Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between solutions architects and solutions engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a solutions architect has an average salary of $116,327, which is higher than the $95,482 average annual salary of a solutions engineer.
The top three skills for a solutions architect include cloud, java and AWS. The most important skills for a solutions engineer are cloud, pre sales, and java.
| Solutions Architect | Solutions Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $116,327 | $95,482 |
| Hourly rate | $55.93 | $45.90 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 107,754 | 123,287 |
| Job satisfaction | 4.5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | 6 |
A solutions architect specializes in creating and implementing software systems that improve business operations and resolve network issues. They are primarily responsible for conducting research and analysis to assess the business's needs, develop specific designs for the company, provide solutions should there be any system issues, and keep company officials informed with all changes and updates. Furthermore, a solutions architect must lead and encourage development teams, stay up to date with the newest trends to continue innovations within the systems, and implement its policies and guidelines.
A solutions engineer is an individual who assists customers in identifying their computer software needs and generates customized business software solutions for them. Solutions engineers collaborate with other department engineers to create practical demonstrations of proposed solutions and showcase them to the other members of the team. They are required to test the installed software and fix programming bugs that create errors with the system. Solutions engineers also maintain customer relations by providing post-installation follow-ups.
Solutions architects and solutions engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Solutions Architect | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average salary | $116,327 | $95,482 |
| Salary range | Between $87,000 And $154,000 | Between $68,000 And $134,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Airbnb | ByteDance |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a solutions architect and a solutions engineer in terms of educational background:
| Solutions Architect | Solutions Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between solutions architects' and solutions engineers' demographics:
| Solutions Architect | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.6% Female, 13.4% | Male, 85.1% Female, 14.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 10.8% White, 74.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 7% |