Environmental Consultant (GIS Specialist)
Impact: Environmental conservation, regulatory compliance, and sustainable development.
Applies Geographic Information Systems (GIS) expertise to analyze spatial data, create high-quality maps, and support environmental conservation and compliance projects.
What the day looks like
- People interaction
- Moderate
- Team vs solo
- 60% Team / 40% Solo
- Client facing
- Sometimes
- Impact visibility
- High
- Travel
- Minimal
- Schedule flexibility
- Flexible
- Remote work
- Fully Remote
- Typical work hours
- 40-50 hours/week
- Stress level
- Moderate
At a glance
- Median salary
- $90,000
- Entry-level
- $75,000 - $85,000
- Senior
- $110,000+
- Growth by 2033
- 10% (faster than average)
- Demand
- Growing Fast
- Freelance potential
- Moderate
- Salary growth potential
- High to 40-50% growth from entry to senior
- Typical student debt
- $20,000 - $30,000
Skills you'll use
Hard skills
- ArcGIS Online
- Survey123
- ArcPro
- Spatial Analysis
- Geospatial Data Visualization
- GPS Data Collection
- Python Scripting
- SQL
Soft skills
- Problem-solving
- Critical-thinking
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Organizational
- Technical Writing
Technical complexity: Very High
How to get there
- Minimum education
- Bachelor's Degree
- Licensing
- No
- Years to mid-career
- 3-5 years
- Years to senior
- 7-10 years
- Career switching
- Moderate
Where this career leads
How people arrive here
Where you can go from here
Typical progression
- GIS Specialist
- Senior GIS Specialist
- GIS Project Manager
- Environmental Project Lead
Future outlook
- Automation probability
- 20% to low risk
- AI disruption risk
- Low
- Demand trend
- Growing Fast
How people feel about it
- Overall satisfaction
- 3.9/10
- Meaning
- 4/10
- Work-life balance
- 3.8/10
- Prestige
- 7.5/10
- Social perception
- High