ESG recruitment pace steadies amid long-term demand
Kaizen Recruitment has revealed what salaries ESG professionals can expect in financial services, with the ESG hiring space experiencing greater stability.
In its ESG and Sustainable Investment Salary Guide for 2025, the recruitment agency noted the ESG job market has undergone “notable transformation” in recent months.
“What began as a period of accelerated growth – particularly within financial services – has since transitioned into a more stabilised phase,” it wrote.
Although the pace of new role creation has slowed, Kaizen said recruitment activity remains steady as businesses continue to backfill key positions.
“This suggests that demand for ESG talent, though more measured, remains a priority.”
Looking at remuneration, the guide observed ESG salaries have grown significantly over the past five years, thanks to high demand.
“However, this growth has plateaued over the last year. We believe this is largely due to an increase in the supply of candidates with ESG expertise, coupled with a pullback in demand from employers, leading to a more balanced market.”
ESG directors and executives in the financial services space are seeing annual salaries of $270,000–$500,000+, including superannuation and excluding bonuses.
This decreases to $250,000–$385,000+ for ESG heads, $220,000–$270,000 for senior ESG managers, and $130,000–$180,000 for senior ESG analysts.
Source: Kaizen Recruitment
While much of the public discourse recently has centred around anti-ESG sentiment – particularly from the US – and global geopolitical tensions, Kaizen said this has had little impact on ESG hiring in the Australian market to date.
“Candidate sentiment remains largely positive, with strong intrinsic motivation among ESG professionals to drive long-term change. Junior-level candidates continue to express interest in entering the field, signalling a healthy talent pipeline,” the recruitment firm explained.
Looking ahead, the hiring landscape for ESG professionals will continue to be refined by regulatory and economic drivers, including the re-election of the Labor government.
“ESG remains fundamentally tied to sound risk management. Long-term hiring demand is expected to remain resilient as climate change and sustainability continue to present material risks to business operations.”
Beyond recruitment, the ESG and sustainable investment market is also undergoing greater consolidation and maturation following an influx of new sustainable products launched in recent years.
“Consolidation does appear to be underway, which isn’t surprising given the tremendous expansion of sustainable product offerings we’ve observed, in particular over the past five years,” James O’Reilly, financial adviser at Northeast Wealth, told Money Management in May.
“I broadly view this as a positive step – we’re likely entering the next important phase for sustainable investing where underperforming funds drop off and stronger performers thrive.”
Similarly, specialist adviser and Ethos Australia director, Nathan Fradley, said fund managers that previously viewed ESG as a “hot topic” are now seeking to consolidate their funds amid broader industry challenges, such as pricing pressures and greenwashing fears.
“It’s not the hot topic. It’s now matured and because of that, when [managers are] looking at the economics of the funds they have in general, they’re looking at what’s their specialty and how do they position themselves? They’re thinking: ‘It’s not a hot topic. Let’s realign ourselves, we’ll consolidate funds’,” he said.
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Jasmine Siljic
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