Application Guide
How to Apply for Climate Adaptation and Resilience Senior Consultant
at AECOM
🏢 About AECOM
AECOM is a global infrastructure consulting firm uniquely positioned at the intersection of engineering, environmental science, and sustainability, with a stated mission to 'build sustainable legacies.' What sets them apart is their integrated approach—they don't just design infrastructure; they plan for its resilience against climate change from the outset. Working here means contributing to large-scale, tangible projects that aim to future-proof communities and ecosystems, aligning personal purpose with professional impact.
About This Role
This Senior Consultant role is the operational engine for AECOM's climate adaptation services, focusing on translating climate data and policy into actionable plans for clients. You'll be directly responsible for conducting vulnerability assessments using GIS, shaping resilience strategies, and facilitating stakeholder buy-in through public engagement. The impact lies in turning theoretical climate risks into concrete, approved projects that protect infrastructure and communities, making you a key bridge between science, policy, and implementation.
💡 A Day in the Life
A typical day might start with analyzing GIS data to map flood risk for a city's vulnerability assessment, then shift to drafting a section of a resilience plan that incorporates state policy guidelines. In the afternoon, you could be preparing materials for an upcoming public workshop, coordinating with a junior analyst on their tasks, and joining a client call to present preliminary findings and discuss next steps—all while juggling progress across two or three different projects.
🚀 Application Tools
🎯 Who AECOM Is Looking For
- A practitioner with hands-on experience in climate vulnerability assessments, specifically for sea-level rise, who can point to past projects where their analysis directly informed an adaptation plan or policy.
- Someone adept at GIS not just as a tool, but as a storytelling medium to create compelling mapping products that communicate risk to non-technical stakeholders and decision-makers.
- A project coordinator who has demonstrably balanced multiple client deadlines while mentoring junior staff, showing they can lead task delegation and maintain clear client communication under pressure.
- A policy interpreter who can cite examples of applying specific local, state, or federal climate resilience regulations (e.g., FEMA guidelines, state hazard mitigation plans) to real-world planning scenarios.
📝 Tips for Applying to AECOM
Tailor your resume to mirror the job's language: use bullet points for 'developing climate adaptation plans,' 'implementing resilience strategies,' and 'conducting vulnerability assessments' rather than generic 'project management.'
Quantify your GIS experience: mention specific software (ArcGIS, QGIS), types of analyses performed (spatial overlay, flood modeling), and the purpose of maps created (for public workshops, environmental impact reports).
Highlight any direct experience with public engagement for planning documents—describe a specific workshop you coordinated or stakeholder group you managed, noting how it influenced a final plan approval.
Research and name-drop AECOM's recent relevant projects, like their work with the Army Corps of Engineers on coastal resilience or city-specific climate action plans, to show genuine interest.
In your materials, explicitly link your background to both the technical (assessment, GIS) and policy/outreach sides of the role, proving you're the integrated candidate they need.
✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter
["Open with a specific reason you're drawn to AECOM's 'sustainable legacies' mission, citing one of their projects or service lines that aligns with your climate adaptation goals.", 'Detail a concise example of a past climate vulnerability assessment you supported, emphasizing the technical methods used and how the findings led to a concrete recommendation or strategy.', "Demonstrate your policy fluency by mentioning a relevant regulation (e.g., a state climate resilience law or executive order) you've worked under and how you applied it in practice.", 'Briefly illustrate your project coordination and communication skills with an anecdote about balancing multiple deadlines or explaining complex climate data to a client or community group.']
Generate Cover Letter →🔍 Research Before Applying
To stand out, make sure you've researched:
- → AECOM's 'Sustainable Legacies' strategy and recent sustainability reports to understand their corporate climate commitments and how this role fits.
- → Specific AECOM projects in the climate adaptation space, such as their work on the New York City Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines or resilience planning for transportation agencies.
- → The key federal and state policies driving climate adaptation work in the U.S. (e.g., the Inflation Reduction Act provisions, FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program) that AECOM likely engages with.
- → AECOM's technical service offerings related to resilience—look at their website's 'Environment' or 'Water' sections to see how they frame their adaptation consulting services.
💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics
Based on this role, you may be asked about:
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Submitting a generic resume that lists 'climate experience' without specifying skills in vulnerability assessments, GIS analysis, or policy application as outlined in the requirements.
- Failing to demonstrate the dual technical-and-communication nature of the role—e.g., focusing only on data analysis without showing how you've translated it for stakeholders or policy.
- Showing no awareness of AECOM's project portfolio or sustainability focus, which could imply a lack of genuine interest in their specific mission-driven work.
📅 Application Timeline
This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.
Typical hiring timeline:
Application Review
1-2 weeks
Initial Screening
Phone call or written assessment
Interviews
1-2 rounds, usually virtual
Offer
Congratulations!