Situation - My company has a small 5-person office in Raleigh that specializes in high-end commercial and industrial light fixture sales. My boss brought me in because I was young, reasonably tech savvy (translation - grew up in the internet age), and had an engineering background (albeit in Environmental Engineering). Essentially he's looking for someone more of the same in a new hire. The goal is to slowly hire what will become the foundation of the company 5, 10, 20 years down the road. Things are changing fast thanks to the influx of LED products and lighting controls, both of which are the future of the industry.

So to recap, we need someone who:
- Has an engineering degree
- self-motivated - ready to absorb info about lights, particularly LEDs and controls
- is willing and able to (potentially) make a long-term commitment
- is Experienced in Microsoft Outlook, Excel, and Google Docs
- is personable - able to chat with clients when needed.

Extras (nice but not necessary)
- Electrical engineering degree and/or experience
- sales experience

If interested please contact me at tj DOT murray AT qlsnc DOT com to apply.

2/5/2013 5:42:15 PM

an engineer in sales?

2/5/2013 5:47:40 PM

Yeah I made it deliberately vague because, to be honest, the job responsibilities will vary a lot. Essentially my boss wants an engineer not for technical know-how, but so that they can explain things to usually dim-witted clients.

If you're looking for engineering design work, then this isn't what you're looking for. If you're an engineer that's more interested in the management side of the business, I'd give it a look.

2/5/2013 5:57:33 PM

What's the pay range?

2/5/2013 6:12:44 PM

what exactly about this job requires any kind of degree?

2/5/2013 7:51:48 PM

so kinda an introductory position?

I'm not sure if we have any young lurkers but most of the TWW engineers are in the mid to upper engineer salary ranges these days.

2/6/2013 7:40:48 AM

I am a "young lurker", just graduated with a business degree. Still seeking an entry level position where I can prove myself.

2/6/2013 9:49:16 AM

Quote :

"most of the TWW engineers are in the mid to upper engineer salary ranges these days."

Indeed. I'm good where I am, but I have a couple friends/colleagues that might be looking to make a change. However, these are all Applications Engineers (Hybrid Sales/Engineering) with 7+ years of experience that comes with a price tag.

What's the location?
Travel requirements?
Salary range?

2/6/2013 10:01:08 AM

Id be interested depending on the salary. Got a ME but have been more involved on the business side of pharmaceutical manufacturing. Can you at least give a ball park salary? > or < $100,000??

2/6/2013 12:14:15 PM

My guess is 35-40k.

2/6/2013 12:24:14 PM

Quote :

"Can you at least give a ball park salary? > or < $100,000??"

The job is selling light fixtures, does this question even need answering?

2/6/2013 12:33:18 PM

^

2/6/2013 12:42:13 PM

selling light fixtures for certain companies can be worth $texas.

the guy who sold to my project got a 20k bonus on top of a pretty decent sales salary

2/6/2013 2:20:49 PM

Hire Jared.

2/6/2013 2:51:07 PM

Quote :

" Can you at least give a ball park salary? > or < $100,000??"

That should be obvious.

2/6/2013 3:38:59 PM

>< 60k?

2/6/2013 4:12:28 PM

Quote :

"selling light fixtures for certain companies can be worth $texas."

selling almost anything is lucrative if you're good at it. If this is a relatively new startup the base salary is probably low, with high commission possibilities.

2/6/2013 4:20:31 PM

$texas indeed.

I currently work for an aerospace company and they are spending megabucks to improve lighting in its facility. FAA is calling it audit findings on poor lighting.

2/6/2013 6:49:05 PM

sounds like hes looking for one of those bottom 25% engineering graduates who could barely get the degree, and isn't really competitive for an actual engineering job. nothing wrong with that tho

2/7/2013 12:29:45 PM

Sorry for the delay in posts, hectic week.

We're looking for recent grads ideally. This is more along the lines of an entry level position, someone just starting out looking to get a foot in the door...

... or a laid off ex-environmental engineer (me) that just needs a damn job

2/15/2013 4:18:03 PM

Quote :

"Essentially my boss wants an engineer not for technical know-how, but so that they can explain things to usually dim-witted clients. "

Respectfully, it doesn't sound like you need an engineer...sounds like you need a salesperson who is willing to understand their product in order to sell it well. Five salespeople & one engineer to answer the rare but truly nuanced engineering questions should fit the salary cap & get product sold, imho.

2/16/2013 12:30:23 AM

Quote :

"what exactly about this job requires any kind of degree?"

2/16/2013 9:47:09 AM

Lots of salespeople in construction/industry have engineering degrees, you'll even see some PE's as project engineers spec'ing products and giving quotes. Its helpful because they usually work with the engineers who write specifications, and if you get the engineering to write your product into the spec that's going to make it easier for you.

All kinds of industries and positions look for engineers to do things other than engineering, you guys are hung up on something that's completely normal and understandable.

