How to hire a sales engineer

How to hire a sales engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step sales engineer 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 job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new sales engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a sales engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The sales engineer hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a sales engineer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a sales engineer that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of sales engineer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Sales Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Sales Engineer	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.	$31-63
   Technical Sales Representative	A technical sales representative is responsible for selling products and services by demonstrating the product's details and features to existing and potential clients. Technical sales representatives evaluate clients' needs and recommend solutions through the organization's technology-based products... Show more	$18-62
   Sales And Marketing Consultant	A sales and marketing consultant specializes in developing solutions to enhance a company's sales and marketing performance. Their responsibilities typically revolve around conducting research and analysis to identify marketing opportunities, assess existing projects and programs to recommend improvements, devise business plans and strategies, and produce materials for traditional or digital marketing... Show more	$15-43

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Pre Sales
   • Customer Service
   • Sales Process
   • Technical Support
   • Windows
   • CRM
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Trade Shows
   • Java
   • Product Demonstrations
   • Project Management
   • Technical Presentations
   • IP
   • Sales Support

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Create and manage product/technical parts of responses to RFI and RFP requests.
   • Maintain and closely manage expenses, overall cost of sale, receivables, ROI.
   • Create tools to manage customer projects, such as standardized proposals, technical templates, and SQL tracking database.
   • Manage inbound domestic and international logistics and domestic shipping with respect to carrier selection, forwarding, brokering and expediting.
   • Perform detail responses and presentations to RFP, RFI and RFR requests on technical/sales opportunities.
   • Generate and release drawings on AutoCAD and SolidWorks for weld shop and machine shop parts fabrication.

   More sales engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your sales engineer job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A sales engineer salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a sales engineer in Missouri may be lower than in Virginia, and an entry-level sales engineer usually earns less than a senior-level sales engineer. Additionally, a sales engineer with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average sales engineer salary

   $93,727yearly

   $45.06 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level sales engineer salary

   $66,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 5, 2025

   Average sales engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$124,348	$60
   2	California	$114,306	$55
   3	Virginia	$112,104	$54
   4	New York	$104,020	$50
   5	Arizona	$98,254	$47
   6	Colorado	$97,437	$47
   7	New Jersey	$95,266	$46
   8	Vermont	$93,301	$45
   9	Texas	$93,125	$45
   10	Massachusetts	$93,069	$45
   11	Illinois	$89,357	$43
   12	Georgia	$88,871	$43
   13	Washington	$84,484	$41
   14	North Carolina	$82,411	$40
   15	Pennsylvania	$80,652	$39
   16	Florida	$79,734	$38
   17	Minnesota	$79,646	$38
   18	Michigan	$73,771	$35

   Average sales engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$149,271	$71.76	24
   2	Google	$145,644	$70.02	95
   3	Apple	$141,380	$67.97	47
   4	Mixpanel	$140,093	$67.35	2
   5	NVIDIA	$138,850	$66.75	32
   6	AppDynamics	$136,601	$65.67
   7	Texas Instruments	$134,731	$64.77	19
   8	Microsoft	$134,229	$64.53	45
   9	VMware	$133,993	$64.42
   10	Cohesity	$133,406	$64.14	25
   11	Brocade Services Corporation	$132,463	$63.68
   12	Citi	$131,580	$63.26	5
   13	New Relic	$131,552	$63.25
   14	Intuit	$131,082	$63.02	8
   15	Sumo Logic	$130,447	$62.71	10
   16	Cadence Design Systems	$130,065	$62.53	10
   17	American Tower	$129,517	$62.27	1
   18	Snowflake Computing	$128,274	$61.67	14
   19	Tintri	$128,229	$61.65
   20	Cybersource	$126,881	$61.00

4. Writing a sales engineer job description

   A job description for a sales engineer role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a sales engineer job description:

   Sales engineer job description example

   Do you want to be the CEO of your sales region, using your creativity to grow profitable sales of highly technical electrical components?
   
   Do you like to work on a team, collaborating with your factories and other sales peers to implement strategies in this growing electronics market?
   Benefits:
   
   Car Very rich health benefits package (HRA, HSA or PPO) Education reimbursement 401K Expense Account (covering cell phone costs) Career Opportunities in a Growing Technology Company with 49 factories
   
   Responsibilities:
   
   Drive sales growth by calling on focus customers and solving application problems Partner with distribution to find new customers Document your sales opportunities in Salesforce, and track them closely until you win them Follow the electronics market closely in your region and communicate trends you are seeing with the rest of the sales team Develop sales campaigns with your distribution branches and customers to promote new products
   
   Qualifications:
   
   4-year degree as an Engineer Reside in close proximity to key customers in New York and New Jersey Experience using Microsoft tools Open to being coached by your mentor and other senior sales peers Sales experience Naturally "people friendly" and gaining energy from being with people Self-aware and able to control emotions Industry Electrical & Electronic Manufacturing
   
   KEMET does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity or national origin, disability, pregnancy, religion, political affiliation, union membership, protected veteran status, protected genetic information, marital status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law, in making employment decisions including but not limited to hiring, wages, promotions, rewards, and access to training. Qualified applicants and workers shall be provided with reasonable accommodation for disability and religious practices.
   
   Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
   
   The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find sales engineers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

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

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit sales engineers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   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

   Once you've decided on a perfect sales engineer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your 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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How much does it cost to hire a sales engineer?