Sales Engineers
Sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a baccalaureate degree in engineering.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Persuasion
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Negotiation
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- Engineering and Technology
- English Language
- Mathematics
- Administration and Management
- Design
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs.
- Confer with customers and engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements.
- Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements, to promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support.
- Secure and renew orders and arrange delivery.
- Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-specific solutions.
- Recommend improved materials or machinery to customers, documenting how such changes will lower costs or increase production.
- Prepare and deliver technical presentations that explain products or services to customers and prospective customers.
- Research and identify potential customers for products or services.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (57.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (58%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (51%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Sales Engineers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 64% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 92% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 56% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 78% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 63% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 79% of occupations compared | 75% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 66% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.87%
- Contact with others most of the time: 36.46%
- Constant contact with others: 59.67%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 3.04%
- Very important: 37.04%
- Extremely important: 59.93%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 26.49%
- Very important: 28.03%
- Extremely important: 45.48%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 19.42%
- Some freedom: 15.59%
- A lot of freedom: 64.99%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 55.26%
- Every day: 23.19%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 3.04%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 44.67%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 11.51%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 35.99%
- Every day: 4.79%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 2.28%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 75.35%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 11.67%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10.69%
- Every day: 0%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 8.88%
- Fairly serious: 43.94%
- Serious: 23.96%
- Very serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely serious: 4.79%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 41-9031.00 · SOC 41-9031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8