Side-by-side distribution
Account Executive
$150,994
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 48.5%
- Live roles
- 7,122
Sales Engineer
$162,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 46.1%
- Live roles
- 922
Highest-paying jobs
Wholesale Account Executive, National
Account Executive, EMEA
Account Executive, EMEA
Account Executive - LATAM
Account Executive
SMB Account Executive
Manager, Account Executive - GSIs
Manager, Account Executive - Strategic Sales
Federal Health (VA, DHA, HHS) Account Executive (Remote: DC/MD/VA)
Senior Mid-Market Account Executive
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Sales Systems Engineer
Field Sales Engineer
Senior Sales Systems Engineer, Kasten, West
Director, Enterprise Sales Engineer (West)
Senior Solutions Engineer - Pre Sales (SF)
Sales Engineer (Bay Area)
Senior Solutions Engineer - Pre Sales (NYC)
Principal Sales Engineer – Warehouse Robotics Systems
Forward Deployed AI Engineer (Post-Sales)
Solutions Engineer (AI/ML, Pre-Sales)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Toast
|
$150,000 | 186 |
talentpluto
|
$135,000 | 71 |
Braze
|
$131,500 | 52 |
Zscaler
|
$146,463 | 48 |
BillionToOne
|
$176,266 | 47 |
SpotHopper
|
$110,000 | 46 |
|
Anthropic
|
$414,267 | 36 |
Verkada
|
$209,024 | 33 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
CaptiveAire
|
$85,000 | 33 |
|
Zscaler
|
$188,063 | 32 |
Samsara
|
$124,574 | 22 |
Datadog
|
$137,500 | 15 |
| RL Rithum LinkedIn Board | $130,000 | 15 |
| AX Axon | $146,250 | 12 |
Everpure
|
$176,750 | 11 |
Sierra
|
$215,000 | 10 |
Sales Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | $215,000 | 12 |
| London | $203,842 | 5 |
| Los Angeles | $195,460 | 8 |
| San Francisco | $195,000 | 59 |
| New York | $180,000 | 67 |
| Boston | $176,650 | 16 |
| Seattle | $176,350 | 12 |
| Toronto | $146,552 | 5 |
| Chicago | $142,500 | 6 |
| Austin | $138,175 | 5 |
Account Executive vs Sales Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Account Executive is $150,994 per year (typically $107,500–$232,499), versus $162,500 for Sales Engineer ($130,000–$205,793). That puts Sales Engineer about 8% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Account Executive and Sales Engineer are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.