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Engineering | Sustainability Specialist

Sustainability Specialist

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Sustainability Specialist addresses environmental sustainability issues for companies or organizations, including university systems. Develops strategies for reducing energy costs, promotes environmentally friendly production, business or maintenance practices.

Job Outlook

There were 164 Sustainability Specialist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 7033 in the United States.

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

Salary

Many new Sustainability Specialist 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 $91,907.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $99,391.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Sustainability Specialist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $66,234.

Education and Experience

Posted Sustainability Specialist 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 LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree67.13%
Master's Degree26.39%
Doctoral Degree3.98%
Other17.7%

Posted Sustainability Specialist 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 ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years32.14%
3 to 5 years47%
6 to 8 years12.17%
9+ years8.69%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Sustainability Specialist 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 (56.53%)
  • Management (51.24%)
  • Research (35.4%)
  • Presentations (32.48%)
  • Operations (31.28%)
  • Leadership (28.84%)
  • Consulting (25.34%)
  • Planning (24.14%)
  • Detail Oriented (23.46%)
  • Customer Service (22.38%)

Defining Skills

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

  • Sustainability Strategies (14.13%)
  • Environmental Social And Corporate Governance (ESG) (25.23%)
  • Sustainable Materials (7.96%)
  • Sustainability Reporting (16.06%)
  • Sustainability Initiatives (24.11%)
  • Greenhouse Gas (19.5%)
  • Corporate Sustainability (10.34%)
  • Net Zero (8.9%)
  • Environmental Science (27.98%)
  • Project Management (32.87%)

Necessary Skills

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

  • Program Implementation (7.73%)
  • Office Equipment (15.93%)
  • Supply Chain (19.75%)
  • Cannabis (7.72%)
  • Data Analysis (18.37%)
  • Thought Leadership (7.46%)
  • Procurement (13.95%)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (7.22%)
  • Economics (8.51%)
  • Data Collection (14.7%)
  • Data Management (11.45%)
  • Environmental Laws (4.33%)
  • Green Building (8.26%)
  • Marketing (13.32%)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (9.05%)
  • Environmental Studies (4.75%)
  • Environmental Issue (9.77%)
  • Waste Management (10.01%)
  • Program Development (8.28%)
  • Auditing (13.08%)
  • Accounting (15.04%)
  • Benchmarking (7.44%)
  • Business Development (11.2%)
  • Power BI (6.85%)
  • Environmental Resource Management (3.74%)
  • Sustainable Business (8.11%)
  • Finance (11.97%)
  • Inventory Management System (7.69%)
  • Stakeholder Engagement (11.09%)
  • Waste Minimization (12.85%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Energy Modeling (3.8%)
  • ESG Research And Analysis (5.94%)
  • Carbon Accounting (7.08%)
  • Sustainability Planning (5.99%)
  • Circular Economy (4.53%)
  • Emission Calculations (4.6%)
  • Sustainable Procurement (1.58%)
  • Sustainable Design (5.42%)
  • Sustainable Development (2.8%)
  • Life Cycle Assessment (8.11%)
  • Emissions Inventory (5.68%)
  • Social Sustainability (5.73%)
  • Passive House (1.06%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

  • Environmental Social And Corporate Governance (ESG) (46.97%)
  • Energy Modeling (7.07%)
  • ESG Research And Analysis (11.06%)
  • Sustainability Initiatives (44.88%)
  • Sustainability Planning (11.14%)
  • Sustainability Reporting (29.89%)

Alternative Job Titles

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

  • Sustainability Analyst
  • Sustainability Consultant
  • Sustainability Advisor
  • Sustainability Manager
  • Sustainability Associate
  • Sustainability Coordinator
  • Sustainability Intern
  • Energy and Sustainability Manager
  • Product Manager

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 Sustainability Specialist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Waste Management (450)
  • Verano Holdings (327)
  • Verano B.V. (170)
  • Amazon (149)
  • Black & Veatch (144)
  • WSP Global (131)
  • Environmental Jobs Network (115)
  • Guidehouse (105)
  • CBRE (88)
  • Live Nation (71)

North Carolina

  • Black & Veatch (12)
  • Live Nation (7)
  • Waste Management (7)
  • Aramark (7)
  • Environmental Jobs Network (5)
  • JLL (4)
  • Wells Fargo (4)
  • Duke University (4)
  • First Horizon (4)
  • Lenovo (3)

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!