Running environmental cleanup or construction projects with a heavy environmental scope, you manage the schedule, budget, contractors, and regulatory work for sites where remediation and construction overlap — brownfield redevelopment, contaminated-soil excavation, infrastructure builds with environmental complexity.
A typical day mixes field oversight, agency calls, contractor coordination, and the steady cadence of submittals — reviewing remediation work plans, sitting with state regulators on cleanup standards, working with construction subs on excavation sequencing, prepping progress reports for clients or funders. You're often operating where environmental science meets construction logistics. Milestones cleared and budget adherence are the operating measures.
The harder part is often the discovery problem — every excavation can reveal contaminants that weren't in the Phase II report, and schedule recovery requires fast technical and commercial calls. Employer variance is wide: at large environmental engineering firms you have specialty support; at construction-led firms you're wearing more environmental hats with less in-house expertise.
It fits people who are comfortable in steel-toe boots and steady in regulator negotiations — the role lives at the intersection. PE, PMP, OSHA 40-hour HAZWOPER, and state cleanup credentials anchor advancement. The trade-off is the unpredictability of contaminated-site work — clean projects exist; this isn't one of them.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Construction roles →Running environmental cleanup or construction projects with a heavy environmental scope, you manage the schedule, budget, contractors, and regulatory work for sites where remediation and construction overlap — brownfield redevelopment, contaminated-soil excavation, infrastructure builds with environmental complexity.
Median pay for an Environmental Construction Program Manager is about $107K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $65K to $177K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Judgment and Decision Making, Management of Personnel Resources, Active Listening, Time Management, and Critical Thinking.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 8.7% through 2034, with roughly 348,330 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Program Director, Construction Director, and Project Engineer.
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