What does a Chief Sustainability Officer do?

Communicate and coordinate with management, shareholders, customers, and employees to address sustainability issues. Day to day that includes work like monitor and evaluate effectiveness of sustainability programs and Develop or execute strategies to address issues such as energy use, resource conservation, recycling, pollution reduction, waste elimination, transportation, education, and building design.

What skills should a Chief Sustainability Officer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Critical Thinking, Writing, Active Listening, Complex Problem Solving, and Reading Comprehension among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Chief Sustainability Officer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Email software, Facebook, and Management information systems MIS. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Chief Sustainability Officer work?

O*NET records 26 titles for this occupation, including CSO, Sustainability Director, Sustainability Manager, and Sustainable Design Director. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Chief Sustainability Officer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 74% reported their level of education as "Master's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Chief Sustainability Officer role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Chief Sustainability Officer resume example

A resume for a Chief Sustainability Officer needs to show the work itself: communicate and coordinate with management, shareholders, customers, and employees to address sustainability issues. Day to day that means work like this: monitor and evaluate effectiveness of sustainability programs; develop or execute strategies to address issues such as energy use, resource conservation, recycling, pollution reduction, waste elimination, transportation, education, and building design. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

CSO
Sustainability Director
Sustainability Manager
Sustainable Design Director
Corporate Sustainability Process Manager
CSR and Sustainability VP
Sustainability Chancellor
Sustainability Chief
Sustainability Initiatives Vice President
Sustainability Initiatives VP
Sustainability Programs Director
CECO
CGO
ESG Manager
Chief Environmental Commitment Officer
Chief Green Officer
Climate Change and Sustainability Manager
Corporate Sustainability Manager

O*NET records 26 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)
CSR and Sustainability VP (Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Vice President)
Sustainability Initiatives Vice President (Sustainability Initiatives VP)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of sustainability programs.
Develop or execute strategies to address issues such as energy use, resource conservation, recycling, pollution reduction, waste elimination, transportation, education, and building design.
Develop, or oversee the development of, sustainability evaluation or monitoring systems.
Supervise employees or volunteers working on sustainability projects.
Develop sustainability reports, presentations, or proposals for supplier, employee, academia, media, government, public interest, or other groups.
Develop, or oversee the development of, marketing or outreach media for sustainability projects or events.
Identify and evaluate pilot projects or programs to enhance the sustainability research agenda.
Create and maintain sustainability program documents, such as schedules and budgets.
Formulate or implement sustainability campaign or marketing strategies.
Research environmental sustainability issues, concerns, or stakeholder interests.
Direct sustainability program operations to ensure compliance with environmental or governmental regulations.
Evaluate and approve proposals for sustainability projects, considering factors such as cost effectiveness, technical feasibility, and integration with other initiatives.

18 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of sustainability programs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Develop or execute strategies to address issues such as energy use, resource conservation, recycling, pollution reduction, waste elimination, transportation, education, and building design, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Develop, or oversee the development of, sustainability evaluation or monitoring systems, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Supervise employees or volunteers working on sustainability projects, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Photoshop
Email software
Facebook
Management information systems MIS
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Dynamics GP
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Project
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft Word

21 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

10-key calculators
Computer data input scanners
Desktop computers
Handheld computers
Laptop computers
Multi-line telephone systems
Personal computers
Photocopying equipment
Smartphones
Video teleconferencing systems

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

strategic planning
P&L management
organizational leadership
operations management
financial oversight
board governance
change management

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Critical Thinking
02Writing
03Active Listening
04Complex Problem Solving
05Reading Comprehension
06Speaking
07Judgment and Decision Making
08Persuasion
09Social Perceptiveness
10Systems Analysis

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

English Language
Administration and Management
Law and Government
Communications and Media
Building and Construction
Customer and Personal Service
Education and Training
Economics and Accounting

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

74%Master's Degree
19%Bachelor's Degree
7%Post-Master's Certificate, awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master's degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Extensive Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Common questions

What does a Chief Sustainability Officer do?: Communicate and coordinate with management, shareholders, customers, and employees to address sustainability issues. Day to day that includes work like monitor and evaluate effectiveness of sustainability programs and Develop or execute strategies to address issues such as energy use, resource conservation, recycling, pollution reduction, waste elimination, transportation, education, and building design.
What skills should a Chief Sustainability Officer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Critical Thinking, Writing, Active Listening, Complex Problem Solving, and Reading Comprehension among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Chief Sustainability Officer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Email software, Facebook, and Management information systems MIS. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Chief Sustainability Officer work?: O*NET records 26 titles for this occupation, including CSO, Sustainability Director, Sustainability Manager, and Sustainable Design Director. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Chief Sustainability Officer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 74% reported their level of education as "Master's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Chief Sustainability Officer role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.