Low work engagement remains a pressing concern in the global economy, particularly in high-demand sectors such as business-to-business (B2B) pharmaceutical sales. In Germany’s highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, sustaining salesperson engagement is imperative, given the substantial financial and operational implications of turnover. While prior research has extensively examined work engagement, limited empirical attention has been directed toward the role of personal psychological resources in enhancing engagement among B2B sales professionals. This study investigates the relationships between emotional intelligence ability (EI-Ability), subjective well-being (SSuWB), resilience (SR), and work engagement (SWE) among salespersons within Germany’s pharmaceutical B2B sector. Grounded in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, the study further explores the mediating roles of SSuWB and SR in the EI–SWE linkage. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was administered to 375 salespersons employed in pharmaceutical firms across North Rhine-Westphalia, with 340 valid responses obtained via simple random sampling. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that EI-Ability positively and significantly affects SSuWB, SR, and SWE. Both SSuWB and SR also positively influence SWE and partially mediate the relationship between EI-Ability and SWE. Notably, EI-Ability accounts for 81% of the variance in resilience and 49% in SSuWB, while the combined predictors explain 75% of the variance in SWE