Production
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.
Also called: Bean Roaster, Coffee Roaster, Line Operator, Machine Operator, Oven Operator, Oven Technician
- Median pay in Greater Boston
- $46,120
- $22.17/hr
- Jobs in Greater Boston
- 120
- Massachusetts 2024–2034
- +3.1%
- 30 openings a year
- Typical U.S. entry requirement
- No formal educational credential
- plus Moderate-term on-the-job training
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $39,730 | $45,390 | $46,120 | $51,390 | $58,220 |
10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.
What you’d do
- Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.
- Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.
- Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.
- Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.
- Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.
- Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.
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.
Lower exposure21 of 100
The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:
- AIOE 24
- Language-model AIOE 24
- GPTs-are-GPTs 16
Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)
AI exposure for these machine operators is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. AI tools may help with watching gauges and logging production data. Tasting and feeling products, listening for jams, and making hands-on fixes still rely on people.
Likely to change
- Recording weights, times, and temperatures
- Monitoring gauges and machine settings
Still relies on people
- Tasting and feeling products for quality
- Listening for jams and fixing problems
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.
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Setting temperatures, pressures, and speeds carries over to this machine work. It offers similar pay ($47,730) and moderate on-the-job training.
- Pay difference
- +$1,610 median
- AI exposure
- Lower
- MA growth
- +2.9%
- To get started
- High school diploma or equivalent
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Setting temperature controls and checking products carry over to this machine work. It offers higher pay ($51,220) and moderate on-the-job training.
- Pay difference
- +$5,100 median
- AI exposure
- Lower
- MA growth
- +3.9%
- To get started
- High school diploma or equivalent
Industrial Machinery Mechanics
Knowing how production machines run helps you repair them. It offers much higher pay ($75,200) and fast growth (17.1%), with long-term training.
- Pay difference
- +$29,080 median
- AI exposure
- Lower
- MA growth
- +17.1%
- 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).
No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.
Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.
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- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Bakers
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
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.
Talk to a career coach