Sales and Related Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages Wide pay band SOC 41-9031

Sales Engineers

The published band from $73,870 to $195,270 is the distinctive signal for this role, not a twin of Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products.

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Sales Engineers: Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products ($105K) , Demonstrators and Product Promoters ($39K) , Counter and Rental Clerks ($41K) , Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers ($41K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Sales Engineers publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 41-9031 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Sell products requiring extensive technical expertise and support for installation and use, such as material handling equipment, numerica…
  2. 2. Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-speci…
  3. 3. Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements, to promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support
  4. 4. Create sales or service contracts for products or services
  5. 5. Visit prospective buyers at commercial, industrial, or other establishments to show samples or catalogs, and to inform them about product…
  6. 6. Keep informed on industry news and trends, products, services, competitors, relevant information about legacy, existing, and emerging tec…
  7. 7. Identify resale opportunities and support them to achieve sales plans
  8. 8. Confer with customers and engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements
  9. 9. Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs
  10. 10. Prepare and deliver technical presentations that explain products or services to customers and prospective customers
  11. 11. Recommend improved materials or machinery to customers, documenting how such changes will lower costs or increase production
  12. 12. Maintain sales forecasting reports

Sales Engineers: O*NET ranks Speaking first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 41-9031 - lead skill Speaking at 4.1 ; lead knowledge Customer and Personal Service. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Speaking 4.1
  2. 2. Persuasion 4.1
  3. 3. Reading Comprehension 4.0
  4. 4. Active Listening 4.0
  5. 5. Critical Thinking 4.0
  6. 6. Social Perceptiveness 4.0
  7. 7. Judgment and Decision Making 4.0
  8. 8. Negotiation 3.9

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Customer and Personal Service 4.5
  2. 2. Sales and Marketing 4.3
  3. 3. Engineering and Technology 4.3
  4. 4. English Language 4.3
  5. 5. Mathematics 3.8
  6. 6. Administration and Management 3.7
Published pay band (10th to 90th)
$73,870 to $195,270
median $124,900 · ~2.6× spread
$125K
National median
↑ +6%
Growth 2024-2034
5,000
Annual openings
51,790
Estimated US jobs
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products
Highest-pay peer · $105K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education Bachelor's degree

Top Paying States for Sales Engineers

1. Maryland $153,410
2. Massachusetts $136,200
3. Delaware $167,200
4. New Jersey $139,010
5. California $139,160
6. Washington $147,620
7. New York $137,480
8. Rhode Island $149,750
9. West Virginia $135,260
10. Colorado $139,990

Other Sales and Related Occupations titles

  1. 1. Counter and Rental Clerks $41,300
  2. 2. Demonstrators and Product Promoters $39,320
  3. 3. Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers $41,380
  4. 4. Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products $104,920
  5. 5. Real Estate Brokers $73,220
  6. 6. Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents $78,660

The OEWS band for Sales Engineers runs from $73,870 (10th) to $195,270 (90th), about 2.6× wide, with median $124,900. That spread, not the midpoint alone, is the distinctive published fact.

Employment Projections expect +6% change between 2024 and 2034 (faster than average vs baseline 3.1%). About 5,000 annual openings are projected. BLS assigns Bachelor's degree as typical education needed for entry. These are occupation-level assignments, not universal requirements. BLS does not publish a separate occupation-specific safety rate for this role; its broad SOC-group rate is excluded from this career card's grade.

Highest published state median in this ranking: Maryland at $153,410. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products at $104,920. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Sales Engineers pay-rank #1 in Sales and Related Occupations

Among 22 detailed Sales and Related Occupations with a published OEWS median, Sales Engineers is pay-rank #1, the upper third of that major group. The order is ROW_NUMBER on national median (title as tiebreak), not a worker-level percentile.

Other upper-third titles · closest medians

Full Salary Details Compare this role

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Projections from BLS Employment Projections program, 2024-2034.

The 10th-to-90th percentile spread for Sales Engineers is unusually wide, so the state map and peer comparison carry more signal than the median alone.

Sales Engineers salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 41-9031

Maryland · top state for Sales Engineers

$153K published median

Massachusetts · #2 state pay

$136K · behind Maryland

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products

Highest-pay peer vs Sales Engineers · $105K

Demonstrators and Product Promoters

Lower-pay peer beside Sales Engineers · $39K

Compare Sales Engineers

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare Sales Engineers with another occupation →

Pay-band next reads

Entry-Level vs Experienced Pay

What percentile bands reveal

Using Salary Data for Negotiation

Leverage BLS percentiles

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Sales and Related Occupations titles sit near Sales Engineers at the top of the pay table? ▼
Sales Engineers is pay-rank #1 of 22 detailed Sales and Related Occupations with an OEWS median, upper third. Nearest upper-third titles: Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products ($105K), First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers ($88K), Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents ($79K), Real Estate Brokers ($73K). Rank is ROW_NUMBER on national median.
What do sales engineers do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Sales Engineers. Leading ones include: Sell products requiring extensive technical expertise and support for installation and use, such as material handling equipment, numerica…; Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-speci…; 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. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for sales engineers? ▼
For SOC 41-9031, O*NET importance scores lead with Speaking (4.1), Persuasion (4.1), Reading Comprehension (4.0), Active Listening (4.0). Knowledge areas emphasize Customer and Personal Service, Sales and Marketing, Engineering and Technology. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
How wide is the published pay band for Sales Engineers? ▼
OEWS places the 10th percentile at $73,870 and the 90th at $195,270 for Sales Engineers (2.6× spread). The national median is $124,900. OEWS does not isolate experience, employer, or geography as the cause of that spread.
What employment change does BLS publish for Sales Engineers? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Sales Engineers is +6%. Projected annual openings: about 5,000. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: faster than average.
What typical entry education does BLS assign to Sales Engineers? ▼
BLS assigns Bachelor's degree as the typical-education-needed-for-entry category for Sales Engineers. These are occupation-level labels, not every employer's hiring rule.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Sales Engineers? ▼
Maryland ($153,410), Massachusetts ($136,200), Delaware ($167,200) lead this ranking. The table does not identify why those state estimates differ.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Wage and state figures use BLS OEWS May 2025; growth and education use BLS Employment Projections for 2024-2034; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII; task statements cite O*NET where shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Wage and outlook figures on this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute career, financial, or salary-negotiation advice. Actual pay varies by employer, experience, and local conditions; consult a career counselor or the hiring employer for guidance specific to your situation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES Occupational wage estimates by area and industry · 2025

Federal sources on this Sales Engineers card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 41-9031. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Sales Engineers. onetcenter.org
  • BLS Employment Projections - 2024-2034 change and openings for this occupation. bls.gov/emp
  • U.S. Census Bureau ACS - demographic and labor-force context for state and metro geography. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
  • IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) - payroll-tax aggregate context for wage comparisons. irs.gov/statistics