Side-by-side distribution
BDR
$71,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.7%
- Live roles
- 1,067
Sales Engineer
$162,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 46.1%
- Live roles
- 922
Highest-paying jobs
BDR Manager
BDR Manager
Manager (Head of), Business Development Representatives (BDR)
BDR Manager
Technical BDR
Lead Marketer, BDR Revenue Marketing — Upmarket
Global Business Development Representative
Experienced Business Development Representative
BDR Enablement Lead
Senior Manager, BDR Operations & Strategy
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
HubSpot
|
$66,075 | 14 |
ICBD
|
$142,500 | 13 |
Notion
|
$80,745 | 8 |
talentpluto
|
$80,000 | 8 |
Block
|
$63,700 | 8 |
Fivetran
|
$79,320 | 6 |
Valsoft Corporation
|
$57,500 | 5 |
Teleperformance Spain
|
$28,620 | 5 |
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 |
BDR salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $97,500 | 39 |
| New York | $81,750 | 92 |
| London | $76,781 | 12 |
| Los Angeles | $75,300 | 4 |
| Boston | $71,750 | 10 |
| Denver | $66,300 | 19 |
| Dublin | $66,075 | 18 |
| Paris | $65,863 | 4 |
| Atlanta | $65,520 | 5 |
| Chicago | $65,000 | 13 |
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 |
BDR vs Sales Engineer: which pays more?
The median for BDR is $71,500 per year (typically $58,232–$90,000), versus $162,500 for Sales Engineer ($130,000–$205,793). That puts Sales Engineer about 127% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so BDR 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.