The median annual wage for sales engineers is $100,000. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $56,990, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $166,500.
The median annual wages for sales engineers in the top industries in which they work are as follows:
Telecommunications | $111,340 |
Computer systems design and related services | 111,090 |
Wholesale electronic markets and agents and brokers | 99,400 |
Merchant wholesalers, durable goods | 94,830 |
Manufacturing | 88,960 |
How much a sales engineer earns varies considerably by the type of firm and the product sold. Most employers offer a combination of salary and commission payments or salary plus a bonus. Some sales engineers who work for independent sales companies earn only commissions.
Commissions are usually based on the value of sales. Bonuses may depend on individual performance, on the performance of all workers in the group or district, or on the company's performance. Earnings from commissions and bonuses may vary from year to year depending on sales ability, the demand for the company's products or services, and the overall economy.
In addition to their earnings, sales engineers who work for manufacturers are usually reimbursed for expenses such as transportation, meals, hotels, and customer entertainment.
Most sales engineers work full time, and about 1 in 3 work more than 40 hours per week. Some may work additional and irregular hours to meet sales goals and client needs.
Employment of sales engineers is projected to grow 7 percent over the next ten years, about as fast as the average for all occupations. As a wider range of technologically sophisticated products comes on the market, sales engineers will be in demand to help sell products or services related to these products.
Employment growth is likely to be strong for sales engineers selling computer software and hardware. Strong industry growth is expected in computer systems design and related services, which will greatly contribute to employment growth for the occupation. Employment of sales engineers in computer systems design and related services is projected to grow 20 percent over the next ten years.
Growth is also expected to be strong in independent sales agencies (companies that sell on behalf of manufacturers without taking title to the goods being sold). As manufacturing companies outsource their sales staff as a way to control costs, employment in these independent agencies should increase.
Job prospects should be good as few candidates possess both the strong technical product knowledge and sales skills this position requires.
Employment projections data for Sales Engineers, 2016-26 | ||||
Occupational Title | Employment, 2016 | Projected Employment, 2026 | Change, 2016-26 | |
Percent | Numeric | |||
Sales engineers | 74,900 | 80,100 | 7 | 5,200 |