Associate Solutions Engineer and Sales Engineer Jobs: How New Grads Actually Get In
Quick answer: Entry-level solutions engineer jobs exist, but they're rare. On November 10, 2026 we checked 90 live US solutions and sales engineer postings at 23 companies. Of the 61 that stated a minimum experience level, the median was 5 years, and only 9 asked for 2 years or less. New grads get in two ways: an associate program (Samsara, Verkada and Appian had live ones), or about two years in a bridge role such as customer success, SDR, support or implementation.
If you're graduating with a technical degree and pure coding jobs look crowded, presales is one of the best-paid ways into tech that doesn't make you write code all day. Companies hire for it under two names, associate solutions engineer and associate sales engineer.
The honest news first: most solutions engineer jobs aren't built for new grads. This guide shows how rare the entry-level ones are, where the live ones were when we checked, what they pay, and the route most people actually take.
What an associate solutions engineer does
A solutions engineer (also called a sales engineer) is the technical expert on a sales team. They learn the product inside out, ask customers questions to understand their problem, and show how the product solves it, usually through demos. An associate is the entry-level version: the same work on smaller deals, with more support, while you learn.
It's a presales job. You work before the customer buys, alongside account executives who own the deal. Post-sales roles like customer success start after the sale.
How rare entry-level solutions engineer jobs are
We pulled every live US solutions engineer, sales engineer and presales systems engineer posting (excluding managers, interns and partner roles) from the public job boards of the companies we could check on November 10, 2026: 90 postings at 23 companies, including Samsara, Zscaler, Datadog, Pure Storage, Sigma Computing, Asana and Box.
| What the postings asked for | Postings |
|---|---|
| Stated a minimum years of experience | 61 of 90 |
| Median minimum stated | 5 years |
| Asked for 5 years or more | 37 of 61 |
| Asked for 2 years or less | 9 of 61 |
| Companies with any posting at 2 years or less | 5 of 23 |
| Postings with "associate" in the title | 5 (all one Samsara role, posted five times: four regions plus a French-bilingual version) |
So roughly 1 in 7 postings that stated a requirement was open to someone with two years or less, and most of those still wanted some experience. Only one company in this scan used an associate title.
What the 2-years-or-less postings said they'd accept:
- Asana (Sales Engineer, Chicago): "2+ years of professional customer-facing experience in SaaS (experience in an SDR, Customer Success, Implementation, or Consulting role is welcome)." On-target earnings $114,000 to $131,000.
- Sigma Computing (Commercial Solution Engineer, San Francisco): "Minimum 2 years of analytics, business intelligence, or sales engineering experience." Base $110,000 to $135,000.
- Zscaler (Commercial Sales Engineer, East, remote): "2+ years of experience as a Sales Engineer or Network Systems integrator." Base $105,000 to $150,000.
- Luma Health (Sales Engineer, AI, remote): 2+ years as a sales engineer, so not a new-grad route.
- Samsara (Associate Sales Engineer, posted in four regions plus a French-bilingual version): 1+ years with customers in a presales or support capacity, listed as preferred, not required.
The pattern is clear: the realistic entry points are a dedicated associate role, or about two years in a customer-facing or technical job that sits next to sales.
Where the live associate roles were
Separately from the scan, we checked associate and entry-level presales postings one by one and kept only those confirmed live. Six were open on November 10, 2026.
| Company | Role | Pay | Degree | Experience | Coding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsara | Associate Sales Engineer, SE Desk (remote, several US regions) | On-target earnings $77,350 to $104,000 | Engineering or CS degree listed as ideal | 1+ years preferred | None named |
| Appian | Associate Solutions Consultant, 2027 graduates (McLean, VA) | $95,000 | Pursuing a bachelor's or master's | New grad | Foundational Java, JavaScript, Python or SQL |
| Verkada | Associate Solutions Engineer (San Mateo, CA) | $35 to $40 an hour | STEM bachelor's required | Not stated | None named |
| FlexTrade Systems | Associate Sales Engineer (Great Neck, NY) | $85,000 to $110,000 | Not mentioned | Not stated | C++, Python or Scala |
| LearnUpon | Associate Solutions Engineer (Salt Lake City, UT) | Not stated | Not mentioned | 1+ years presales | HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL nice to have |
| Canonical | Ubuntu Sales Engineer, Entry-Level (remote, worldwide) | Not stated | Technical degree or an alternative path | Not stated | Intermediate Python |
Five of the six asked for product demos, and Verkada, Appian and LearnUpon described formal training programs. Where pay was published, it ran from about $72,800 (Verkada's hourly rate, annualized) to $110,000 (the top of FlexTrade's range).
Most of these roles are posted once a year or less and close fast. Several associate postings we found earlier the same week had already closed by the time we checked them again, which is part of why the sample is small.
What makes a new grad stand out
By Tim O., a senior customer success engineer.
