Will AI replace First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers?

What this score means

First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers sits in the middle of the exposure range for Sales & Marketing. Routine parts of the job are starting to automate, but much of it still depends on judgment, relationships, and context that today's models handle poorly. At 53 out of 100 it scores 5 points above the Sales & Marketing average of 48. Across the 4 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 44 to 58, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers, most central first, showing 12 of 18.

• 01Monitor sales staff performance to ensure that goals are met.
• 02Provide staff with assistance in performing difficult or complicated duties.
• 03Direct and supervise employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking, reconciling cash receipts, or performing specific services.
• 04Listen to and resolve customer complaints regarding services, products, or personnel.
• 05Keep records pertaining to purchases, sales, and requisitions.
• 06Hire, train, and evaluate personnel.
• 07Confer with company officials to develop methods and procedures to increase sales, expand markets, and promote business.
• 08Plan and prepare work schedules, and assign employees to specific duties.
• 09Attend company meetings to exchange product information and coordinate work activities with other departments.
• 10Visit retailers and sales representatives to promote products and gather information.
• 11Formulate pricing policies on merchandise according to profitability requirements.
• 12Prepare sales and inventory reports for management and budget departments.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 4 research sources that scored First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026
• 02Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure · 2025
• 03GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
• 04AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

Also covers

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More sales & marketing occupations

• Advertising Sales Agents52/100
• Cashiers41/100
• Content Marketing Manager35/100
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• Digital Marketing Manager38/100
• Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers49/100
• First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers40/100