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Ecologist : Salary and conditions

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Case studies

  • Starting salaries vary considerably from about £13,000 to £20,000 depending on the employer and your own skills and experience. Higher salaries are most likely in graduate consultancy positions.
  • Ecologists with a few years’ experience may earn between £22,000 and £28,000.
  • Those with substantial experience (10-15 years) could expect to earn £30,000 - £40,000.
  • Working hours and conditions tend to vary according to your position and seniority. More senior positions, as with most jobs, tend to mean more office-based management work. Hours can be dictated by the species types you are working with, for example bat surveys being conducted at night.
  • Environmental consultancy working hours vary depending on impending deadlines, which create busier periods.
  • Job opportunities occur across the country in both urban and rural areas. There is a concentration of those working in ecology in the south east and south west of England.
  • Sites include a huge range of different habitats, from woodland to marine and intertidal environments, such as grassland, heath, mire, peat bogs, river wildlife corridors, brownfield sites, salt marshes, cliff tops, fens and sand dunes.
  • Conservation sites include Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) (birds), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Ramsar sites (see Ramsar Convention on Wetlands ), property of The Wildlife Trusts , land owned by the National Trust , and farmland or any habitat identified as being in need of protection.
  • Summer months are usually busier as work is often seasonal (and conducted on a short-term contract basis).
  • Surveys are generally conducted by a small team, usually two people, although you may have to work alone. Ecologists are likely to be part of a larger multidisciplinary team including conservation officers, engineers, rangers and administrative staff.
  • Field-based survey work can be physically demanding and patience is often required in order to obtain and collect the necessary data. Work is carried out in all weather conditions. 
  • A driving licence is required for most jobs to travel to survey sites. Some positions, particularly consultancy work, require extensive travel in the UK and occasionally overseas.
  • The more specialised and qualified you are, the more likely you are to find paid work abroad. To work overseas, it is important to gain experience in comparable climates. To do this, you could try to arrange a period of research abroad as part of your degree. Other ways to gain experience include contacting organisations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)  and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who offer voluntary work. Many organisations such as Frontier  exist to provide opportunities to gain overseas experience, however you will need to raise significant funds for these programmes. If you have a PhD, there are research positions in many universities around the world.
 
AGCAS
Written by AGCAS editors
Date: 
March 2011
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