CSR and sustainable development careers
Steering a CSR approach, checking an environmental policy, assessing a non-financial risk: the careers of CSR and sustainable development are no longer just about an annual report filed away in a drawer. Non-financial risk cannot be read from a balance sheet: it measures how an organisation manages its social, environmental and governance impacts. These careers now cover roles in steering, compliance, advisory, audit and analysis, spread across organisations that are very different from one another. This article sets out which ones, where they are practised, and which Excelia Business School programmes lead to them.
In brief
The careers of CSR and sustainable development fall into five families: steering the approach within a company, compliance and industrial quality, advisory, audit, and non-financial analysis.
They are practised in the private sector as much as in the public sector, in non-governmental organisations and international institutions, and Excelia Business School prepares you for them through a specialised Master of Science (MSc).
Steering an organisation's CSR approach
The first family of careers involves steering the CSR approach within the company itself. The level of responsibility varies according to the size of the company and how mature its CSR approach is.
- CSR officer: steers targeted actions, often working with a department or a project team
- Sustainable development officer: focuses more specifically on the environmental aspect of a CSR approach
- CSR manager: drives the corporate social responsibility strategy across an entire organisation
- Sustainable development manager: structures the environmental policy and monitors it
- Local development officer: anchors the approach in an area, working closely with local authorities and local economic players
What sets these titles apart is less their name than the scope entrusted to them and the level of responsibility that comes with it. This is precisely what the CSR officer career profile sets out in detail, on the Excelia Business School blog. For a broader definition of the concept, what corporate social responsibility covers answers this question beforehand.
Compliance, quality and environment: on-the-ground careers
A second family, less well known than the first, is also the most operational. On an industrial site, it is the quality, safety and environment manager who oversees regulatory compliance and steers risk prevention. In a production unit, the health, safety and environment manager runs the same procedures, covering safety and environmental impact. In a service activity, the service quality manager guarantees compliance close to certification standard.
Without appearing to, these three careers answer the most common objection made about CSR: that it is a communications function with no real grip on reality. In the field, this response takes the form of audits and measurable action plans, whereas a narrative is content simply to be told.
Advisory, audit and non-financial analysis
When a bank examines a financing request, it also looks at how the company manages its social and environmental risks: this is the work of the ESG analyst, one of the careers that observe these issues from outside an organisation, without steering its strategy on a day-to-day basis.
- Sustainable development consultant: supports an organisation in building or assessing its environmental strategy
- Environmental auditor for CSR and sustainable development: checks whether a CSR approach complies with a given standard or set of regulations
- ESG analyst: assesses a company's environmental, social and governance performance, most often for investors
These three careers look at neither an organisation's turnover nor its margin, but at how it manages its risks and impacts, which makes them valuable for anyone who wants to check a CSR approach from the outside.
Where these careers are practised, and which programmes lead to them
These five families are not limited to a single sector: they are practised in the private sector as much as in the public sector, and graduates can also join non-governmental organisations or international institutions, where sustainable development issues arise with the same intensity as in a company.
Excelia Business School prepares students for these careers through a Master of Science specialised in Sustainable Development and CSR Strategies, which builds in depth on the steering, audit and non-financial analysis presented above. As a sign of how early it engaged with these issues, the school created its first master's programmes dedicated to the subject as early as 1999. Advisory and audit functions also remain accessible from a more general path, before a gradual specialisation: the Management MSc programmes give an overview of the options available.
All that remains is to work out which of these five families best matches your project: our quiz helps you identify, in just a few questions, the management career that matches your profile, before choosing a specialisation.
Getting to grips with the subject before graduating
Two schemes now make it possible to engage concretely with these issues during your studies: depending on the programme, the curriculum includes a Humacité© mission and/or a Climacité© project, Excelia Business School's two engagement schemes, one social, the other environmental. Humacité© has existed since 2004, and more than 10,000 students have taken part in it since; Climacité©, more recent, was launched in December 2020.
These missions do not replace a qualification, but they offer a first taste of fieldwork, useful for checking whether steering, audit or advisory really match what you imagined.
Frequently asked questions
- Which careers are hiring in CSR and sustainable development?
Five families of roles: steering the approach within a company, compliance and quality in the field, advisory, audit, and non-financial analysis, carried out in particular by ESG analysts.
- Do you need a specialised master's to work in sustainable development?
A specialised Master of Science prepares you for it directly, but advisory and audit functions also remain accessible from a more general management path, such as the Management MSc programmes, before a gradual specialisation.
- Do CSR careers exist in the public sector?
Yes: these careers are practised in the private sector, in the public sector, as well as in non-governmental organisations and international institutions.
- What is the difference between a CSR career and a sustainable development career?
The two titles coexist and overlap significantly. What sets them apart in practice is scope: CSR also covers the social and societal aspects of an organisation, whereas sustainable development places the emphasis on the environment.
- Can you engage with CSR issues during your studies?
Yes, depending on the programme: the curriculum may include a Humacité© mission and/or a Climacité© project, Excelia Business School's two engagement schemes.
