The Tech Sales Engineer position isn’t necessarily a new development in the tech industry, however, the recent drastic increase in demand is placing a much needed spotlight on them. Where is the value though?
A Tech Sales Engineer is a moderately to extremely technical customer facing sales position tasked with delivering one unified vision of the engineering, strategic, and market value of a software product to the customer. They are keystone employees as tech companies expand and as presales becomes increasingly more valuable to the bottom line.
Sales Engineers alleviate two major pain points of a company; lowering the amount of resources needed to be pulled from the engineering team, and increasing the nimbleness of the sales team in one fell swoop! Each company has varied specifications for Tech Sales Engineers backgrounds and proficiencies, so no matter the title (Solutions Architects, Pre Sales Engineers, sometimes even Partner Solutions, System Engineers) they are always spending the most of their time as a wingman/woman to the sales team while they are turning prospects into customers.
The Tech Market Side
The tech industry has turned to tech sales engineers to take over educating potential customers. Startups are creating more and more innovative products and the tech scene has become a rapidly changing environment. As a consumer, people are hard pressed to keep up with every new technical improvement and platform in their market. A tech sales engineer’s job consists of learning their tech market inside and out. This research is crucial to new companies looking to explain to potential clients why their product or service will benefit its users.
Particularly, with the growth of SaaS companies, tech sales engineers are able to communicate the business value of a non-physical product on a technical level. Understanding the landscape of different software and services is the ideal means to articulate why a product is truly groundbreaking. B2B and B2C software integrations are a challenging pitch without in-depth knowledge. A strong technical background allows a tech sales engineer to break down complex information into understandable aspects without compromising the functionality of the product.
The Sales Side
A company hires a tech sales engineer once their expansion has reached the point that either the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Technology Officer no longer has the bandwidth to pitch the products technical accolades to every customer in the sales pipeline. They look to hire people that can serve as spokespeople for the technical aspects of their product.
Skilled at customer facing interactions and communicating software’s benefits, sales engineers are prized for their ability to be brought in at any stage of the sales process to add strategic value and handle technical objections that regular sales folks can’t.
These employees are comfortable talking to both computers and people.
The Engineering Side
Lastly, a tech sales engineer can speak to a product or service’s technical aspects. They are able to speak to the intricacies of the software to clients or customers looking to dive into the actual code. They are able to problem solve any consult on any issues that arise from the future integration to a client’s existing infrastructure; internal or external. Further, they are potentially first in line to ensure that any product updates are implemented smoothly without bugs, feature regressions, or dreaded product downtime.
This engineering aspect requires a technical background most salespeople don’t have. In fact, tech sales engineers serve as experts on the product for both external and internal questions. They act as THE resource for other employees when it comes to intricate questions about the mechanics of the service or product.
If you are moderately technical and you want to regularly get in front of clients as the expert on your software, a sales engineer is most likely where you want to be.
Interested in a sales engineer opportunity? Connect with a recruiter today!