A Field Applications Engineer (FAE) is a technical sales engineer, typically found in the electronics, software, or electronics goods industry. FAEs can work for companies that sell products, or for firms that distribute or represent products. Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

While Account Managers (sales people) (wikipedia subject needed) own customer relationships, the FAEs focus on different product lines. The FAEs in a region typically serve all regional Account Managers by providing in-depth technical knowledge relating to their products in pre-sales and post-sales roles.

Pre-Sales: FAEs are most-often used in a pre-sales role to provide assurances to the potential client that the product of interest will work for what the client requires. They are the champions of the product line.

Post-Sales: FAEs are most-often used in a post-sales role to assist with integration of the product into the design/working scenario or to help the customer out of a problem situation with the product.

Electronics Representatives and Distributors also use their FAE resources to differentiate their status in the marketplace. For example, if two distributors both sell the same product, to determine which distributor gets the business, it may come down to who can better support the product during the customer's design cycle.

Background An FAE in the electronics industry typically has a Electrical Engineering educational background with prior design experience in the industry in which they practice. Electrical engineers design power systems. ...