Sales engineers
SOC Code: 41-9031
Sales engineers carries a 46% AI exposure score (High automation risk), with a median annual wage of $121,520 and +5.5% projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034 (BLS), affecting approximately 56,800 workers. Full task breakdown, skills, and employer data are below.
Proportion of tasks susceptible to AI automation (O*NET analysis)
At 46% AI exposure, Sales engineers sits 9 points above the 37.2% average across 832 U.S. occupations - more exposed than 82% of them. Most of its core tasks still require human judgment.
Career outlook score
66/100
Sales engineers, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions
A weighted composite of median wage, projected growth, and AI-automation security (inverted exposure), each benchmarked against every other tracked occupation. It describes this occupation's standing across those three dimensions, not a guarantee of future outcomes.
- Median wage A+ $121,520
Annual median wage, percentile rank vs all tracked occupations
- Projected growth B+ +5.5%
Projected employment change, 2024-2034, BLS Employment Projections
- AI exposure (inverted) F 46% exposure
Lower O*NET task-automability scores lower risk; this dimension scores security, not exposure
Home health and personal care aides is #1 of 832 occupations by employment (4.3M, AI exposure rank #392 at 35%) vs. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks #1 by AI task exposure (95%, employment rank #17 at 1.6M).
Automation-risk inventory
Exclusive cut of 832 occupations by PlainWorkforce automation-risk band. Orthogonal to the continuous AI-exposure distribution chart below and to this occupation's single risk badge, this is the corpus band mix, with Sales engineers in the High band.
Credential × growth standing
Bachelor's band with mid-pack BLS pace
Sales engineers shares the Bachelor's gate with 178 peer occupations and lands in Average (378 of 832). Neither the rarest nor the most crowded growth shelf - use wage and AI desks on this page for the differentiator.
Where Sales engineers sits among all occupations
AI-exposure score distribution across 832 U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis). This occupation is marked in rose.
Where Sales engineers sits by AI exposure
AI-exposure score distribution across U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis)
46% Higher than most higher than 82% of 832 occupations
Occupations, banded by AI-exposure score
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more occupations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor) · BLS 2024–2034
Source: O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor); AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis. As of BLS 2024–2034.
Sales engineers vs. its occupational neighbors
AI exposure (horizontal) vs projected 2024–2034 growth (vertical) for occupations in the same SOC group. Sales engineers is marked in rose; the top-left corner is the most future-proof.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 (growth) and O*NET (AI-exposure analysis by PlainWorkforce).
Employment Projections
Where This Score Comes From
Sales engineers's High automation-risk tier is computed from O*NET Database 30.0 task-level analysis, where each documented task the occupation performs is evaluated against current generative AI, robotic process automation, and machine-learning capabilities. A score in the 40–70% range indicates meaningful automation pressure on specific task categories, but the role as a whole still requires human judgment for coordination, exception handling, or client interaction.
The employment, wage, and education figures above come from a second, separate federal source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, matched to the O*NET task data by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 41-9031) code, with the wage figure cross-validated against the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 survey. BLS figures are presented exactly as published, with no adjustment on our part; the SOC-code match is what lets Sales engineers be compared directly against every other tracked occupation on the same basis, not just roles that happen to share a job title.
For career planners, this profile should be read alongside the task, skill, and knowledge breakdowns below and the list of employers whose workforce composition includes Sales engineers. Adjacent occupations shown further down offer lateral moves that preserve industry knowledge while potentially reducing exposure.
Education & Entry Requirements
Top Tasks (O*NET)
- 1. Sell products requiring extensive technical expertise and support for installation and use, such as material handling equipment, numerical-control machinery, or computer systems.
- 2. Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-specific solutions.
- 3. Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements, to promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support.
- 4. Create sales or service contracts for products or services.
- 5. Visit prospective buyers at commercial, industrial, or other establishments to show samples or catalogs, and to inform them about product pricing, availability, and advantages.
- 6. Keep informed on industry news and trends, products, services, competitors, relevant information about legacy, existing, and emerging technologies, and the latest product-line developments.
- 7. Identify resale opportunities and support them to achieve sales plans.
- 8. Confer with customers and engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements.
- 9. Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs.
- 10. Prepare and deliver technical presentations that explain products or services to customers and prospective customers.
Key Skills Required
- Speaking
- Persuasion
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Negotiation
- Complex Problem Solving
- Writing
Knowledge Areas
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- Engineering and Technology
- English Language
- Mathematics
- Administration and Management
- Design
- Administrative
- Mechanical
- Computers and Electronics
Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace Sales engineers?
Sales engineers has an AI exposure score of 46%, indicating a high level of automation risk. Some tasks in this role can be augmented or partially automated by AI, but core responsibilities require human judgment.
What is the job outlook for Sales engineers?
According to BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034, Sales engineers is projected to grow by 5.5% over the decade. Current employment stands at approximately 56,800 workers.
What skills are needed for Sales engineers?
Key skills for Sales engineers include Speaking, Persuasion, Reading Comprehension, and others. Typical entry-level education is Bachelor's degree.
How much do Sales engineers earn?
The median annual wage for Sales engineers is $121,520, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024). Actual earnings vary by location, experience, industry, and employer. The BLS publishes detailed wage percentiles by region in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
What education is required for Sales engineers?
The typical entry-level education for Sales engineers is Bachelor's degree. Employers generally expect None of related work experience. On-the-job training typically involves Moderate-term on-the-job training. Requirements can vary by employer and specialization.
Which companies employ Sales engineers?
Sales engineers roles exist across many industries and employers. Workforce composition is estimated from BLS industry-occupation employment distributions matched to SEC-registered public companies.
AI Exposure Rating
High automation risk based on 10 analyzed tasks. A moderate share of tasks may be augmented by AI tools.
Nationwide occupations with similar workforce profiles
Two data-derived peer sets for Sales engineers: AI-exposure neighbors and BLS 2034 growth neighbors (distinct comparison neighborhoods, cross-occupation).
Similar AI exposure score
Nearest O*NET task-automability scores nationwide (46% here).
- Administrative services managers · AI exposure 46%
- Conservation scientists · AI exposure 46%
- Dental assistants · AI exposure 46%
- Economists · AI exposure 46%
Similar projected growth (2024–2034)
Nearest BLS employment change rates nationwide (+5.5% here).
- Athletes and sports competitors · growth +5.5%
- Cooks, all other · growth +5.5%
- Dietitians and nutritionists · growth +5.5%
- Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay · growth +5.5%
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published BLS + O*NET metrics among occupations with ≥10,000 workers in 2024; corpus ranks above sort the full tracked set.
Related Occupations
Showing 6 of 12 occupations with a comparable automation-risk profile.
What to do with this
Use Sales engineers' numbers above to compare, not just read in isolation.
- Compare Sales engineers side by side against another occupation on wage, growth, and AI exposure. Workforce comparison tool
- Understand how the AI exposure score above is actually calculated before treating it as a verdict. Reading AI exposure scores
- See the full ranked list of occupations with the lowest automation exposure nationwide. Safest occupations from AI
AI exposure scores estimate task automatability from O*NET data; they are not a certainty of job loss, and BLS growth projections are estimates, not guarantees.
Data sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2024–2034 and O*NET Database 30.0. Employment figures are rounded. Wage data from BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).