Job type

Sales engineer

£25k - £100k

Typical salary

37 – 45

Hours per week

Sales engineers work within engineering companies helping to sell technical products and services to clients.

More info

  • Use your technical knowledge to sell engineering products and services
  • You'll need excellent engineering knowledge as well as good people skills
  • Roles can be well paid and there are often performance related bonuses

As a sales engineer you'll work for a company that produces technical products or engineering services to generate new business and sell to clients. You might, for example, work in manufacturing, aerospace, energy or another industry that produces technical products.

DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES

  • Searching for new clients who could benefit from your product/service
  • Travelling to visit potential clients
  • Establishing new, and maintaining existing relationships with customers
  • Calculating client quotes
  • Negotiating sales and contract terms
  • Analysing costs and sales
  • Preparing reports
  • Keeping records of client data
  • Coordinating sales projects
  • Making presentations

DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT

You might be office based, or you might spend your time travelling to visit clients in the UK or overseas. 

Roles in sales often have a base salary then a performance based payment that you receive if you achieve your sales target.

You'll need

Sales engineers usually combine knowledge and skills in engineering with the ability to get on well with customers and negotiate sales.

To become a sales engineer you'll need excellent engineering skills or technical knowledge in the industry in which you will be working combined with good people skills, negotiation skills, and the determination to achieve your targets.

Most sales engineers move into sales roles after working in a technical role or after studying engineering. This could be an ideal role for you if you have studied engineering but want a people-facing role in which you get to travel.

CAREER PROSPECTS

With experience, you could move into a managerial role. Or, you could move into a more technical field, such as product development and research.