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What is a technical sales engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted expert
Laura Sansoni
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Technical sales engineer promotes and sells equipment to customers using technical knowledge and also provides sales advice and support. A technical sales engineer serves customers by identifying their needs and engineering adaptations of the products, providing product and service, and engineering information by answering questions. They also prepare cost estimates by studying all customer documents, determine improvement by analyzing the cost-benefit ratio of equipment, and establish new accounts by identifying potential customers. A technical sales engineer advises customers on the best way to use the products or the services provided.

The skills and qualities that a technical sales engineer must possess include a knack for solving problems, knowledge of the product, and presentation skills. He/She must also have a technical understanding of the product, excellent verbal communication, and innovation. A technical sales engineer must hold a bachelor's degree in marketing, business administration, or related fields. With this, you will make an average of $85,487 per year.

What general advice would you give to a technical sales engineer?

Laura SansoniLaura Sansoni LinkedIn profile

Director, Career Development, CBA Career Center, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Whenever I work with a new graduate, I see them experiencing many emotions ranging from excitement from completing their education to anxiety about starting their careers.

For the graduates that have a job, I highly encourage them to take advantage of any opportunity presented to them. Participate in workplace events, take advantage of professional development opportunities like attending conferences or trainings, and volunteer to work on projects when asked to. Taking advantage of these opportunities in your workplace will increase your skills and experiences while deepening your connections to your colleagues and growing your personal network.

For graduates that are still looking for jobs, I remind them that the worst things that can happen in the job search are an employer saying "no", "we went with another candidate", or not responding to your application at all. While that can be scary and defeating at times, think about the positives of the situation. You didn't get the interview or the job, but you didn't lose anything either. Instead, you gained more experience in the job search process that you can improve upon for the next time. I also remind new grads to let the employers decide if they are the right fit for the job instead of counting yourself out too early. If you meet 75 percent of the qualifications in the job description, apply for the job and let the recruiter decide whether to set up an interview. Don't be so afraid of the next "no" that it prevents you from finding the next possible "yes".
ScoreTechnical Sales EngineerUS Average
Salary
6.9

Avg. Salary $88,623

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
7.3

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
3.4
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.33%

Asian 8.66%

Black or African American 1.60%

Hispanic or Latino 7.70%

Unknown 6.17%

White 75.53%

Gender

female 11.35%

male 88.65%

Age - 44
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44
Stress level
7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
4.2

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Technical sales engineer career paths

Key steps to become a technical sales engineer

  1. Explore technical sales engineer education requirements

    Most common technical sales engineer degrees

    Bachelor's

    72.7 %

    Master's

    12.1 %

    Associate

    11.3 %
  2. Start to develop specific technical sales engineer skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Customer Service10.26%
    Sales Process7.59%
    Product Line7.48%
    Pre Sales7.14%
    Technical Knowledge4.19%
  3. Complete relevant technical sales engineer training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New technical sales engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a technical sales engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real technical sales engineer resumes.
  4. Research technical sales engineer duties and responsibilities

    • Manage and maintain CRM database, including entering new opportunities into system and periodically updating existing customer profiles.
    • Steer RFP, RFQ, and bid management activities for new and existing customer engagements together with sales operations.
    • Establish back-office systems from scratch, including implementing order fulfillment system, CRM, and QuickBooks.
    • Educate the internal teams on the competitive landscape of cloud solutions as well as new partners.
  5. Prepare your technical sales engineer resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your technical sales engineer resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a technical sales engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable technical sales engineer resume templates

    Build a professional technical sales engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your technical sales engineer resume.
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    Technical Sales Engineer Resume
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    Technical Sales Engineer Resume
    Technical Sales Engineer Resume
    Technical Sales Engineer Resume
    Technical Sales Engineer Resume
    Technical Sales Engineer Resume
    Technical Sales Engineer Resume
  6. Apply for technical sales engineer jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a technical sales engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first technical sales engineer job

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Average technical sales engineer salary

The average technical sales engineer salary in the United States is $88,623 per year or $43 per hour. Technical sales engineer salaries range between $63,000 and $122,000 per year.

Average technical sales engineer salary
$88,623 Yearly
$42.61 hourly

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How do technical sales engineers rate their job?

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Technical sales engineer reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2021
Pros

Dealing with other professional engineers and managers that show higher levels of integrity when discussing requirements or a problem to solve.

Cons

The constant program delays and slow manufactures in support of opportunities that could be won with quicker responses.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020
Pros

IF you have enough experience you get to walk around different manufacturing plants and tell them how you solution will impact their bottom line. every day is different.

Cons

Cold Call is pretty bad because your success rate is 1-2%. Surprises when a competitor sells to a company you did not know about and your marketing folks cant help find them.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019
Pros

Requires many aspect to be combine in order to fulfill the job. business and technical knowledge are required in order to be successful pre sales engineer.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.