Sales and Related
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of retail sales workers in an establishment or department. Duties may include management functions, such as purchasing, budgeting, accounting, and personnel work, in addition to supervisory duties.
Also called: Bakery Manager, Delicatessen Manager, Department Manager, Department Supervisor, Grocery Manager, Key Carrier
- Median pay in Greater Boston
- $58,850
- $28.30/hr
- Jobs in Greater Boston
- 14,900
- Massachusetts 2024–2034
- −2.0%
- 2,540 openings a year
- Typical U.S. entry requirement
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Less than 5 years of related work experience
Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.
Pay range in Greater Boston
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40,760 | $46,770 | $58,850 | $70,290 | $82,430 |
10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.
What you’d do
- Provide customer service by greeting and assisting customers and responding to customer inquiries and complaints.
- Direct and supervise employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking, reconciling cash receipts, or in performing services for customers.
- Examine merchandise to ensure that it is correctly priced and displayed and that it functions as advertised.
- Monitor sales activities to ensure that customers receive satisfactory service and quality goods.
- Instruct staff on how to handle difficult and complicated sales.
- Assign employees to specific duties.
AI and this job
AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.
Moderate exposure55 of 100
The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:
- AIOE 47
- Language-model AIOE 52
- GPTs-are-GPTs 65
Observed AI use today: Substantial (Anthropic Economic Index)
AI exposure for this job is moderate, and observed AI use is substantial. AI tools can help with inventory, pricing checks, sales reports, and answering common customer questions. Coaching staff, calming upset customers, and running the sales floor still rely on people. Massachusetts projects a 2.0% decline in this job from 2024 to 2034.
Likely to change
- Inventory counts and pricing checks
- Sales reports and answering routine questions
Still relies on people
- Coaching staff through hard sales situations
- Resolving customer complaints face to face
Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.
Next steps from here
Related jobs that build on what you already do.
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers
Directing crews and checking work quality carry over. This role has a Boston median pay of $99,890 and projected growth of 7.9%.
- Pay difference
- +$41,040 median
- AI exposure
- Moderate
- MA growth
- +7.9%
- To get started
- High school diploma or equivalent
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
Supervising employees, enforcing rules, and keeping attendance records build on your skills. Median pay is $82,660 in Boston.
- Pay difference
- +$23,810 median
- AI exposure
- Moderate
- MA growth
- +3.6%
- To get started
- High school diploma or equivalent
First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers
Leading a team and inspecting work are familiar. This role has lower AI exposure than retail supervision and a median pay of $61,390.
- Pay difference
- +$2,540 median
- AI exposure
- Moderate
- MA growth
- +3.8%
- To get started
- High school diploma or equivalent
Training near Boston
College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).
1 program near Boston
Bentley University (school website, opens in a new tab)
Waltham, MA · 8.6 mi from City Hall
Selling Skills and Sales Operations · Bachelor's degree
11 completed in 2023-24
Related occupations
- First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers
- First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
- First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers
- First-Line Supervisors of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling Services
- First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel
- First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
- First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers
- General and Operations Managers
- Sales Managers
Talk to a career coach
A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.
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