Research, Compliance and Ethics Careers | Environmental Compliance Specialist

Environmental Compliance Specialist

Career Area: Law, Compliance, and Public Safety

Occupation Group: Occupational Safety and Compliance

Salary

Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.

An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.

A typical Environmental Compliance Specialist earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $49,349

*The salaries depicted here are representative of the range of salaries posted in job listings over the past year. Living wage in North Carolina is $30,000.

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $52,836

*The salaries depicted here are representative of the range of salaries posted in job listings over the past year. Living wage in North Carolina is $30,000.

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Performs environmental audits and advises companies on compliance with state, local and federal environmental regulations. Investigates company waste disposal, industrial hygiene and pesticide use practices and policies, advises on compliance issues and reports violations as needed.

Employment Trends

The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.

Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:

LocationGrowth
North Carolina112+9.8%
Nationwide3967+5.8%

Skills

A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:

Baseline Skills

The following are baseline skills every Environmental Compliance Specialist is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

  • Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
  • Detail-Oriented: A detail oriented person is someone who pays attention to the details and can make a conscious effort to understand causes instead of just the effects, and that does this in a second nature type of way.
  • Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft.
  • Microsoft Excel: Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications.
  • Writing: Experience expressing business messages effectively in written form. This may include planning drafting and revising as necessary.

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

  • Environmental Compliance: Environmental Compliance means conforming to environmental laws, regulations, standards and other requirements such as site permits to operate.
  • Customer Service: Working experience with the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.
  • Environmental Science: Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical, biological and information sciences (including ecology, biology, physics, chemistry, zoology, mineralogy, oceanology, limnology, soil science, geology, atmospheric science, and geodesy) to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems.
  • Scheduling: Working experience making schedules, which are basic time-management tools, consisting of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place withing an organization.
  • Legal Compliance: Working experience developing and implementing strategies to conform to rules, specifications, policies, standards or laws.

Distinguishing Skills

Any Environmental Compliance Specialist that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:

  • Water Quality: Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological characteristics of water.
  • Wastewater Treatment: Wastewater treatment is a process used to convert wastewater - which is water no longer needed or suitable for its most recent use - into an effluent that can be either returned to the water cycle with minimal environmental issues or reused.
  • Pollution Prevention: Pollution prevention reduces the amount of pollution generated by a process, whether by industry, agriculture, or consumers.
  • Hazardous Waste Management: Working experience of Hazardous Waste Management. Hazardous-waste management, the collection, treatment, and disposal of waste material that, when improperly handled, can cause substantial harm to human health and safety or to the environment.

Experience

This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Experience Required%
0 to 2 years49%
3 to 5 years37%
6 to 8 years9%

Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.

Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.

Common Job Titles

It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:

  • Environmental Compliance Specialist
  • Permit Specialist
  • Registration Specialist
  • State Inspector
  • Field Examiner

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