Press continuously on face of smooth operator (7)
I believe the answer is:
surgeon
'operator' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'press continuously on face of smooth' is the wordplay.
'press' becomes 'urge' (synonyms).
'continuously' becomes 'on' (eg to keep on is to do something continuously).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'face of' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'smooth' is 's'.
'urge'+'on'='urgeon'
'urgeon' put after 's' is 'SURGEON'.
(Other definitions for surgeon that I've seen before include "Doctor in the navy" , "Naval medic" , "Sawbones" , "Medical man" , "Medical operator" .)