---
title: "Metal-Refining Furnace Operator and Tender"
description: "Operate or tend furnaces, such as gas, oil, coal, electric-arc or electric induction, open-hearth, or oxygen furnaces, to melt and refine metal before…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/metal-refining-furnace-operator-and-tender"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Metal-Refining Furnace Operator and Tender

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-4051 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-4051.00

Operate or tend furnaces, such as gas, oil, coal, electric-arc or electric induction, open-hearth, or oxygen furnaces, to melt and refine metal before casting or to produce specified types of steel.

Also advertised as: Arc and Argon Oxygen Decarburization Melter (ARC and AOD Melter); Automatic Furnace Operator; Central Melt Specialist; Control Room Operator; Electric Melt Operator; Furnace Operator; Melt Room Operator; Melter.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $54,430 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $26.17/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $39,200 to $74,470, with the middle half between $46,080 and $62,810
- **Total US employment:** 16,780
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -2.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,400 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 49/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 16,780 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $39,200 |
| 25th | $46,080 |
| 50th (median) | $54,430 |
| 75th | $62,810 |
| 90th | $74,470 |
| Mean (average) | $55,490 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MN | $75,880 | $76,941 | 200 |
| NJ | $75,020 | $68,949 | 150 |
| NY | $66,440 | $61,564 | 760 |
| OR | $64,410 | $62,316 | 400 |
| WA | $62,850 | $58,731 | 330 |
| NC | $60,780 | $64,436 | 390 |
| UT | $60,510 | $61,205 | 330 |
| AZ | $59,830 | $59,428 | 490 |
| KY | $59,040 | $65,484 | 810 |
| MA | $58,480 | $55,297 | 240 |
| CA | $58,310 | $52,664 | 280 |
| IN | $58,300 | $62,467 | 1,520 |
| TN | $57,490 | $62,578 | 730 |
| IA | $57,030 | $64,983 | 330 |
| VA | $57,000 | $56,378 | 110 |

21 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 36 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/metal-refining-furnace-operator-and-tender/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/metal-refining-furnace-operator-and-tender.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 16,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 16,300 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 500 jobs, or -2.9%. Declining: -2.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,400 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 64.1% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 35.9% |

## What the work involves

- Inspect furnaces and equipment to locate defects and wear.
- Record production data, and maintain production logs.
- Observe air and temperature gauges or metal color and fluidity, and turn fuel valves or adjust controls to maintain required temperatures.
- Regulate supplies of fuel and air, or control flow of electric current and water coolant to heat furnaces and adjust temperatures.
- Drain, transfer, or remove molten metal from furnaces, and place it into molds, using hoists, pumps, or ladles.
- Operate controls to move or discharge metal workpieces from furnaces.
- Draw smelted metal samples from furnaces or kettles for analysis, and calculate types and amounts of materials needed to ensure that materials meet specifications.
- Kindle fires, and shovel fuel and other materials into furnaces or onto conveyors by hand, with hoists, or by directing crane operators.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Control Precision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reaction Time — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.88 |
| C — Conventional | 3.97 |
| I — Investigative | 2.75 |
| A — Artistic | 1.05 |
| S — Social | 1.01 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 89.8 |
| ISTP | 79.7 |
| ISFJ | 72.7 |
| ESTJ | 70.9 |
| INTJ | 69.3 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Heat Treating Equipment Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/heat-treating-equipment-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $48,750
- [Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/furnace-kiln-oven-drier-and-kettle-operator-and-tender) — median $48,040
- [Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/separating-filtering-clarifying-precipitating-and-still-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $51,610
- [Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/welding-soldering-and-brazing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $47,920
- [Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cleaning-washing-and-metal-pickling-equipment-operator-and-tender) — median $43,530
- [Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/extruding-forming-pressing-and-compacting-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $45,760
- [Welder](https://nuecareer.com/careers/welder) — median $53,750
- [Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/molding-coremaking-and-casting-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $44,350
- [Chemical Equipment Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-equipment-operator-and-tender) — median $58,040
- [Stationary Engineer and Boiler Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stationary-engineer-and-boiler-operator) — median $78,620

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/metal-refining-furnace-operator-and-tender