Green jobs are red hot right now: the number of ads for green jobs (that is, "a decent job that preserves or restores the environment", according to the UN) doubled between 2021 and 2024 in the UK.
As today's graduates increasingly seek employers and roles that benefit the planet and its people, students at the University of Sussex had the opportunity to find out about roles that could suit their skills, hear from inspirational speakers and take part in a mini sustainability challenge at the Green Futures 2025 event on Thursday, 3 April.
A range of employers, including AECOM, South Downs National Park, Rampion Offshore Wind Farm and Knepp Wildland Foundation, shared insights into their roles and how they recruit green talent, while a panel of recent graduates told the audience of 85 students in the Student Centre how they had found rewarding and purposeful jobs in a variety of sectors after completing their studies.
Read on for some of the tips the graduates shared, and scroll down the gallery to discover the abilities and knowledge that employers are looking for - plus there are lots of photos further down the page.
And if you want to know how to boost your green skills during your time at Sussex, take a look at this Student Hub checklist.
Learning from our graduate speakers
Our five panellists have all found interesting and challenging jobs that make a difference since graduating. They spoke about the different ways they had approached job-hunting, and how they had benefitted from the skills they gained while at university.
Urja Chaudhury is the Sustainability Administrator in the University's Sustainability Team, which she first joined as a graduate associate. As well as policy and project management, "for the past 10 months, I have also led the Water System Design Team, one of six system design teams tasked with identifying the necessary work across various assets, infrastructure and service lines to support the ambitions outlined in the Sustainability Strategy, particularly in climate adaptation and achieving net zero".
When Urja arrived at Sussex to pursue her master’s in Environment, Development and Policy, she had little work experience but jumped at the chance to gain hands-on experience, develop her skills and apply her learning in real-world settings. “As the Climate Justice Officer on the Students' Union Sustainability Committee, I engaged directly with student concerns, advocating for sustainability-related issues and organising campaigns.” As well as participating in the Connector Programme to enhance her project management skills, she also worked with a local PR firm through the Student Consultancy Programme, helping them initiate their journey towards Net Zero. “This experience gave me firsthand exposure to sustainability consulting, problem-solving, and collaboration in a professional setting.
“My biggest piece of advice is: don’t hesitate to take up any opportunities that come your way! There’s so much happening on campus, and whether it’s through academic projects, student societies, volunteering, or university initiatives, there’s always something for everyone. The key is to get involved and make the most of what’s available.”
Sandra Juan Delgado is the Sustainability and Social Value Manager for Sussex Uni Food. Her broad role encompasses everything from environmental sustainability (waste management, water use and reduction of carbon emissions) to support for local charities. “Studying for an MSc in Sustainable Development at Sussex opened my eyes to the many ways sustainability can be applied across different industries,” she says.
“But entering the UK job market as an international graduate wasn’t easy. Initially, I struggled to find roles in the sectors where I had experience (academia and the charity sector). After exploring jobs in hospitality in Brighton, I decided to shift my focus and combine my knowledge with my passion for food.”
Her advice to others is to keep an open mind: “Explore different industries and career paths before fully committing to one. There are plenty of options out there, and it’s worth taking the time to learn what truly excites you. I once believed there was only one path I wanted to follow, but my dreams kept evolving, and who knows how they’ll change next.”
Emily Albon graduated from Sussex two years ago with a BSc in Business and Management Studies and now works as a sustainability analyst for Oliver Bonas. After taking part in the student consultancy programme she secured a 10-week internship with SOENECS, an independent research and innovation practice who then offered her a position following graduation.
After a year, she made the move to Oliver Bonas: “I applied for the job where I ticked six out of the ten boxes then talked my way into them giving it to me because I was so passionate. I wasn’t as qualified at the time, but I knew that I could do it.”
Thinking about the future, she’s keen to upskill herself to make herself even more employable in the future. “There are lots of jobs that I would love to progress to at some point, so I am taking the chance to learn about legislation, about policy, about supply chains, so I can take that experience into my next job. That is the reality of being in a sustainability job where things are constantly moving: planning ahead and building yourself as an incredible sustainable individual that you can place in a business… see yourself as the asset and that it is a win for the company to take you on.”
Anand Darshan is now the warehouse and operations manager for FareShare Surrey: he told the Student Centre how he had sat in the audience at the first Green Futures event three years ago, wondering what lay ahead as he neared the end of his master’s in Project Management. He threw himself into looking for opportunities and the Careers team helped him secure an internship with FareShare then, when they opened a new warehouse in Guildford, he was invited to apply to run it.
He says it was the perfect case of being in the right place at the right time – with the right skillset. “When I started, there was no possibility of it turning into a job but as soon as I finished it, they had this opportunity to open a new warehouse. It has been a year and it now running perfectly - it has been a journey!”
Davina Vallabh is a sustainability consultant at AECOM, a global infrastructure firm; she studied Engineering with a focus on on renewable energy engineering in her final year, but stressed that you don’t need an engineering degree to apply there: “The most important thing is that you show a passion for sustainability and that was clear from the modules that I chose.”
After talking to her university careers team, she took a selective approach when applying for roles. “I knew I wanted to work in a top engineering consulting firm so I identified AECOM as a company where I really wanted to work. With consultancy the variety is really good: it's interesting, challenging and fast-paced. You have to solve a different problem for each client and each project, and that keeps you going.” The skills that are standing her in good stead? ""In terms of soft skills, 90% of what I do day-to-day was learned on the job. My degree was useful but it’s been about making the most of my managers, learning the technical content, and gaining experience on the job."
