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a sales engineer, account manager do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the sales engineer, account manager you need to hire. Certain sales engineer, account manager roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect sales engineer, account manager also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents sales engineer, account manager salaries for various positions.

   Type of Sales Engineer, Account Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Sales Engineer, Account Manager	Sales engineers sell complex scientific and technological products or services to businesses. They must have extensive knowledge of the products’ parts and functions and must understand the scientific processes that make these products work.	$32-63
   Product Manager/Sales	A sales product manager is responsible for monitoring the sales performance of a specific product and ensuring that the marketing strategies adhere to market standards and client requirements. Sales product managers work closely with the marketing and public relations team to enhance the product's brand image on various market platforms to reach the target audience... Show more	$36-75
   Regional Sales Manager	A regional sales manager is responsible for monitoring the sales and distribution of goods and services within a specific region. Duties of a regional sales manager also include analyzing expenses and cost estimates, ensuring that operations meet budget goals with the highest quality, researching current market trends for sales performance development, providing sales training, and presenting sales reports... Show more	$25-62

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Technical Support
   • Product Development
   • CRM
   • Account Management
   • HVAC
   • Territory Sales
   • Customer Relationships
   • Technical Sales
   • Post Sales
   • OEM
   • Technical Issues
   • Pre Sales
   • Technical Solutions
   • Trade Shows

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage RFP activity, sales/engineering/channel partner resources.
   • Participate in developing and creating OEM partner sales programs, integrator sales programs, and all channel sales strategies.
   • Streamline tool testing procedures & improvise CRM systems, resulting in improve delivery cycle and support response.
   • Create maintenance recommendations and follow OEM warranty specifications particular to each individual customer.
   • Handle practices for pull-through initiatives with patients including advertising, marketing, events and quarterly business reviews for profitability.
   • Connect high-value customers with internal subject matter experts to maximize ROI.

   More sales engineer, account manager duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the sales engineer, account manager job description is a good way to get more applicants. A sales engineer, account manager salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a sales engineer, account manager in Kansas may be lower than in Virginia, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level sales engineer, account manager. Additionally, a sales engineer, account manager with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average sales engineer, account manager salary

   $95,490yearly

   $45.91 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level sales engineer, account manager salary

   $68,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average sales engineer, account manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$119,013	$57
   2	Pennsylvania	$103,572	$50
   3	New York	$100,072	$48
   4	Texas	$97,294	$47
   5	Washington	$93,322	$45
   6	Colorado	$91,735	$44
   7	Georgia	$90,478	$44
   8	Ohio	$85,041	$41
   9	Michigan	$78,500	$38
   10	Indiana	$69,400	$33

   Average sales engineer, account manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Teradyne	$117,946	$56.70	13
   2	Ciena	$112,648	$54.16	3
   3	Bosch USA	$106,954	$51.42	6
   4	JAGGAER	$105,796	$50.86	2
   5	RS Software	$105,567	$50.75
   6	Daifuku Webb Holding	$101,338	$48.72	5
   7	Ebara Technologies	$99,477	$47.83
   8	Daifuku Usa Inc	$94,186	$45.28	5
   9	LCI - Lawinger Consulting	$91,953	$44.21
   10	Splunk	$88,917	$42.75
   11	GPAC	$85,270	$41.00
   12	Comcast	$72,180	$34.70	418

4. Writing a sales engineer, account manager job description

   A sales engineer, account manager job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a sales engineer, account manager job description:

   Sales engineer, account manager job description example

   Since 1992, Ciena has been driven by a relentless pursuit of network innovation. We believe in a network that grows smarter, more agile, and more responsive every day. This means that when you digitally interact in your world - picking up the phone, streaming video, texting a friend or loved one - your interactions are being enabled by Ciena technologies. Ciena makes your social / entertainment / business existence REAL.
   
   No candidate will meet every single desired qualification. If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified below and you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to learn more about you!
   Do you know Ciena?
   
