Occupation salary profile

Sales Engineers

SOC 41-9031 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

Sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a baccalaureate degree in engineering. Excludes “Engineers” (17-2011 through 17-2199) whose primary function is not marketing or sales.

National median · BLS
$124,900
▲ +2.78% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$147,826
▲ +1.81% YoY · 2,312 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$130,140
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
51,790
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Sales Engineers

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 2,312 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$73,870$96,491
25th$92,890$120,000
Median (50th)$124,900$147,826
75th$161,230$176,079
90th — top pay$195,270$199,945
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $147,826 for Sales Engineers — 18.4% above the BLS national median of $124,900.

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Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Sales Engineers

BLS projects employment of sales engineers to grow 2.8% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 3,800 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
51,600 → 53,000
+1,400 jobs
Projected change
+2.8%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
3,800
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
No related experience required
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 4)
Considerable Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a bachelor's degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $147,826
Change vs prior year +1.81%
After inflation (CPI-U) -1.28%
Wage level LCAs Share P25 Median P75
Level I 268 11.6% $79,415 $92,845 $109,491
Level II 571 24.7% $107,282 $125,923 $141,084
Level III 575 24.9% $139,630 $156,000 $174,458
Level IV 669 28.9% $154,835 $185,000 $200,000
H-1B job titles

Salaries by job title in Sales Engineers

The 34 most-filed job titles inside SOC 41-9031, from 2,312 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.

Job title LCAs Share P25 Median P75 YoY
Sales Engineer 178 7.7% $95,058 $123,115 $159,200 -2.15%
Solutions Engineer 70 3.03% $114,752 $129,595 $158,906 -1.97%
Solutions Architect 59 2.55% $149,993 $168,958 $185,099 +6.43%
Account Manager 57 2.47% $104,000 $128,190 $157,824 -7.75%
Customer Engineer 52 2.25% $145,000 $171,000 $192,880 +10.68%
Product Manager 47 2.03% $118,262 $134,389 $175,316 -15.34%
Solutions Consultant 46 1.99% $132,500 $150,000 $188,500 -10.22%
Technical Sales Engineer 43 1.86% $90,000 $97,240 $105,134 -3.47%
Customer Solutions Engineer 41 1.77% $148,000 $170,000 $200,800 +4.94%
Digital Solution Engineering 32 1.38% $157,919 $177,559 $189,114 —
Application Engineer 31 1.34% $96,180 $110,790 $141,388 -0.41%
Field Application Engineer 30 1.3% $121,850 $127,899 $144,252 -8.64%
Solution Engineer 28 1.21% $148,910 $155,625 $182,931 +0%
Technical Account Manager 26 1.12% $106,108 $125,000 $150,000 +0.81%
Principal Application Engineer 25 1.08% $151,659 $167,024 $181,216 -3.29%
Product Marketing Engineer 25 1.08% $126,298 $143,520 $169,770 +5.88%
Google Cloud 23 0.99% $150,000 $170,000 $176,500 -1.73%
Customer Success Manager 22 0.95% $113,125 $151,000 $166,675 +39.81%
Product Marketing Manager 21 0.91% $150,355 $166,147 $195,000 +4.25%
Cloud Solution Engineer 21 0.91% $134,576 $142,938 $160,239 +0.18%
Business Development Manager 21 0.91% $103,215 $138,965 $158,550 +6.9%
Account Executive 20 0.87% $122,366 $134,238 $153,356 -8.07%
Product Management 19 0.82% $163,122 $186,948 $204,827 +9.55%
Technical Marketing Engineer 15 0.65% $141,018 $168,958 $184,266 +6.43%
Sales Director 15 0.65% $124,904 $145,642 $182,348 +4.78%
Cloud Solution Architecture 12 0.52% $163,792 $179,365 $186,525 —
Inbound Product Manager 12 0.52% $128,270 $147,222 $168,791 +8.72%
Applications Engineer 12 0.52% $129,480 $136,009 $144,596 +21.14%
Systems Engineer 12 0.52% $119,558 $124,751 $152,420 -12.56%
Customer Success Engineer 11 0.48% $104,726 $122,298 $137,666 -18.47%
Sales Manager 11 0.48% $90,818 $128,750 $171,602 +7.29%
Technical Consultant 10 0.43% $112,873 $132,642 $150,908 -0.9%
Lead Application Engineer 10 0.43% $135,640 $139,235 $140,457 -0.02%
Field Applications Engineer 10 0.43% $149,691 $159,479 $171,236 +7.87%

Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.

Skills & tools

Skills needed for Sales Engineers

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Persuasion4.1
  • Speaking4.1
  • Active Listening4.0
  • Critical Thinking4.0
  • Judgment and Decision Making4.0
  • Reading Comprehension4.0
  • Social Perceptiveness4.0
  • Complex Problem Solving3.9
  • Negotiation3.9
  • Active Learning3.8
Top knowledge areas
  • Customer and Personal Service4.5
  • Sales and Marketing4.3
  • Engineering and Technology4.3
  • English Language4.3
  • Mathematics3.8
  • Administration and Management3.7
  • Design3.4
  • Administrative3.2
Software and technology used
Amazon Web Services AWS softwareMicrosoft Azure softwareMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft PowerPointPythonSalesforce softwareAnsible softwareApache CassandraApache HadoopApple iOSAtlassian JIRAAutodesk AutoCADBorder Gateway Protocol BGPCC++Dassault Systemes SolidWorksDocker

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What sales engineers do

  • Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-specific solutions.
  • Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements, to promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support.
  • Create sales or service contracts for products or services.
  • Visit prospective buyers at commercial, industrial, or other establishments to show samples or catalogs, and to inform them about product pricing, availability, and advantages.
  • Keep informed on industry news and trends, products, services, competitors, relevant information about legacy, existing, and emerging technologies, and the latest product-line developments.
  • Identify resale opportunities and support them to achieve sales plans.
  • Confer with customers and engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements.
  • Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs.
Also called
Business Development EngineerProduct Sales EngineerSales EngineerTechnical Marketing EngineerInside Sales EngineerSales Applications EngineerTechnical Sales Engineer
More job titles for this occupation (29)
Aeronautical Products Sales EngineerAerospace Products Sales EngineerAgricultural Equipment Sales EngineerCeramic Products Sales EngineerChannel Sales Engineer (CSE)Chemical Equipment Sales EngineerCustomer EngineerElectrical Products Sales EngineerElectronics Products and Systems Sales EngineerEnterprise Sales EngineerField Marketing RepresentativeField Sales EngineerField Service RepresentativeHVAC Commercial Salesperson (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Commercial Salesperson)Inside Sales RepresentativeMarine Equipment Sales EngineerMechanical Equipment Sales EngineerMining and Oil Well Equipment and Services Sales EngineerMissile Navigation Systems Sales EngineerNuclear Equipment Sales EngineerOutside Sales EngineerOutside Sales RepresentativePre-Sales EngineerPre-Sales Solutions EngineerProduct Support EngineerProduct Support SpecialistRegional Sales EngineerSales Engineering ManagerSales Specialist

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.