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 167 Sustainability Specialist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 7075 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 Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 67.24% |
| Master's Degree | 26.54% |
| Doctoral Degree | 3.99% |
| Other | 17.57% |
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 Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 32.31% |
| 3 to 5 years | 46.88% |
| 6 to 8 years | 12.14% |
| 9+ years | 8.66% |
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 (56.57%)
- Management (51.14%)
- Research (35.36%)
- Presentations (32.66%)
- Operations (31.39%)
- Leadership (28.83%)
- Consulting (25.24%)
- Planning (24.16%)
- Detail Oriented (23.53%)
- Customer Service (22.25%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Sustainability Strategies (14.12%)
- Environmental Social And Corporate Governance (ESG) (25.03%)
- Sustainable Materials (7.9%)
- Sustainability Reporting (16.02%)
- Sustainability Initiatives (24.06%)
- Greenhouse Gas (19.6%)
- Corporate Sustainability (10.34%)
- Net Zero (8.87%)
- Environmental Science (28.18%)
- Project Management (32.98%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Program Implementation (7.68%)
- Office Equipment (15.85%)
- Supply Chain (19.78%)
- Cannabis (7.68%)
- Data Analysis (18.27%)
- Thought Leadership (7.44%)
- Procurement (13.87%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (7.13%)
- Economics (8.52%)
- Data Collection (14.78%)
- Data Management (11.44%)
- Environmental Laws (4.31%)
- Green Building (8.3%)
- Marketing (13.24%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (9.01%)
- Environmental Studies (4.7%)
- Environmental Issue (9.7%)
- Waste Management (9.96%)
- Program Development (8.25%)
- Auditing (13.06%)
- Accounting (14.93%)
- Benchmarking (7.45%)
- Business Development (11.18%)
- Power BI (6.82%)
- Environmental Resource Management (3.72%)
- Sustainable Business (8.13%)
- Finance (11.97%)
- Inventory Management System (7.66%)
- Stakeholder Engagement (11%)
- Waste Minimization (12.79%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Energy Modeling (3.76%)
- ESG Research And Analysis (5.95%)
- Carbon Accounting (7.09%)
- Sustainability Planning (6.03%)
- Circular Economy (4.49%)
- Emission Calculations (4.58%)
- Sustainable Procurement (1.59%)
- Sustainable Design (5.38%)
- Sustainable Development (2.77%)
- Life Cycle Assessment (8.27%)
- Emissions Inventory (5.64%)
- Social Sustainability (5.68%)
- 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) (54.69%)
- Emissions Inventory (12.32%)
- ESG Research And Analysis (13.01%)
- Carbon Accounting (15.49%)
- Emission Calculations (10.01%)
- Corporate Sustainability (22.59%)
- Greenhouse Gas (42.83%)
- Sustainable Development (6.04%)
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.
- Alternative Energy Manager
- Energy Analyst / Auditor
- Business / Management Consultant
- Environmental Planner / Scientist
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 (449)
- Verano Holdings (327)
- Verano B.V. (170)
- Amazon (150)
- Black & Veatch (144)
- WSP Global (132)
- Environmental Jobs Network (115)
- Guidehouse (105)
- CBRE (88)
- Live Nation (69)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (12)
- Live Nation (7)
- Waste Management (7)
- Aramark (7)
- Duke University (5)
- Environmental Jobs Network (5)
- JLL (4)
- Wells Fargo (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!
- Agriculture Data Science Graduate Certificates
- Business Sustainability Graduate Certificates
- Climate Adaptation Graduate Certificates
- Environmental Assessment Master's Degrees
- Environmental Assessment Graduate Certificates
- Renewable Energy Assessment Undergraduate Certificates
- Renewable Energy Assessment and Development Graduate Certificates
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.