Solution Consultant

A solution consultant (often called a pre-sales consultant or sales engineer) is the technical half of a software or technology sales team. They work out what a prospective customer actually needs, then show how the product can be configured to do it - through demos, proof-of-concept builds, workshops and written responses to formal buying documents. The customer is usually another business rather than the public, and the people they deal with range from IT teams to finance directors.

Starting salary: £28k–£38k
Live graduate jobs: 4 open now
Main way in: Graduate schemes at enterprise software, cloud, cybersecurity…
They usually ask for: A degree in most cases

Approximate graduate salary

Typically around £28,000–£38,000 to start, though this varies widely by employer, location and product area, and most roles add a bonus or commission element on top of base pay. Large enterprise software vendors and London-based roles sit at the higher end; smaller resellers and regional employers lower.

What you'd actually do

Building and running product demonstrations tailored to a specific prospect - not a generic slide deck, but a version of the software loaded with that customer's kind of data, processes and terminology
Joining discovery calls with a salesperson: asking the customer questions about how their current process works, what breaks, what systems they already run, and what 'good' would look like
Writing answers to RFPs and ITTs (Requests for Proposal / Invitations to Tender - formal documents where a buyer asks several suppliers the same long list of questions), usually the technical and functional sections
Setting up a proof of concept or trial environment, where the customer tests the product on their own data for a few weeks, and troubleshooting it when it misbehaves

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Translating between the customer and internal teams - telling product managers what prospects keep asking for, and telling sales what the product genuinely cannot do
Learning new product releases and keeping personal demo environments working, which quietly eats a lot of time
Travelling to customer sites or attending trade events and webinars, depending on the employer and the size of the deals

How graduates get in

Graduate schemes at enterprise software, cloud, cybersecurity, fintech and data companies - common, though many label the intake 'graduate sales engineer', 'associate solution consultant' or 'technical graduate programme' rather than solution consultant
Starting in a technical support, implementation or customer success role and moving across once you know the product inside out - very common, arguably the most common route, because product knowledge is the hardest part to teach
Starting as a sales development representative (SDR - the person who books initial meetings) and moving to the technical side if you have the aptitude; happens, but less often than the support route because the skill overlap is smaller
Direct entry into a junior pre-sales role at a smaller software vendor or reseller, where the team is too small to run a formal scheme and they will train you on the job

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Moving from a consulting or business analyst role, bringing industry knowledge (for example NHS procurement, insurance, logistics) rather than deep technical skill - usually a few years in, not straight from graduation
Placement years and summer internships with software vendors, which frequently convert into graduate offers

What employers ask for

A degree in most cases, but the subject matters less than people expect. Computer science, engineering, maths and business information systems are common; so are economics, sciences and humanities degrees where the person can show technical curiosity
Degree classification requirements vary a lot - some larger employers filter at 2:1, many smaller software vendors do not filter on grades at all and care more about how you handle a mock demo
Evidence that you can explain technical things clearly to non-technical people: a tutoring job, a society committee role, a dissertation you can summarise in two minutes, a side project you can walk someone through
Some technical literacy - comfort with SQL, APIs, spreadsheets, scripting or cloud basics depending on the product. Whether this is a hard requirement varies hugely: selling developer tools demands real coding ability, selling HR or finance software often does not

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Vendor certifications (cloud platform, CRM, data tooling) are usually trained and paid for once you join rather than expected up front, though having one helps you stand out
A willingness to travel and, at some employers, a driving licence - more relevant for field-based roles covering a UK region

Skills that matter

Demonstrating software live in front of an audience

The core deliverable is a demo that tells a story about the customer's problem, and doing it calmly when something crashes mid-session is a genuine differentiator.

Structured questioning (discovery)

Customers describe symptoms, not requirements, so you need to dig until you understand the underlying process before you decide what to show them.

Technical configuration and troubleshooting

You will be building demo environments, wiring up test integrations and fixing them yourself, often the night before a meeting.

Writing clear, precise prose under time pressure

Tender responses are scored on written answers, and vague or over-promising wording can lose a bid or create a problem at delivery.

Commercial judgement about what to promise

Saying yes to everything wins the deal and then poisons the implementation, so knowing when to say 'not today, but here's a workaround' protects both the customer and your own company.

Learning a complex product fast and repeatedly

Products change every release cycle and you are expected to be the person in the room who knows them best.

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

Associate or graduate solution consultant - typically a year or more shadowing demos, handling RFP sections and supporting smaller deals before you own customer meetings yourself. Length of this phase varies widely by employer.
Solution consultant owning your own accounts or territory, running full sales cycles alongside an account executive, and often specialising in a product line or an industry such as retail, public sector or financial services.
Senior or principal solution consultant - the technical lead on large, complex bids, mentoring newer consultants and shaping how the team demos the product. Many people stay here long term because it pays well and stays hands-on.
Branching out: common destinations are pre-sales management, product management, solution architecture, customer-facing delivery consultancy, or moving into quota-carrying sales as an account executive, which usually means higher earning potential and higher risk.
Timelines vary a great deal - fast-growing vendors can promote within a couple of years, large established ones have more rigid bands. Changing employer is a very normal way to step up a level in this field.

What people get wrong

“It's a sales job, so you need to be a smooth talker with a target to hit.”

Most solution consultants are not individually commission-driven in the way a salesperson is - pay is usually a larger base with a smaller bonus tied to team or territory results. The job rewards credibility rather than persuasion; customers often trust the solution consultant precisely because they are not the one asking for the signature.

“It's a job for people who weren't technical enough to be developers.”

At many vendors the pre-sales team is among the most technically broad in the company, because they have to configure, integrate and troubleshoot across the whole product rather than one component. The difference from engineering is depth versus breadth, plus the fact that you do it in front of an audience.

“You'll be given a polished demo script and just run it.”

Generic demos lose deals. A large share of the work is unglamorous preparation - building a bespoke environment, loading realistic sample data, and rehearsing - for a meeting that might last forty minutes.

“The job is all client-facing glamour and travel.”

Plenty of the week is written work: tender responses, security questionnaires, scoping documents and internal handover notes to the implementation team. The balance between travel and desk work varies enormously, and plenty of UK pre-sales roles are now largely remote.

Where this varies

The title is used inconsistently. At software vendors it almost always means pre-sales - supporting deals before the customer buys. At IT consultancies and systems integrators the same title can mean post-sales delivery work: actually designing and implementing the system for a paying client, which is closer to a technical consultant or solution architect role. A few employers, particularly in payments and SaaS, also use it for a customer-facing role that is mostly onboarding and account support. Always read the advert for whether it mentions demos and RFPs (pre-sales) or delivery, implementation and project phases (post-sales). The technical bar also differs sharply by product: developer tooling, data platforms and cybersecurity expect real hands-on ability, while HR, finance or marketing software leans more on process and industry knowledge.

See all 4 live Solution Consultant 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.