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Sales engineer vs national account executive

The differences between sales engineers and national account executives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sales engineer has an average salary of $93,727, which is higher than the $75,924 average annual salary of a national account executive.

The top three skills for a sales engineer include pre sales, customer service and sales process. The most important skills for a national account executive are customer service, healthcare, and account management.

Sales engineer vs national account executive overview

Sales EngineerNational Account Executive
Yearly salary$93,727$75,924
Hourly rate$45.06$36.50
Growth rate6%5%
Number of jobs132,324160,271
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 82%
Average age4444
Years of experience6-

What does a sales engineer do?

A sales engineer is responsible for assisting customers with their technical equipment and advanced scientific product needs. Sales engineers must have excellent knowledge of the scientific processes and component functions of the products they're selling to deliver presentations and orient the customers. Sales engineers' duties also include troubleshooting, identifying product defects, and upgrading systems for better optimization. They are also responsible for analyzing cost estimates documents, performing adjustments as needed, process payments, arranging deliveries, and settling customers' complaints by replacing damaged items or doing refunds.

What does a national account executive do?

A national account executive is responsible for identifying sales opportunities and assisting the company in achieving its sales goals. Your duties and responsibilities will include identifying new market trends and conducting research to win new accounts, enforcing the company's sales strategies and plans, and developing new revenue from existing clients by offering additional services and selling new sites. Additionally, you will be responsible for maintaining good relationships with business decision-makers at major companies, investigating promotions, sales strategies, and competitor products, and setting performance goals.

Sales engineer vs national account executive salary

Sales engineers and national account executives have different pay scales, as shown below.

Sales EngineerNational Account Executive
Average salary$93,727$75,924
Salary rangeBetween $66,000 And $132,000Between $47,000 And $122,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateVirginiaOregon
Best paying companyMetaThumbtack
Best paying industryTechnologyFinance

Differences between sales engineer and national account executive education

There are a few differences between a sales engineer and a national account executive in terms of educational background:

Sales EngineerNational Account Executive
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 82%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Sales engineer vs national account executive demographics

Here are the differences between sales engineers' and national account executives' demographics:

Sales EngineerNational Account Executive
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 90.1% Female, 9.9%Male, 65.7% Female, 34.3%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 7.1% White, 76.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 7.1% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 5.7% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage7%5%

Differences between sales engineer and national account executive duties and responsibilities

Sales engineer example 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.
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National account executive example responsibilities.

  • Manage a customer relations management (CRM) system by inputting customer orders and information necessary to manage each account.
  • Use SalesForce to effective manage current relationships and new prospects.
  • Utilize SalesForce daily in order to effectively prospect and manage sales cycle.
  • Manage and negotiate contracts with large strategic IDNs while supporting GPO management.
  • Manage OEM relationship from a proactive consultative role proposing strategy and tactics for client base on research data and marketing/engagement metrics.
  • Maintain accounts utilizing a detail CRM database and continuous follow-ups.
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Sales engineer vs national account executive skills

Common sales engineer skills
  • Pre Sales, 6%
  • Customer Service, 5%
  • Sales Process, 5%
  • Technical Support, 4%
  • Windows, 3%
  • CRM, 3%
Common national account executive skills
  • Customer Service, 10%
  • Healthcare, 6%
  • Account Management, 6%
  • PowerPoint, 6%
  • National Accounts, 6%
  • CRM, 4%