Filip Wilhelmsson is Inter.link’s Sales Engineer and in this article he explains what a typical day is like in his role, along with sharing some of the keys to success.
As a Sales Engineer, what does your day look like?
I usually start the day by catching up on Slack and email to see what has come in overnight or during the morning. Since Inter.link has team members across Europe, working in different time zones and with flexible schedules, there are often messages, questions, or updates waiting for me.
After that, the shape of the day can vary quite a bit. Some days are filled with customer calls and technical discussions, while other days have no meetings at all. Outside of meetings, I review my to-do list and prioritize what needs attention first.
Sometimes I’m also working on larger projects that span several weeks or even months. These can involve coordinating with customers, sales, engineering, or product teams, and usually require a mix of planning, follow-ups, and technical input over time.
Of course, priorities can change throughout the day. New customer requests or internal questions often come in, so part of the role is staying flexible and knowing when to reprioritize.
What is your favourite part of being a Sales Engineer?
I’m a technician at heart, so my favourite part is still the more engineering-focused side of the role. Even though I’m not always troubleshooting equipment or circuits directly, I often work on designing solutions for specific customer scenarios.
That could mean working through diversity requirements for a new installation, reviewing routing requirements, or finding the best technical approach for a particular customer need. I enjoy breaking down a problem, understanding the constraints, and coming up with a solution that works both technically and commercially.
What advice would you give to someone entering sales engineering?
Not all sales engineering roles are the same. The role can vary a lot depending on the company you work for, the team you are part of, and the type of customers you support. At Inter.link, for example, the role has a strong engineering focus, but that is not necessarily the case everywhere.
You can come into sales engineering from either a sales background or a technical background. What matters most is being comfortable with both sides of the role: understanding the technical details, while also enjoying customer conversations and the social aspects of working closely with people.
My advice would be to stay curious, ask questions, and make sure you understand what kind of Sales Engineer role you are stepping into. Some roles are more commercially focused, while others are closer to engineering, so it is important to find the right fit for your strengths and interests.
What is one thing that has changed since you started working in networking/connectivity?
There is definitely a much stronger focus on automation and network-as-code in the industry now compared to when I first started about eight years ago. At my first company, for example, we were using configuration generators written in PHP. Today, almost everything has an API endpoint, and a lot more of the network lifecycle can be automated.
I think this has changed the way people approach networking. It is no longer only about logging into devices and making changes manually. There is now a bigger focus on repeatability, version control, testing, and integrating network changes into wider workflows.
It has also raised the expectations from customers and internal teams. People expect services to be delivered faster, changes to be safer, and information to be available programmatically. For me, that has been one of the biggest shifts: networking has moved much closer to software development in the way it is operated and managed.
What is one thing most people don’t know about being a Sales Engineer?
I think many people assume that being a Sales Engineer is mostly about presenting solutions or answering technical questions during customer calls. That is definitely part of the role, but there is a lot more work happening behind the scenes.
A big part of the job is understanding the customer’s actual needs, translating those into technical requirements, and then working internally to figure out what is possible, what makes sense, and what the best solution looks like. Sometimes that means coordinating with sales, engineering, product, or operations before anything is presented back to the customer.
So while the role is customer-facing, a lot of the value comes from connecting different parts of the business and making sure the solution works for both the customer and us internally.