   Ciena was founded in 1994 by Georgia Tech grads to seek the problem of growing network capacity affordably. Today, Ciena is a $3B juggernaut employing 5,700+ rock stars world-wide. Ciena is ranked #1 in North American Data Center Interconnect, Metro Optical Networking, Carrier Ethernet and Submarine Ultra Long Haul sales! Another differentiating area for Ciena is network automation. We have delivered some of the very first Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) solutions. We run networks for some of the world's largest companies - Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, ATT, Verizon, Comcast, JPMC, Goldman Sachs and the NYSE to name a few.
   
   What will you do at Ciena?
   
   Commencing August 2023 we are opening our doors to an outstanding group of high potential, new graduate future sales stars for Full Time, permanent opportunities. If applying your Engineering Degree and Technical capabilities while developing and encouraging meaningful relationships, driving business resulting in big dollar commissions are your passion, we want you on board!
   
   The Sales Engineer (SE) is a key component to Ciena's success and is the technical bridge between our Ciena and our current and future Customers. The Sales Engineer utilizes their technical aptitude to improve sales and profitability at current accounts and develops business opportunities with new clients by taking ownership of the prime technical relationship with our customers and prospects.
   
   Responsibilities
   
   You'll kick off your exciting Ciena journey in Atlanta with a 12-month development program where you'll thrive in a path towards Technical and Sales Engineering completion, while working for a company that's leading the way for innovation. The program offers extensive networking, mentoring and coaching opportunities, and its structured learning approach includes role rotations as well as classroom-based and hands on training during which you'll learn aspects of the following:
   
   Ciena's Product Portfolio and Organizations (Sales, Marketing, Channels, SE, Services, Learning) Ciena's Customer Landscape (Traditional Carrier, MSOs, Enterprise, Submarine, Government, Data Center and Cloud content providers) Network and Engineering DesignSales methodologies, forecasting, commercial and contract management Field Services, Technical Support, Professional Services and Program Management
   
   General Activities
   
   Contributes to sales engineering effectiveness by identifying short-term and long-range issues that must be addressed; providing information and commentary pertinent to deliberations; recommending options and courses of action; implementing directives.Collecting, analyzing, and summarizing sales information and engineering and application trends.Determines improvements by analyzing cost-benefit ratios of equipment, supplies, or service applications in customer environment; engineering or proposing changes in equipment, processes, or use of materials or services.
   
   Collaboration with stakeholders
   
   You'll work with our sophisticated technology, learn how to prospect for new business, solve problems, provide excellent customer service and grow Ciena even further!
   
   Consult with engineers, architects, and other professional and technical personnel.Provide technical information and training to internal and external entities.
   
   Areas of impact
   
   At the conclusion of the 12-month program, you can anticipate potential relocation to one of Ciena's nationwide markets with a demand for your talent. It's just the opportunity you need to launch an exciting career with us. With your passion for networking, sales and technology coupled with our training and development, you'll be well on your way to becoming a top sales performer within Ciena.
   Experience
   4-year Technical Degree with a Business Minor or a Business Degree with a Technical MinorWillingness to relocate following 12-month rotation Very strong communication skills - verbal, written and presentation Demonstrated leadership capabilities Ability and aptitude to handle competing priorities Strong organizational skills Ability to develop and maintain strong business relationships Time and workload management Analytical and problem-solving skills Previous technical/sales/co-op work experience a plus
   
   #LI-CN
   
   Being You @ Ciena
   As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we want to foster an environment that values and respects all individual's strengths, perspectives, ideas, and ability to meet the needs of our customers globally. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status or any other category protected by applicable law. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination. Ciena is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status. If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, you should advise Ciena in a timely fashion of the specific accommodation measures required for you to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner.
   
   We do not charge any fee for employment and the same applies to the Recruitment Partners we work with. Additionally, we do not ask for any refundable security deposit to be paid in bank accounts for employment purposes. We request candidates to be cautious of misleading communications and not pay any fee/ deposit to individuals/ agencies/ employment portals on the pretext of attending Ciena's interview process or seeking employment with us.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right sales engineer, account manager for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with sales engineer, account managers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit sales engineer, account managers who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your sales engineer, account manager job on Zippia to find and recruit sales engineer, account manager candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting sales engineer, account managers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new sales engineer, account manager

   Once you've selected the best sales engineer, account manager candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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