About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Climate Quality Control Specialist to help us make a difference to our planet.

Job description

As our Climate Quality Control Specialist, you will be based at our Edinburgh office or Eskdalemuir Observatory. This job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work.

Our opportunity is part time post for 25.9 hours per week (0.7FTE). We will also try our best to consider those intending to work a job share.  Our people are at the heart of what we do and we'll do our best to agree a working pattern that works for everyone.

Why join us?

The Met Office is accredited as a 'Great Place to Work UK 2023' and in addition has achieved a place on both the UK's 'Best Workplaces in Tech' and 'Best Workplaces for Women' lists.

We invest in our people to unlock their full potential. As our Climate Quality Control Specialist, we will support you to develop and thrive to be the best you can be.  We champion positive physical and mental health in the workplace and are committed to being an inclusive organisation, providing a working culture that actively values an equal and diverse workforce. 

Who we are

We provide critical weather services and world-leading climate science to deliver extraordinary impact and benefit across the globe. Our work helps people make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. 

Together: 

• We’re a force for good - focusing on our environmental and social impact 
• We’re experts by nature - always learning and developing to do things better 
• We live and breathe it - putting our purpose at the heart of decision-making 
• We’re better together - understanding partnerships and inclusivity make us greater 
• We keep evolving - pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers 

Find out more about our values - https://bit.ly/3fokaRD 

Job Purpose

As our Climate Quality Control Specialist, your key responsibilities are:

• Document and monitor procedures for the delivery of land-based climate data quality control.
• Analyse land meteorological observations, to determine their performance, address operational issues, identify the underlying causes, and recommend and implement changes needed.
• Provide mentoring, coaching, and training to team members and voluntary observers on observing practices and quality management systems for land observations and communicate the needs of the business so their contribution is recognised; Provide training and mentoring of staff involved in climate, synoptic QC and Real Time Monitoring activities.
• As a recognised operational specialist on land surface observations, provide advice to colleagues and external suppliers, such as the voluntary climate observers, and provide guidance to improve the quality of the data provided in support of Met Office observing plans.
• Assist with monitoring and assessing the integrity of Historic surface observations stored within the climate database (MIDAS), resolving problems associated with the data, deal with enquiries about the database and develop procedures to improve the quality of the data being archived.
• Support  Climate data enquiries to the OBQM mailbox.
• Support in creating and maintaining our records & extremes for SharePoint site, for the media and in compiling daily & monthly NCIC reports.
• Undertake appropriate training and development to ensure skills remain current and evolve with business need.  

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities

1. Degree in a physical-/mathematics-based science or demonstration of equivalent experience
2. Ability to apply knowledge of meteorology and understand the strengths and weaknesses of observing equipment, in order to analyse the quality of surface observations (Expert by nature)
3. Evidence of planning and prioritising work to ensure customer requirements are met and service improvements are implemented. (Keep evolving)
4. Ability to communicate with a wide range of people including customers and volunteer observers, and ability to mentor/train colleagues, to improve service delivery and resolve issues. (Better together)
5. Evidence of contributing to the documentation of procedures for the provision of operational services and/or the writing of technical reports. (Expert by nature)
6. Capable of using databases to extract and analyse data - ideally with the ability to create SQL queries and/or Python code or a willingness and aptitude to learn.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,794, Met Office contributes £9,124 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you. Apply below using your CV and a Cover Letter/Supporting Statement which evidences how you meet each of the essential criteria - we recommend candidates use the CARL (Context, Action, Result and Learning) method for presenting evidence of skills.

Closing date 25/03/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 10/04/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

If successful, please note we are unable to offer expenses for travel to your normal place of work. Please ask at interview if you would like extra clarity on how often this requirement is likely to be.

How we can help:

If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via Careers@metoffice.gov.uk  You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, please be aware there may be a selection exercise which could include a presentation, written test or a scenario-based activity. You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.  

We understand that great minds don’t always think alike and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code. 

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK - please refer to GOV.UK for information. We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.