How to hire a staff environmental scientist

How to hire a staff environmental scientist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step staff environmental scientist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a staff environmental scientist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new staff environmental scientist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a staff environmental scientist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a staff environmental scientist, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a staff environmental scientist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a staff environmental scientist that fits the bill.

   This list presents staff environmental scientist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Staff Environmental Scientist	Description	Hourly rate
   Staff Environmental Scientist	Environmental scientists and specialists use their knowledge of the natural sciences to protect the environment and human health. They may clean up polluted areas, advise policymakers, or work with industry to reduce waste.	$21-40
   Scientist	A scientist is responsible for researching and analyzing the nature and complexities of the physical world to identify discoveries that would improve people's lives and ignite scientific knowledge for society. Scientists' duties differ in their different areas of expertise, but all of them must have a broad comprehension of scientific disciplines and methods to support their experiments and investigations... Show more	$32-67
   Field Scientist	The duties of a field scientist depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. In general, their responsibilities typically include conducting studies and scientific research, visiting various sites to observe and gather samples, performing laboratory analyses and experiments, maintaining records of all operations, and coming up with conclusions from the research findings... Show more	$25-53

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • OSHA
   • Environmental Compliance
   • Technical Reports
   • GIS
   • Environmental Site Assessments
   • Data Collection
   • GPS
   • Oil Gas
   • Regulatory Agencies
   • Cost Estimates
   • Surface Water
   • Site Investigations
   • Technical Support
   • Environmental Projects

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Develop and manage company EHS compliance processes in accordance with current and upcoming regulatory mandates.
   • Perform SWPPP and SPCC studies and monitoring of client compliance.
   • Utilize GIS mapping to create hundreds of maps for hazardous environmental site inspections
   • Assist as health and safety compliance officer pursuant to OSHA 29 CFR 1910.
   • Recognize by clients at U.S. EPA for providing exceptional results while operating under stringent deadlines.
   • Use ArcMap and GIS mapping to create maps for reports and to conduct desktop research for projects.

   More staff environmental scientist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your staff environmental scientist job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A staff environmental scientist salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, staff environmental scientists' average salary in alabama is 55% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level staff environmental scientists earn 47% less than senior-level staff environmental scientists.
   • Certifications. A staff environmental scientist with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a staff environmental scientist's salary.

   Average staff environmental scientist salary

   $62,433yearly

   $30.02 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level staff environmental scientist salary

   $45,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average staff environmental scientist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$89,448	$43
   2	Nevada	$77,222	$37
   3	Massachusetts	$72,958	$35
   4	Washington	$72,482	$35
   5	West Virginia	$70,020	$34
   6	Colorado	$66,234	$32
   7	Minnesota	$66,104	$32
   8	Illinois	$64,817	$31
   9	Ohio	$64,546	$31
   10	Indiana	$61,476	$30
   11	Texas	$60,001	$29
   12	North Carolina	$58,303	$28
   13	Georgia	$57,554	$28
   14	Pennsylvania	$56,055	$27
   15	New Mexico	$54,983	$26
   16	Arizona	$53,030	$26
   17	Missouri	$51,293	$25
   18	Florida	$41,542	$20

   Average staff environmental scientist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	J. Craig Venter Institute	$73,710	$35.44
   2	Burns & McDonnell	$68,343	$32.86	146
   3	Arcadis	$67,854	$32.62	34
   4	REGENESIS Remediation Solutions	$66,306	$31.88	5
   5	PDS Tech	$66,262	$31.86
   6	ERM	$65,534	$31.51	58
   7	AECOM	$65,174	$31.33	152
   8	Dewberry	$64,858	$31.18	30
   9	Gannett Fleming	$64,571	$31.04	6
   10	HydroGeoLogic	$64,521	$31.02	8
   11	Tetra Tech	$64,093	$30.81	42
   12	CESO	$61,823	$29.72	18
   13	RGA Environmental, A Terracon Company	$60,844	$29.25	65

4. Writing a staff environmental scientist job description

   A staff environmental scientist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a staff environmental scientist job description:

   Staff environmental scientist job description example

   At Arcadis we focus on attracting, retaining and developing people who share our passion and commitment to improve quality of life. In return we offer you the opportunity to transform your world and the world around you, that could be through client work, upskilling yourself, championing equality and inclusion or getting involved in charity work, to name just a few. Our people value different perspectives, they care about the sustainability of our planet and dare to shape the future.
   
   One of our core values is 'people first', and supported by our Lovinklaan foundation, we invest in you for the long term, to ensure you reach your full potential. You'll have the opportunity to own your career and work on industry-defining projects, finding solutions to real challenges that make a difference to people's lives. You're encouraged to have a growth mindset and are given the space to develop personally and professionally, building a flexible career that works for you.
   Role description:
   
   Role accountabilities:
   
   Qualifications & Experience:
   
   Why Become an Arcadian?
   
   Our work with clients has a direct impact on people's lives and on the planet. We make moving, living and belonging in cities safer, more resilient and more sustainable. By partnering with our clients as responsible custodians of our earth's resources, we can create a sustainable planet.
   
   We continue to think of new ways to make positive impacts and create better experiences for people; data driven and digital solutions have become part of the Arcadis DNA. Working together with clients and using techniques like design thinking, we can get to the heart of our clients' most pressing challenges and work together to solve them.
   
   As a global business, we have committed to support five of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to ensure that our projects contribute to a better and more sustainable future for all. But it's not just the work that we do on client projects that benefits communities and our planet. As a global business, we are committed to making a positive impact to society by supporting local communities where we operate.
   
   To help protect our planet, we monitor and measure non-financial information to inform business decisions and reduce our own environmental impact as part of our commitment to be net zero carbon as a global company by 2030.
   
   Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging:
   
   We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. We are dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.
   
   Transform Your World

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find staff environmental scientists for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your staff environmental scientist job on Zippia to find and recruit staff environmental scientist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting staff environmental scientists requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new staff environmental scientist

   Once you've found the staff environmental scientist candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new staff environmental scientist. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a staff environmental scientist?