Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between technical sales engineers and solutions 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 technical sales engineer and a solutions engineer. Additionally, a solutions engineer has an average salary of $95,482, which is higher than the $88,623 average annual salary of a technical sales engineer.
The top three skills for a technical sales engineer include customer service, sales process and product line. The most important skills for a solutions engineer are cloud, pre sales, and java.
| Technical Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $88,623 | $95,482 |
| Hourly rate | $42.61 | $45.90 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 161,743 | 123,287 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A technical sales engineer is a sales professional who provides technical sales support and advice about the products and services. Your duties typically include consulting and selling on scientifically and technologically advanced products, organizing sales visits, and liaising contracts and terms and conditions. Additionally, you are expected to collaborate with the design, engineering, production, and research and development departments on how to modify products and services that meet customers' needs. You are also responsible for attending meetings, conferences, and trade shows.
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.
Technical sales engineers and solutions engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average salary | $88,623 | $95,482 |
| Salary range | Between $63,000 And $122,000 | Between $68,000 And $134,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | California |
| Best paying company | ByteDance | |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a technical sales engineer and a solutions engineer in terms of educational background:
| Technical Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical sales engineers' and solutions engineers' demographics:
| Technical Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4% | Male, 85.1% Female, 14.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.6% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 8.7% White, 75.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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 | 7% | 7% |