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Environmental consultant : Salary and conditions

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  1. Job description
  2. Salary and conditions
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Case studies

  • Graduate starting salaries typically range between £18,000 and £22,000. The exact figure may depend on the particular specialist area, locality and areas of skills shortages in the consultancy field.
  • Salaries for consultant grade positions, for those with an average of two to five years of experience, typically range from £20,000 - £30,000.
  • Salaries for senior consultant grade positions, for those with an average of five to ten years of experience, typically range from £30,000 - £40,000. For those at principal consultant grade, usually with ten or more years of experience, salaries typically range between £35,000 and £50,000.
  • Employers often offer other benefits, such as car allowances, company cars, pension schemes and share plans.
  • Higher salaries are possible with postgraduate qualifications, experience and business skills. They are also more commonly attained when working in demand areas such as environmental impact assessment, contaminated land and waste management.
  • Working hours typically include regular extra hours, but not shifts. However, consultancies rarely operate a flexi-time or overtime system. Weekend working is not uncommon in order to meet client deadlines and when carrying out survey work that is dependent on good weather.
  • Consultants spend a proportion of their time out of doors on site visits, with the remaining time being office-based. The specific, day-to-day demands for site work and office work will depend on the project, so there could be periods of time when you are in the office for a number of weeks, and others when you are on site. As consultants gain more experience, the amount of office-based work will increase.
  • The work is often as a member of a small multidisciplinary team, although some contracts may involve conducting solo field work (away from home).
  • Self-employment/freelance work is sometimes possible, although unlikely without considerable experience. There are opportunities for contract work.
  • Increasing environmental regulation means that there is growing demand for consultancy services.
  • Jobs are available in most areas, but more work is available in large towns and cities than in rural areas.
  • 60% of respondents to the 2009 Environmental Data Services (ENDS) survey were male, which suggests there are a higher proportion of men in the environmental sector as a whole.
  • Site-based work may require you to travel within a working day and be absent from home overnight. Opportunities are increasing for work outside the UK, especially in Eastern Europe.
 
AGCAS
Written by AGCAS editors
Date: 
June 2010
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