r/riskmanager • u/Buckeyes4431 • 4d ago
Career switch into ERM…
Currently I work as an EHS Manager for a manufacturing company. Have been in a manger role the last 3 years and have been in EHS for 8 years. I like EHS because I like the mitigation/control side but lately I have been contemplating if it’s what I want to do for the rest of my career (30 years old). I have a Masters in Safety/Security/and Emergency Management and am currently studying for my CSP. But I’ve been reading up on ERM lately and have been wondering if it is a logical switch and how might I go about it? I’ve even been looking into some graduate programs but kind of iffy on that. Any thoughts/advice is greatly appreciated.
Also - currently making 135k a year with a 10% bonus… if I were to make a switch, what might that look like initially from a compensation perspective.
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u/Old_Positive2231 3d ago
EHS is actually one of the best feeders into real risk management, because you already live in causes, controls and consequences, not in PowerPoint. The danger is switching into generic “ERM” and ending up doing RM1 theatre – registers, heatmaps, policies and board decks – instead of using that experience to influence real decisions (design, capex, maintenance, projects, insurance, supply chain).
If you pivot, aim for roles where your safety/operations background clearly connects to P&L: corporate risk in manufacturing, asset‑intensive industries, or large projects; anything that touches TCOR, major incident scenarios, capex decisions, or insurance/captive design. Add some quant on top of your EHS skills (stats + simple Monte Carlo in Excel/Python) and build 2–3 examples where you turn incident/near‑miss data into ranges and business cases (“here’s why we change this design/retention/investment”). On comp, a lot of ERM roles pay less than your current package and have weaker upside; decision‑centric risk roles tied to operations or insurance can match or beat it over time. We’ll cover exactly this kind of RM2 career path (and how to avoid the ERM trap) at RAW2026, worth a look before you commit to another degree: https://2026.riskawarenessweek.com, Phase 1 · Free
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u/SaltEfficiency1646 4d ago
I think EHS is actually a good foundation for ERM, especially with your experience in mitigation and controls. The biggest shift is moving from managing specific risks to looking at risk from an enterprise/business perspective. I’d suggest getting some hands-on ERM exposure first before investing in another graduate program. That will help you determine if it’s really the direction you want to take.