Environmental Manager
What the work is
Plans, organises, directs, controls and coordinates the development and implementation of an environmental management system within an organisation. Ensures corporate sustainable development or environmental sustainability by identifying, solving and alleviating environmental issues, such as invasive species, pollution and waste treatment, or ecosystem restoration, in compliance with environmental legislation.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Implements environmental strategies, policies and practices within an organisation
- Ensures an organisation complies with relevant environmental legislation
- Assesses, evaluates and monitors the sustainability and environmental impact of an organisation
- Analyses environmental performance data and reports back to an organisation with recommendations on best environmental and sustainability practices
- Plans the budgets, timelines and resources required to improve the sustainability performance of an organisation
- Plans and implements programs or regulations for the management, protection, restoration or recovery of marine life, wildlife, vegetation and other natural resources
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in the environment team of a fictional dairy processing plant beside a river. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A year of careful monitoring shows the river downstream is healthier than before
- A plant manager asks your advice before making a change, not after
- A young scientist on your team spots a pattern in the data that nobody else noticed
Hard days
- A reading creeps toward a limit on the busiest week of the year
- Telling a production manager that a good idea cannot go ahead as planned
- Reporting to a regulator while the facts are still being worked out
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 149331, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.