Sales Engineer

A sales engineer sells technical products – machinery, electronics, software, components, instruments, industrial systems – by working out what a customer's technical problem is and showing how the product solves it. They sit between the commercial sales team and the engineering or product team, translating one to the other. Customers are usually other businesses (engineers, plant managers, procurement teams, IT departments) rather than the public.

Starting salary: £26k–£35k
Live graduate jobs: 19 open now
Main way in: Direct entry as a graduate sales engineer, technical sales…
They usually ask for: A degree in engineering (mechanical, electrical, electronic…

Approximate graduate salary

Typically around £26,000–£35,000 to start, often with commission or bonus on top, though this varies widely by sector, employer size and location – software and technology roles and London-based positions tend to sit at or above the upper end, while regional industrial distributors often start lower with more of the package coming from commission. A company car or car allowance is common in field-based roles.

What you'd actually do

Visiting customer sites or joining video calls to understand a technical requirement – for example, what tolerances a component needs to meet, what the existing system looks like, or what data a piece of software has to handle
Running demonstrations: setting up a trial of a machine, a sample test, a software proof-of-concept, or walking a customer's technical staff through how the product performs
Writing or contributing to quotes, tenders and proposals, including the technical sections that explain specification, compatibility and compliance
Answering incoming technical questions from customers and from the company's own salespeople – why a product failed in service, whether a part will fit, whether it meets a particular standard

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Feeding customer requirements back to internal engineering, design or product teams, and sometimes specifying a modified or custom version of a standard product
Keeping records in a CRM system (customer relationship management software – the database of accounts, contacts and deals), chasing quotes and following up leads
Attending trade shows, supplier training days and manufacturer product courses to keep up with what the company and its competitors sell

How graduates get in

Direct entry as a graduate sales engineer, technical sales engineer or applications engineer – this is the most common route, especially with distributors, manufacturers and industrial suppliers who hire in ones and twos rather than running big schemes
Structured graduate schemes at larger manufacturers, engineering groups and technology companies, often rotating through design, applications, service and commercial functions before specialising in sales
Moving across internally after starting in design, test, service, field engineering or technical support – very common, and some employers prefer it because you already know the product
Starting in internal sales or technical support (office-based, handling enquiries and quotes) and progressing to an external, customer-facing role after a year or two

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Software and tech companies hire into equivalent roles usually titled sales engineer, solutions engineer or pre-sales consultant, sometimes from computer science or physics backgrounds and sometimes from support or implementation teams
Placement years and summer internships with manufacturers or technical distributors are a strong way in, though placements are more often badged as engineering than sales

What employers ask for

A degree in engineering (mechanical, electrical, electronic, chemical, manufacturing), physics, computer science or another relevant technical subject – the subject genuinely matters here, because customers expect you to understand the product, though the exact discipline is usually flexible if it's broadly relevant to the sector
A 2:2 or 2:1 is typical; large graduate schemes more often ask for a 2:1 and sometimes UCAS points, while smaller technical firms are frequently more interested in whether you can talk to a customer than in your classification
A full UK driving licence for most field-based roles, because the job involves travelling to customer sites – this is close to non-negotiable in industrial and manufacturing sales
Some technical work experience: a placement year, lab work, a summer job in a workshop, or a strong final-year project you can explain to a non-specialist

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Formal sales qualifications are rarely required to enter; training is usually on the job, supplemented by manufacturer product courses and sometimes an apprenticeship-style sales programme
In some engineering firms there is a route towards chartered status (IEng or CEng via an institution such as the IET or IMechE), but this is less common in sales than in design, and is usually optional

Skills that matter

Reading and interpreting technical documentation

You need to work from drawings, datasheets, specifications and standards to confirm whether a product actually meets what the customer has asked for.

Explaining technical detail at different levels

In one meeting you may need to satisfy a sceptical engineer on the detail and then convince a finance or procurement person who only cares about cost and risk.

Questioning and diagnosis

Customers often describe a symptom rather than a requirement, and the value you add is working out what they actually need before proposing anything.

Commercial awareness around pricing and margin

You are expected to understand how discounting, lead times and contract terms affect whether a deal is worth doing, not just whether the product works.

Self-management and planning

Field roles involve organising your own territory, diary and travel with little daily supervision, and deciding which accounts deserve your time.

Resilience to slow and lost deals

Capital equipment and software sales cycles can run for months, and plenty of work ends in nothing, so you need to keep going without losing momentum.

Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.

Where it leads

Graduate or junior sales engineer: typically a period of product training, shadowing experienced colleagues, handling smaller accounts or supporting a senior person's territory. The length of this varies a lot – some firms give you your own accounts within months, others take a couple of years.
Sales engineer with your own territory, product range or account list, carrying a target and running deals end to end.
Senior sales engineer, key account manager or specialist in a particular technology, handling the largest or most technically complex customers.
Sales management – area, regional or national sales manager – leading a team, setting targets and planning territory coverage. This is the most common next step for people who want to lead rather than specialise.
Beyond that, routes diverge: product management, business development, technical director or commercial director roles, applications or engineering management, or moving to a manufacturer from a distributor (or vice versa). Some people use the customer knowledge to start their own distribution or consultancy business. Timelines here vary enormously by sector and company size.

What people get wrong

“It's a sales job with a technical label, so the engineering degree is just a box-tick.”

The technical content is real – you are often the person who decides whether a product will actually work in the customer's application, and getting that wrong causes returns, failures and lost accounts. Many sales engineers spend as much time on specification and problem-solving as on selling.

“You'll be cold-calling strangers and pushing products on people who don't want them.”

Most B2B technical sales is relationship-based and repeat-business driven, working with a defined set of accounts over years. Cold outreach exists but is usually a small part of the job compared with supporting, advising and quoting for existing customers.

“It pays badly compared with a design or software engineering job.”

Base salaries are often comparable, and commission or bonus means total earnings in a good year can exceed equivalent technical roles – though the variable element also means income is less predictable, and commission structures differ hugely between employers.

“Once you go into sales you can't go back to engineering.”

It's harder the longer you leave it, and you will fall behind on hands-on design skills, but moves into applications engineering, product management and technical consultancy are common precisely because you understand both the product and the customer.

Where this varies

Practice differs a lot by sector. In manufacturing and industrial supply, the job is field-based, involves a lot of driving around a geographic territory, and sales cycles range from same-week component orders to multi-year capital equipment projects. In software and IT, the equivalent role is usually called sales engineer, solutions engineer or pre-sales consultant, is more office- or remote-based, pairs you with an account executive who owns the commercial relationship while you own the technical demo and proof-of-concept, and the technical depth required is often higher. Company size matters too: at a small distributor you may handle everything from quote to after-sales support yourself, while at a large manufacturer the role is narrower and backed by dedicated applications, bid and service teams. Pay structures also vary – some roles are mostly basic salary with a modest bonus, others have a significant uncapped commission element.

See all 19 live Sales Engineer jobsFrom employers' own careers sites, updated daily Tailor your CV for this roleFree with an account, 3 a month

General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.