How to become an environmental engineer
Official title: Environmental engineer
Also called: Air pollution control engineer, Environmental remediation engineer, Sanitary engineer, Sewerage engineer, Waste management engineer, Wastewater treatment engineer, Water supply engineer, Air pollution control engineer, Sanitary engineer, Waste management engineer
Environmental engineer conducts research, advises on, designs and directs implementation of solutions to prevent, control or remedy negative impacts of human activity on the environment utilising a variety of engineering disciplines. He/she conducts environmental assessments of construction and civil engineering projects and applies engineering principles to pollution control, recycling and waste disposal.
Main tasks
- Conducting research, assessing and reporting on the environmental impact of existing and proposed construction, civil engineering and other activities
- Inspecting industrial and municipal facilities and programmes to evaluate operational effectiveness and ensure compliance with environmental regulations
- Designing and overseeing the development of systems, processes and equipment for control, management, or remediation of water, air, or soil quality
- Obtaining, updating, and maintaining plans, permits, and standard operating procedures
- Providing engineering and technical support for environmental remediation and litigation projects, including remediation system design and determination of regulatory applicability
- Monitoring progress of environmental improvement programmes
- Advising corporations and government agencies of procedures to follow in cleaning up contaminated sites to protect people and the environment
- Collaborating with environmental scientists, planners, hazardous waste technicians, engineers from other disciplines, and specialists in law and business to address environmental problems
Ways in
- University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 4 universities in Singapore
Pay · Outlook · AI and this job
- Median pay: $68,520 a year. The middle half earn $59,556 to $85,524 a year.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Related jobs
- Manufacturing engineer
- Production engineer
- Automation engineer
- Quality control/assurance engineer
- Process engineer
- Civil engineer
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Questions people ask
How do I become an environmental engineer?
Ways in include: Engineering degrees.
How much does an environmental engineer earn in Singapore?
Median full-time pay is $68,520 a year (Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg)). The middle half earn $59,556 to $85,524.
Will AI change the work of an environmental engineer?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg): Resident Occupational Wages (Occupational Wage Survey) (June 2024 (data.gov.sg update 2026-04-01)), Singapore Open Data Licence v1.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Updated 4 October 2026