The associates and new-grad hires I've seen do well were proactive and curious. That curiosity led them to ask the right questions, with customers and not only internally.
Some of the best pivots into solutions engineering I've seen came from technical support. They know the platform, they know how to dig into it, and they know the customer's pain points and how to resolve them.
If a new grad asked me whether to start in presales or post-sales, I'd say presales. It's where you really learn the trade. You learn the platform from the inside out, to the point where you can convince someone to buy it. You're not "selling" so much as adding value.
Before you apply, know which subject to master. Learn cloud environments, because that's where most customers run their systems. Then learn how to probe and ask the right questions. It all comes back to curiosity.
The two routes in
Route 1: an associate program. Apply to the companies that run them, and apply early. Appian's posting was already recruiting 2027 graduates in November 2026. Watch the careers pages of companies with large sales engineering teams and search for "associate," "early career" and "new grad."
Route 2: a two-year bridge role. If you don't land an associate role, take a job next to sales and move into SE after about two years. Asana named SDR, customer success, implementation and consulting. Sigma named analytics and business intelligence. Zscaler named network integration work, and technical support is one of the strongest routes Tim has seen. If you're coming from support, see how support engineers move into solutions engineering. The bridge role counts most if you do the SE parts of it: sit in on demos, run discovery, and learn the product's integrations.
Coming from SDR or BDR? It's one of the most common bridges. Asana's sales engineer posting named SDR experience directly. What carries over is running customer conversations, discovery and knowing how a deal moves. What you'll need to add is product depth and demos, so sit in on as many SE calls as you can. Our guide to what an SDR does and earns covers the role and the path in more detail.
How to prepare before you apply
- Learn one cloud platform. Most customers run on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, so a basic grasp of one makes every customer conversation easier.
- Learn to use an API. Call a public API, read the response, and be able to explain what happened in plain language.
- Practice a five-minute demo. Pick a product you know well and demo it around one problem it solves, not every feature it has.
- Practice discovery questions. Before any demo, ask what the person is trying to do, what's in the way, and what happens if nothing changes. This is the curiosity hiring managers look for.
- Tell your projects as problems you solved. Describe internships and school projects in terms of who had the problem and what changed, not just what you built.
If you want structured help with the first steps:
Affiliate disclosure: these are affiliate links. If you buy through them, CareerPivoting earns a commission at no extra cost to you. We only link courses that match a skill the postings ask for.
Once you're in, the role grows into a full solutions engineer job. Our solutions engineer guide found a median base range of $149,000 to $213,000 across the postings that published base pay.
FAQ
What is an associate solutions engineer?
An entry-level presales role. Associate solutions engineers learn a product deeply, ask customers questions to understand their needs, and show how the product solves them, mostly through demos.
Is associate sales engineer the same as associate solutions engineer?
Yes, in practice. Companies use both titles for the same entry-level presales work, and some call it associate solutions consultant.
Can you become a solutions engineer right out of college?
Yes, but entry-level openings are rare. In our November 2026 check, 9 of 61 solutions engineer postings that stated a requirement asked for 2 years or less, and the median was 5 years. Associate programs like Samsara's, Verkada's and Appian's are the direct route.
How much does an associate solutions engineer make?
Among the four live associate roles that published pay, ranges ran from about $72,800 (Verkada's hourly rate, annualized) to $110,000 (FlexTrade). Appian paid $95,000, and Samsara's on-target earnings ran from $77,350 to $104,000. Roles asking for about two years of experience paid more: $105,000 to $150,000 base at Zscaler.
What jobs lead to a solutions engineer role?
Customer success, SDR, implementation, consulting, technical support and analytics. Asana's sales engineer posting named SDR, customer success, implementation and consulting experience directly.
Do associate solutions engineers need to code?
Not usually. Three of the six live associate roles named a language as a requirement (Appian, Canonical and FlexTrade), and two named none.
Is presales or post-sales better for a new grad?
Both work, but presales is where you learn the product inside out and learn to show its value. Tim's advice is to start in presales if you can.
Sources
Market scan: 90 live US solutions engineer, sales engineer and presales systems engineer postings (managers, interns and partner roles excluded) on the public Greenhouse job boards of 23 companies, pulled November 10, 2026 from the boards' own job listings, which show only open postings. Minimum years is the first experience requirement stated in each posting; 29 postings stated none. Companies whose boards we couldn't read or that had no live US solutions engineer postings aren't included, so this is a sample, not the whole market.
Live associate roles: six associate and entry-level presales postings confirmed open on November 10, 2026. Samsara posts one associate role five times (four regions and a French-bilingual version); it's counted once in that table and five times in the market scan. Canonical's role is open worldwide; US applicants are eligible. Verkada's hourly pay is annualized at 40 hours a week. Job postings close often; the datasets record each posting as it read on the check date.
Download the market scan (CSV) · Download the live associate roles (CSV)