Insights from our employer panel
Want to know how to get ahead in the world of work? Read on for tips on how to find roles with a purpose, from the best sites to search to how to scour job specifications to learn what you need.
Phillippa Morrison-Price, Lead Ranger – Eastern Downs at the South Downs National Park Authority, advised the audience to focus on demonstrating their motivation to prospective employers, whether through volunteering, being involved in your local space, or working with the Wildlife Trust, or the National Trust and so on (they currently need new volunteers at the moment based in Stanmer Park).
One of the key skills she cited was “the ability to communicate with a variety of different people; knowledge isn’t everything, as you can learn on the job, but to be able to conduct yourself well in different environments is key,” she says.
Her top tip? Look at the jobs advertised on the Countryside Jobs Service website, as well as www.environmentjob.co.uk – if one looks interesting, take a closer look at the person specification. “If there are things on there you don’t have, like experience volunteering or a chainsaw licence, then set about getting that experience or qualification so that you can fulfil all the essential criteria and this will help set you above other candidates.”
“When we are seeking to recruit graduates for AECOM, what really shines through is an applicant’s desire to do the type of work that we do, and we will frame our questions to encourage this to come out naturally,” says Sam Shuttleworth, Principal Energy Engineer at AECOM.
“We don't seek to hire people who have done degrees or dissertations precisely relevant to what we do, rather we are trying to identify people with the potential to enjoy and help our organisation develop.
“Before applying or attending an interview, try and make sure you understand how the organisation operates and the kind of work you might be involved in, and make sure you’re generally interested in doing whatever that is! We may also test a candidate’s abilities, be it through technical questions, a problem-solving exercise, a writing exercise or similar, so revising as you would for university work can be helpful.”
Ryan Greaves, Wild Futures Manager, Knepp Wildland Foundation, explained that green graduate jobs in the sector could include roles in ecological monitoring, environmental education, community engagement, research coordination, sustainable land management, and communications around nature recovery.
“As climate and biodiversity become central to everything from business to education to urban planning, we’re seeing a surge in demand for people who understand sustainability, systems thinking, and nature recovery,” he explains. “We’re looking for graduates who are curious, adaptable, and passionate about nature recovery. Communication is key - whether you’re talking to school groups, community groups, landowners or academics. Some of the scientific ideas we lead on are highly complex, so we need to be able to present them in accessible and engaging ways."
“Practical experience, like fieldwork or volunteering, is also hugely valuable. We also value project management, creativity, people skills, and the ability to work across disciplines—because green jobs are rarely just about science.”
Kelvin Macleod, Stakeholder Manager for Rampion Offshore Wind Farm, shared the diverse career opportunities in the wind energy industry. “Success in this rapidly growing industry requires enthusiasm, dedication, and the ambition and confidence to swiftly rise into leadership roles,” he says. “Beyond obvious roles in electrical and mechanical engineering, we also recruit graduates from many other fields like accounting, law, communications, IT, environmental surveying, logistics, business management, health and safety, public relations and more.”
His own career began in charity fundraising before spending 18 years in primary school teaching, clearly demonstrating “that it isn't necessary to have your career path mapped out ahead of you at this stage”.
Keen to know more? He says dedicated news sites like reNews and Carbon Brief, along with professional journals and forums specific to your discipline, were the top platforms for those pursuing careers in renewable energy.
Sussex graduate Joseph Baker founded Arun Ecology five years ago; he emphasised the value of perseverance, explaining that the ability to direct your own learning and develop new skills that were relevant to his sector would be a big bonus when he was considering job candidates.
"We are a small business (with ten employees) and have to think outside the box to outperform organisations with much larger budgets to find the best candidates and talent within the sector. We have found that candidates that can demonstrate consistent academic record, perseverance in navigating adversity and dedication to developing their own experience often have high development potential and are the strongest indicators of successful recruitment... We refer to this as talent that whispers. There is a lot you can do as a potential candidate for free in your own time to develop your skillset, that make you stand out to us, so take advantage of that."
He is witnessing extensive growth each year in environmental consulting for the private sector, something that is reflected in his business. This was also reflected in the fact that the share of green jobs as a proportion of total job adverts increased to 3.3% in 2024 (adding nearly 23,000 available green vacancies), despite a 22.5% contraction in the overall job market. Follow the firm on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date with their latest Sussex-based roles.
Ellie Evans, Sustainability Campaigns Manager at the University of Sussex, spoke about the pressing need to communicate the climate crisis in a way that wasn’t patronising or overwhelming by focusing on the local actions being taken. She also stressed the importance of working with a range of stakeholders to change behaviour.
She urged the audience not to underestimate the digital skills they already possessed and use them to their advantage if interested in a career in media or communications; the sector offers a wealth of jobs with purpose, from investigative journalism to podcasting or video-making for different causes, or understanding and interpreting datasets for a wider audience.
Top tips for making yourself more employable? "Be passionate about your subject and show it by demonstrating any actions or activism you’ve undertaken. And don’t be afraid to identify one key employer and set up a Google Alert or contact them directly to see if there are any roles in the pipeline that could suit you - that's how I started working at Sussex."
More photos from Green Futures 2025
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