Skip to main content

Home / Occupations / Chief Sustainability Officer

Chief Sustainability Officer

Chief Sustainability Officer profiles score highest on Influencing and Persevering. This page covers what the work involves, what the trait profile looks like, what it pays, and where the fit tends to break.

Median pay
$213,990per year, U.S. BLS 2025
Entry education
Graduate or professional degreetypical for the occupation

SOURCE · O*NET 11-1011.03 and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Figures are national and vary widely by state and setting.

What the work involves

Communicate and coordinate with management, shareholders, customers, and employees to address sustainability issues. Enact or oversee a corporate sustainability strategy.

Skills rated most important

Critical Thinking78
Writing78
Active Listening75
Complex Problem Solving75
Reading Comprehension75

Work context

Indoors, Environmentally Controlled94
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams92
Contact With Others85
Spend Time Sitting72
Spend Time Standing33
Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled29
Spend Time Walking or Running22
Spend Time Climbing Ladders, Scaffolds, or Poles10
Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body8
Spend Time Kneeling, Crouching, Stooping, or Crawling8
Spend Time Keeping or Regaining Balance6

O*NET importance and frequency ratings, 0–100.

The trait profile

Where Chief Sustainability Officer profiles sit on the eleven Haliscope traits, derived from O*NET’s published interest and work-style data.

Influencing93
Persevering85
Exploring74
Law-Abiding64
Analyzing62
Harmonizing59
Organizing58
Safety-Seeking57
Helping43
Creating26
Operating18

Who it fits, and who it doesn’t

Strong signals

  • Low Operating. Measures your preference for hands-on, practical work. High scorers thrive in action-oriented roles with tangible outputs and prefer doing over theorizing.
  • Low Creating. Measures your inclination toward original thinking and artistic expression. High scorers generate innovative ideas and find rigid structure limiting.
  • High Influencing. Measures your drive to lead, persuade, and shape outcomes. High scorers are confident communicators who naturally take charge and direct others.
  • High Exploring. Measures your openness to new experiences and curiosity about the unknown. High scorers seek novelty, enjoy experimentation, and value the journey itself.
  • High Persevering. Measures your persistence and resilience in the face of challenges. High scorers push through obstacles, maintain long-term focus, and value grit as both means and end.

Friction points

  • High Operating. Measures your preference for hands-on, practical work. High scorers thrive in action-oriented roles with tangible outputs and prefer doing over theorizing.
  • High Creating. Measures your inclination toward original thinking and artistic expression. High scorers generate innovative ideas and find rigid structure limiting.
  • Low Influencing. Measures your drive to lead, persuade, and shape outcomes. High scorers are confident communicators who naturally take charge and direct others.
  • Low Exploring. Measures your openness to new experiences and curiosity about the unknown. High scorers seek novelty, enjoy experimentation, and value the journey itself.
  • Low Persevering. Measures your persistence and resilience in the face of challenges. High scorers push through obstacles, maintain long-term focus, and value grit as both means and end.

These are what the occupation’s profile says, not a hiring criterion. Haliscope is not validated for hiring or screening, and none of these is disqualifying — they are where a fit most often breaks.

Getting in

Entry education: Graduate or professional degree.

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.

O*NET Job Zone descriptions, U.S. Department of Labor.

Exposure to AI

How much of this work AI can already do, and how much AI tools help the people doing it, is scored task by task in the AI Risk Index.

Will AI replace Chief Sustainability Officer?

Is this profile yours?

Take the assessment and see your eleven scores against this occupation and every other one Haliscope scores. A preview of your results is free; the full report is $10.00.

Start the assessment