sommelier
Sommeliers stock, prepare, advise on and serve wine and other alcoholic beverages.
sommelier sommeliers stock, prepare, advise on and serve wine and other alcoholic beverages. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include wine characteristics, sparkling wines, select glassware for serving, comply with food safety and hygiene, order supplies.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £22,936 a year for Waiters and waitresses (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £18,363 to £27,395 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 9264). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Service and sales workers” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only sommelier, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 5. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Frequently asked questions
What does sommelier do?
Sommeliers stock, prepare, advise on and serve wine and other alcoholic beverages.
What skills does sommelier need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include wine characteristics, sparkling wines, select glassware for serving, comply with food safety and hygiene, order supplies, organise wine cellar. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace sommelier?
Our AI-durability model gives sommelier a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.