Environmental Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

An Environmental Engineer develops solutions to environmental problems using engineering, biology, chemistry, and geology. Addresses pollution control, waste disposal, recycling, or public health issues. Works on local environmental issues, such as polluted groundwater, or global or regional issues, such as acid rain. Works with environmental scientists and public policymakers to identify problems and develop technologies that benefit people and protect the environment.

Job Outlook

There were 375 Environmental Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 10915 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Environmental Engineer industry, which includes the Environmental Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Environmental Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $83,320.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $87,006.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Environmental Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $66,661.

Education and Experience

Posted Environmental Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	74.28%
Master's Degree	26.96%
Doctoral Degree	7.16%
Other	3.09%

Posted Environmental Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	26.35%
3 to 5 years	37.75%
6 to 8 years	14.12%
9+ years	21.77%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Environmental Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Communication (36.3%)
Management (32.62%)
Operations (23.93%)
Writing (22.74%)
Leadership (22.39%)
Planning (21.69%)
Investigation (19.62%)
Research (15.51%)
Problem Solving (14.65%)
Microsoft Excel (14.41%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Illness Prevention (0.04%)
Environmental Engineering (72.6%)
Project Management (35.98%)
Officer Training (0.03%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Site Assessment (7.14%)
Data Analysis (14.27%)
Computer-Aided Design (11.46%)
Chemical Engineering (18.84%)
Field Research (7.86%)
Environmental Laws (20.95%)
Environmental Consulting (7.06%)
Regulatory Compliance (11.51%)
Waste Management (9.7%)
Construction (16.23%)
Auditing (11.27%)
Civil Engineering (13.01%)
Risk Analysis (4.49%)
Business Development (8.53%)
Soil Science (15.97%)
Sampling (Statistics) (13.82%)
Stormwater Management (15.78%)
Engineering Design Process (11.65%)
Technical Writing (9.19%)
Environmental Compliance (20.12%)
Environmental Science (18.57%)
Groundwater (18.77%)
Wastewater (14.59%)
Environment Health And Safety (11.65%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Remediation Systems (5.94%)
Air Permitting (6.56%)
Environmental Tests (2.03%)
Environmental Remediation (4.57%)
Coastal Engineering (2.96%)
Soil Contamination (4.63%)
Sediment (7.66%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Environmental Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Environmental Engineering Intern
Coastal Engineer
Environmental Manager
Environmental Remediation Engineer
Environmental Test Engineer
Staff Environmental Engineer
Environmental Project Engineer
Environmental Engineer Assistant
Environmental Intern

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Environmental Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

CDM Smith (653)
WSP Global (342)
AECOM (242)
Actalent (194)
Baker Hughes (154)
Jacobs Solutions (147)
Barr Engineering Co. (124)
Raytheon Technologies (120)
Geosyntec Consultants (106)
Management Solutions International Limited (101)

North Carolina

State of North Carolina (38)
CDM Smith (32)
Toyota Motors (23)
WSP Global (21)
N.C Department Of Transportation (18)
Baker Hughes (15)
JLL (12)
AECOM (8)
Jacobs Solutions (8)
Actalent (6)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Engineering