Environmental Engineer

Career Area: Engineering

Occupation Group: Civil and Safety Engineering

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 Engineer earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $69,881

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $72,239

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

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.

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:

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 Engineer is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

• Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
• Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
• Writing: Experience expressing business messages effectively in written form. This may include planning drafting and revising as necessary.
• 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.
• Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft.

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

• Environmental Engineering: Environmental engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of scientific and engineering principles for protection of human populations from the effects of adverse environmental factors; protection of environments, both local and global, from potentially deleterious effects of natural and human activities; and improvement of environmental quality.
• Project Management: Project management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria.
• Budgeting: Experience planning how the financial resources of a business or department are to be allocated during the next business period.
• 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.

Distinguishing Skills

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

• Site Investigations: A complete examination, investigation, and testing of surface and subsurface soil and conditions. The report resulting from the investigation is used in design of the structure.
• Geology: Geology is an earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Geology can also refer to the study of the solid features of any terrestrial planet or natural satellite, (such as Mars or the Moon).
• Water Quality: Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological characteristics of water.
• Environmental Remediation: Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water.
• Hydrology: Hydrology is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability.

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.

Common Job Titles

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

• Environmental Engineer
• Environmental Project Manager
• Unknown
• Environmental Professional
• Senior Environmental Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles:

• Water / Wastewater Engineer
• Civil Engineer
• Environmental Planner / Scientist
• Health and Safety Engineer
• Transportation Engineer
• Civil Engineering Manager
• Environmental Compliance Specialist