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The differences between sales support engineers and 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 sales support engineer and a sales engineer. Additionally, a sales engineer has an average salary of $93,727, which is higher than the $78,335 average annual salary of a sales support engineer.
The top three skills for a sales support engineer include CRM, product line and sales process. The most important skills for a sales engineer are pre sales, customer service, and sales process.
| Sales Support Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $78,335 | $93,727 |
| Hourly rate | $37.66 | $45.06 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 118,608 | 132,324 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A sales support engineer assists customers by dealing with complex issues and concerns, resolving them using their technical expertise. They usually communicate with customers using calls and correspondence, and through this, they also develop and deliver sales proposals, answer inquiries, and provide price quotes. Moreover, a sales support engineer also works to assist sales teams by conducting research and analyses to develop procedures that will optimize operations, producing data and guidelines, and creating sales strategies for profit growth.
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.
Sales support engineers and sales engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Support Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Average salary | $78,335 | $93,727 |
| Salary range | Between $52,000 And $116,000 | Between $66,000 And $132,000 |
| Highest paying City | Fort Collins, CO | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | Virginia |
| Best paying company | Agilent Technologies | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a sales support engineer and a sales engineer in terms of educational background:
| Sales Support Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between sales support engineers' and sales engineers' demographics:
| Sales Support Engineer | Sales Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 84.8% Female, 15.2% | Male, 90.1% Female, 9.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.6% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 8.2% White, 75.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |