Presented by Middlebury Institute for International Studies
If you’re looking to embark on a development career as a climate expert, you’re probably wondering how much these jobs typically earn — you are human, after all. But without some sound advice on how to land your first job in this area, salaries seem less relevant, don’t they?
In this edition of Career Hub, I have insights covering both sides of this spectrum. AECOM’s Robert Spencer shares invaluable tips for beginners based on his long career working in sustainability. I’m also revealing what we’ve discovered about salaries after analyzing hundreds of climate-related job postings. Plus, you can explore new job opportunities across all sectors at UNICEF, Landesa, and many more top development organizations.
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1. Senior Director, Gender Equality, Positive Youth Development & Social Inclusion
Global Communities
Senior-level, full-time staff position
$138,000-$172,000 (annual gross)
United States
2. Deputy Director (Fixed-Term)
UNICEF
Executive-level, short-term contract assignment
$134,514-$170,003 (annual gross)
Spain
3. Associate Director, Communications
Co-Impact
Senior-level, full-time staff position
$140,000 (annual gross)
Brazil | India | Kenya | Netherlands | United Kingdom | United States | Switzerland
4. Business Development Associate
Landesa
Full-time staff position
$50,000-$57,000 (annual gross)
United States
We’ve been encouraging recruiters to include salary information in their Devex job postings, aiming to provide insights to job seekers and help foster a culture of salary transparency. Our latest analysis focuses on climate and environmental jobs posted on our board so far this year.
Here are a few key takeaways from our analysis:
✅ The highest-paid climate positions posted in 2022 have been based in the U.S., especially from private firms or NGOs. A third of these have a minimum salary of $100,000 and only 4% have a maximum salary below $60,000.
✅ The majority were based outside the U.S. (65%), and many were posted by multilateral organizations such as the United Nations Environment Programme.
✅ Private firms and consultancies appear to be less likely to share salary ranges with job seekers than multilaterals. Exceptions include Chemonics, which has shared salaries for U.S.-based positions.
Read: What we know about globaldev salaries for climate roles (Career)
Explore more: Development organizations face calls for more salary transparency
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When Robert Spencer, who leads AECOM’s global environmental, sustainability, and governance advisory efforts, agreed to share his story with us, I was understandably excited. We asked him several questions about his career journey, as well as what he would recommend to those just starting out in the environmental sector. On this point, here’s what Spencer had to say, in his own words:
“If I was starting my career now, I would be looking to gain hands-on project experience of up-and-coming technologies and approaches. Here, I list just a few of them and it’s with a strong infrastructure applications bias, as AECOM is all about enabling sustainable infrastructure:
Sustainable construction materials and decarbonising the engineering design process for a circular economy in major infrastructure delivery.
Hydrogen as a mobility solution in the heavy transportation sector.
Data science and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to make better decisions about natural capital assets and optimizing land use across clean energy, food production, and wild places.
I would [also] certainly recommend some degree of specialization in a sustainability field early in your career, in order to gain deep knowledge and pragmatic expertise that others must then rely on. That is where you will earn value for yourself and your organization or institution.”
Read: Globaldev jobs Q&A with AECOM’s global ESG advisory lead
Explore more: How to build your expertise in climate change
+ Our in-house recruitment specialists are currently compiling talent pools based on specific global development skill sets, including for climate experts. These lists are exclusive to our top recruiting organizations. Candidates can update their Devex profiles to be considered, and employers can learn more here.
Sustainability Manager
Business consulting services provider
United States
Data Engineer
Development and humanitarian aid projects organization
Switzerland
Individual Gender Consultant
Financial institution
Burkina Faso
Individual Consultant: Evaluation
Health coordinating authority
Philippines
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