From Sales to Field Engineering: How Alessandro Built His Career at Hilti

Written in collaboration with Alessandro Conte, and the employer brand team

A Career Transition Built Through Experience

For many people, choosing a career path can feel like choosing one direction for good, like sales or engineering, business or technical.

But at Hilti, that journey does not always have to be linear. People are encouraged to explore, develop new skills, and grow into roles that match both their strengths and the value they can create.

Alessandro Conte’s story is a strong example of that. He joined Hilti more than eight years ago with an engineering degree and a technical background, but his first role was in sales. Through the Growth at Hilti program, he spent nearly three years as an Account Manager before transitioning into a Field Engineer role. Today, he supports customers across northern Italy in the energy and industry sector.

His path may not have been conventional, but it was intentional.

"Through my sales experience, I realized that my strength was connecting business needs with technical solutions," Alessandro said. "This naturally led me towards the role of a field engineer."

His journey shows how Hilti's approach to development actively shapes career growth, giving people the space to explore, learn, and evolve beyond the role they started with.

Starting in Sales to Build the Right Foundation

When Alessandro joined Hilti through the Growth at Hilti program, he knew he'd eventually move into a technical role, but starting as an Account Manager was an intentional move to build a stronger foundation first.

Joining the Growth at Hilti program played a key role in my personal and professional path, it gave me a broad perspective of the company and the market from the very beginning.

As an Account Manager, Alessandro worked directly with customers in the field, planning daily activities, conducting site visits, and delivering hands-on product demonstrations. The role taught him how to listen, ask the right questions, and understand customer needs in ways that went far beyond product specifications. 

"It's not just about selling products," he explained. "It's about strengthening the relationship with the customer and showing them how Hilti can be a reliable partner."

That customer-facing experience became an important part of his future work in engineering. In complex industrial projects, technical knowledge alone isn't enough. It’s helpful to understand cost constraints, project dynamics, and operational priorities.

"In the energy and industry sector, it's often not about the price," Alessandro said. "It's about safety, support, and the presence you can ensure to the customer. They're very confident when they know Hilti is their partner."

Moving Closer to Engineering

The shift from sales to engineering did not happen overnight. It developed gradually through curiosity, initiative, and a growing interest in the technical side of Hilti’s solutions.

Alessandro invested time in learning more about technical applications, worked closely with Field Engineers, attended technical training sessions, and became increasingly involved in discussions with customers and designers.

My goal was not just to sell, but to become a consultant. I felt the need to get closer and closer to the technical side of our solutions since day one.

That interest, together with support from experienced colleagues and structured feedback through Hilti’s Development Center, helped clarify his next step.

The Development Center gave him clearer feedback on his strengths, areas of opportunity, and areas where he could best express his potential. For Alessandro, it confirmed what he had already started to understand through experience, his strength was bridging business needs with technical solutions, and the Field Engineer role would allow him to do exactly that.

Navigating Change While Growing into a New Role

Alessandro’s move from Account Manager to Field Engineer happened during one of the most difficult periods in recent years: the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had just relocated from Milan to Verona and stepped into his new role when lockdowns made field visits nearly impossible. Without the chance to shadow experienced colleagues on-site or work as closely with customers in person, he had to rely more on self-driven learning and personal discipline.

What helped him through that period was the same support system that had already shaped his journey at Hilti, experienced colleagues willing to share their knowledge, area sales managers who provided guidance, and a culture that encouraged people to rely on one another.

A lot of people really supported me. At Hilti, you can challenge yourself and rely on the support of people around you.

That support was not only professional, but personal as well. Moving from southern Italy to Milan, and later to Verona, meant leaving behind family and friends and adapting to new environments along the way.

There is a real sense of community at Hilti.

Bringing Commercial and Technical Expertise Together

Today, Alessandro works as a Field Engineer in the energy and industry sector, where projects are complex, expectations are high, and relationships matter just as much as technical expertise.

His background in sales continues to shape the way he works. It gives him a broader understanding of customer priorities and helps him turn technical expertise into practical, credible solutions.

"It's an integrated approach that helps me understand and facilitate the decision-making process," he said. "It's about giving the customer tangible value."

One of the approaches he values most is combining technical standards with Hilti’s OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) model, which helps create lasting value for customers.

One of his favorite strategies is combining technical standards with Hilti's OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) model, which helps create lasting value for customers. He said:

When you have technical standards that Hilti can define with its engineering prowess, and you match this with the OEM approach, you really deliver a solution the customer can trust and repeat, it’s very relevant in the energy and industry sector.

This is what makes Alessandro’s career transition especially meaningful. He did not simply move from one role to another. He brought both perspectives together.

What Career Growth Has Meant Over Time

Looking back on more than eight years at Hilti, Alessandro sees his journey as a continuous path built step by step, where every experience contributed to who he is today. He said:

It allowed me to develop complementary skills from commercial to technical and build a more complete understanding of the business, the market, and the value Hilti delivers to customers.

For Alessandro, that growth has been both professional and personal.

My career challenges me constantly and pushes me out of my comfort zone and I’m constantly surrounded by talented people in an environment where I feel encouraged to develop.

If he had to sum up what he has brought to his Hilti journey in one word, Alessandro doesn't hesitate and said:

"Enthusiasm."

Looking Ahead

For Alessandro, the future is about continuing to grow, technically, personally, and strategically, while staying open to opportunities that align with who he is and where wants to go.

Never put limits to your ambition but be realistic about how you can match your expectations with your path.

His advice for others navigating career transitions at Hilti is to trust the process, lean on the people around them, and take on challenges with enthusiasm. He said:

If I could go back, I would do it all again!

From sales to field engineering, and from southern Italy to Milan and Verona, Alessandro’s story shows that career development does not always follow one straight line.

At Hilti, growth can take shape through experience, exploration, and the courage to move toward where your strengths create the most value.