Side-by-side distribution
Sales Engineer
$161,950
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.5%
- Live roles
- 1,695
SDR
$67,807
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 32.8%
- Live roles
- 2,068
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Sales Systems Engineer
Field Sales Engineer
Full Stack Software Engineer, Sales Platform
Principal Network Sales Engineer
Principal Network Sales Engineer – Service Provider
SLED Sales Engineer Central Texas
Sr. Sales Systems Engineer
Pre-Sales Systems Engineer - SLED (South Dakota)
Pre-Sales Systems Engineer - Higher Education and State Government (Sacramento/San Francisco, CA)
Senior Pre-Sales Engineer - HPE Networking
Highest-paying jobs
Sales Development Representative - Tax & Accounting SaaS
Sales Development Representative (Insurance Tech)
Sales Development Representative - B2B Insurance
Sales Development Representative - Medical Equipment
Sales Development Representative (Insurance)
Sales Development Representative (Fall '26 - Spring '27 Graduates)
Sales Development Representative Lead
Lead RF Systems Engineer (Tactical Comms / SDR / DSP)
Senior DSP/SDR Engineer
Senior Electrical Engineer- SDR Hardware
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
CaptiveAire
|
$85,000 | 36 |
Zscaler
|
$188,063 | 26 |
Cohesity
|
$209,475 | 20 |
Samsara
|
$127,190 | 18 |
Datadog
|
$173,500 | 16 |
Everpure
|
$176,750 | 14 |
|
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$244,500 | 13 |
Sierra
|
$230,000 | 12 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| CW Camping World | $45,000 | 49 |
memoryBlue
|
$39,655 | 8 |
Verkada
|
$62,500 | 7 |
ZoomInfo Technologies LLC
|
$60,008 | 7 |
Piston Technologies
|
$60,000 | 7 |
Getwingapp
|
$10,942 | 7 |
Compass
|
$77,500 | 6 |
talentpluto
|
$75,000 | 6 |
Sales Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | $230,000 | 20 |
| San Francisco | $217,034 | 60 |
| Singapore | $210,888 | 3 |
| Los Angeles | $187,950 | 9 |
| Seattle | $184,150 | 16 |
| New York | $180,175 | 80 |
| Boston | $178,375 | 24 |
| Chicago | $175,175 | 16 |
| Austin | $166,386 | 20 |
| Toronto | $155,193 | 6 |
SDR salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $90,000 | 84 |
| New York | $85,000 | 89 |
| Dublin | $83,161 | 4 |
| Seattle | $81,473 | 6 |
| London | $79,693 | 17 |
| Amsterdam | $79,351 | 4 |
| Berlin | $69,863 | 5 |
| Sydney | $69,813 | 3 |
| Boston | $65,000 | 30 |
| Los Angeles | $62,500 | 5 |
Sales Engineer vs SDR: which pays more?
The median for Sales Engineer is $161,950 per year (typically $119,140–$205,667), versus $67,807 for SDR ($55,000–$90,000). That puts Sales Engineer about 139% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Sales Engineer and SDR 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.