How To Become A Senior Environmental Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior environmental technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Shannon Farrell Ph.D.

The average senior environmental technician salary is $53,209. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an environmental science major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a senior environmental technician. Senior environmental technicians with a OSHA Safety Certificate certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 3,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a senior environmental technician?

Shannon Farrell Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Your career path is not likely to be one step after another in the same prescribed direction. In today's unique circumstances, be prepared to be flexible, open-minded, and alert for new and unexpected opportunities. Be ready to take multiple jobs in sequence - it is exceedingly rare these days that one finds their 'forever' long term job right off the bat and right out of undergrad. Try things, test, experiment - identifying what spheres of work you like and what spheres you don't like is all a valuable part of data gathering and adaptively moving forward.

If it is hard to find a job in your ideal field, find jobs that provide the opportunity for developing crossover skills: technical and field skills, research skills, writing skills, communication, or management skills. Leverage opportunities to improve and display your executive function skills - planning, organizing, managing, leadership, mentorship, etc. These can all be valuable efforts, even when you aren't working in your preferred scientific field. Be your advocate - make contacts, network, ask for advice, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone (it may be uncomfortable, but you will survive!)

ScoreSenior Environmental TechnicianUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,209

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.06%

Asian 10.45%

Black or African American 9.48%

Hispanic or Latino 16.76%

Unknown 5.94%

White 56.31%

Gender

female 18.40%

male 81.60%

Age - 35

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 35

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior environmental technician

Explore senior environmental technician education requirements

Most common senior environmental technician degrees

Bachelor's

59.4 %

Associate

22.4 %

High School Diploma

8.8 %

Start to develop specific senior environmental technician skills

Skills	Percentages
OSHA	27.73%
Safety Training	15.86%
Hazardous Materials	6.27%
Environmental Compliance	5.08%
Water Samples	4.01%

Complete relevant senior environmental technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior environmental technicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior environmental technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior environmental technician resumes.

Research senior environmental technician duties and responsibilities

Provide contractor oversight, including monitoring of technical performance of sub-contractors managing remedial cleanup projects involving hazardous waste.
Ensure compliance with EPA and OSHA regulations for employee safety and health.
Apply chlorine to water extract from the well according to EPA and local government regulations.
Supervise test team in the field, maintain all records and documents require for MSHA and OSHA.

Get senior environmental technician experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a senior environmental technician. The most common roles before becoming a senior environmental technician include environmental technician, internship team lead and technician.

Prepare your senior environmental technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior environmental technician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior environmental technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior environmental technician resume templates

Build a professional senior environmental technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior environmental technician resume.

Apply for senior environmental technician jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior environmental technician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior environmental technicians rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Senior environmental technician reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2021

Cons

I don’t like when big companies they know what’s wrong and what’s right, but still the destroy, like cutting trees in Brazil and the other side big companies even knowing those trees are ilegal, but still they continuing to porches. There for I can’t understand and I don’t like.

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2020