Re: In a nutshell
"is this a US / marketing term?"
No. It's a sales term. It means the technical person involved in the sale (often called a Sales Engineer/SE) as opposed to the non-technical money man involved in the sale (often called an Account Executive/AE). Someone who's got just enough technical knowledge to be dangerous and is motivated principally by commission rather than success.
Contrast with post sales, usually referring to highly specialised field engineering personnel who have to go in after the fact and calmly explain to the customer why the SE's slick demo might not actually bear any resemblance to reality.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