2/16/2013 10:28:08 AM

I said requires. Of course I'd want everyone to be overqualified for my job openings, but that's not the point.

2/16/2013 11:05:37 AM

^ I think you just aren't familiar with the engineering industry maybe. AT LEAST half of the salespeople I deal with at the vendors I procure equipment from at my engineering job also have engineering degrees. 75%+ of the salespeople at my consulting firm have engineering degrees (many PEs).

It is extremely common and isn't considered overqualified at all. Being a salesperson may not "require" a degree, but the most successful ones have that engineering background because engineers prefer to work with a salesperson that actually knows the equipment they are selling, not someone who can read off the sales brochure or wait a week for a salesperson to ask their application engineer a question and get back to you.

So, while a degree isn't REQUIRED, most successful engineering related salespeople I deal with have engineering backgrounds. As an engineer myself I prefer to work with the vendors who utilize salespeople with the technical background to answer my questions vs the vendors who use salespeople supported by one application engineer. Maybe that's juts me though.

[Edited on February 16, 2013 at 12:38 PM. Reason : ]

2/16/2013 12:32:00 PM

I'd say those guys are engineers first, salesmen second though amirite

2/16/2013 12:53:08 PM

^^ I'm an engineer and a solutions architect recently transitioned from an internal development role to one largely involved in pre-sales. The sales people have their place and interact with other business people. Having sales people know what their product is much different than knowing the internals of how it works and whatnot, which is the distinction I'm making.

The folks I work with who have a 10s of millions in pipeline and the big cap customers are overwhelmingly NOT the sales people with engineering backgrounds.

2/16/2013 1:01:08 PM

2/16/2013 1:23:11 PM

I'm a design engineer, but I really would like to get into a more sales oriented engineering position. I hate being cooped up in the office all day, I actively try to go out on site visits and client meetings so get some human interaction, lol

2/17/2013 11:58:50 AM

Quote :

"^^ I'm an engineer and a solutions architect recently transitioned from an internal development role to one largely involved in pre-sales."

but in what industry? judging by how surprised you are by this, I assume its tech related and not industrial/mechanical/construction/etc... As CalledToArms mentioned, this is really normal and expected.

2/17/2013 12:26:03 PM

^ that's my guess. Either that or his experience has just been completely different than mine.

There are still a lot of older "tenured" salespeople sure, but the majority of the people working for my vendors under 40 have engineering degrees and even PEs.

[Edited on February 17, 2013 at 1:34 PM. Reason : ]

2/17/2013 1:26:15 PM

yeah, tech sector is where I am now. I had a brief stint in medical device manufacturing but it was at a startup so everyone was an engineer.

2/17/2013 2:07:15 PM

see, I think it's different in construction-related engineering which is where I am.

2/17/2013 2:11:26 PM

its kinds of important in construction-related fields because so much of construction management is being shifted from the client to the trades. where not many years ago you might see something fully specified, now you will just get a performance spec and lean on the trades to propose a product to meet those (a product of trying to reduce early engineering and planning costs). having competent salespeople with engineering backgrounds allows trades to propose products that meet the spec, more and more engineering is being done at the trade level now. I'm not sure how much detail the OP's company provides, but I've seen RFP's with lighting performance specifications but no fixture specifications. In this case, it would be important for someone at the OP's company to be able to read the performance spec and choose and quote a product that meets those. they may even be asked to provide a lighting drawing (maybe even a stamped/sealed lighting drawing) showing the foot-candles at various places or ensuring that less than whatever percent is reflected or leaked upwards. I've personally seen a customer have to replace fixtures for 100 pole lights because they weren't specified correctly, a vendor with competent salespeople who could catch the mistake and offer an alternate is going to be a huge benefit to that client on future project and will get their business.

and a lot of engineers like it because you can often make a lot more money in sales than in "true" engineering (obviously not a universally true rule)

2/17/2013 2:31:44 PM

you make a good point - if I didn't loathe the idea of sales, I'd consider it. sales folks I work with pull like half a mil before they hit the cap

2/17/2013 5:05:16 PM

^ same here. I have a few engineering buddies who have left for sales and make a killing. As much as I honestly dont LOVE design engineering, the idea of sales is just something I do not enjoy at all so it's not something I ever see myself pursuing.

2/17/2013 7:34:15 PM

Quote :

"I'd say those guys are engineers first, salesmen second though amirite"

This varies a lot from manufacturer representative firm and even sales engineer to another. In my industry, most of the time the manufacturer rep is very contractor (relationship, more sales based, no engineering degree) focused, or engineer (technical know how, directly assist with writing specs and sending them drawings, engineering undergrad, PE) focused. I personally think it's a nice check and balance between the two, both ways gets stuff sold.

2/19/2013 1:27:56 AM

very lucrative industry.

im in it and graduated in NCSU engineering. now im a sales engineer. lighting controls is starting to boom and part of our controls division that is diving into lighting is taking off now.

2/19/2013 11:54:45 AM