About the job

Job summary

The Met Office is delighted to open our advertising for a number of apprenticeships, which will commence in September 2024.:

What we are offering

Would you like to work for the Met Office? Are you interested in the Digital profession? The Level 4 DevOps Engineer Apprenticeship can offer you the support, training, and industry recognised qualifications to get you on the path to a career in the Digital profession.

The Met Office is recruiting for 2, Level 4 DevOps Engineer apprentices in Exeter.

As our Level 4 DevOps Apprenticeship, the 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 full time, 37 hours per week.

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 DevOps Engineer Apprenticeship - Level 4, 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 description

We would look for you to join us in September 2024 with your apprenticeship training beginning shortly afterwards. You would have 1 day per week dedicated to your 20% off the job training.

Working towards the level 4 DevOps Engineer standard apprenticeship, the training will be delivered as effectively as possible for your learning style possibly including online as well as self-study, so candidates need to have a passion for their own development as well as be committed to the training and opportunities available.

You will be managed by one line manager and have one mentor to offer further support. In addition to the formal training with a registered training provider, you will also have in house training and on the job experience.

You will have the opportunity to work with a team on activities related to your study, allowing you to develop your knowledge, skills and behaviours in this occupation whilst contributing to Met Office aims.

Before applying, we recommend you consider if these delivery methods suit your learner needs along with whether you feel you are committed to your own development and training, as this element forms a significant aspect of a modern apprenticeship.

The MetDB (Meteorological Database) team support and maintain a system for storing weather data, developed using Fortran and C alongside some Python scripts. These data are stored and made available on request for many of the Met Office data processing systems, resulting in products and services to the public and our customers.

As an apprentice DevOps Engineer - MetDB team, your key responsibilities are:

• Work as part of the team, to ensure that our service delivery targets are achieved.
• Monitoring the system and providing solutions to any identified issues.
• Working alongside other Met Office teams to help support and improve the service.
• Developing solutions to allow storage and retrieval of data for Met Office systems, which require access to this weather information.

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

Our essential criteria are based around our values

1. We keep evolving – You can demonstrate your learning to date and how you keep abreast of developments in technology or the environment.
2. Better together – You can demonstrate evidence of teamwork and how your contributions have made a difference to the outcome.
3. We're a force for good - Tell us about how you make a positive impact on the environment or the community you live in.
4. We're experts by nature - You can demonstrate previous experience or interest in the subject matter of the apprenticeship you are applying for.
5. You can demonstrate strong communication skills, both written and oral, that would enable you to interact with your colleagues in a work environment.

Essential - Level 3 Qualification in a related subject (apprenticeship/A levels/BTEC etc) OR equivalent work experience (successful completion of QA Aptitude test required if it’s non-standard entry - i.e. through work experience rather than STEM qualifications)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £22,911, Met Office contributes £6,185 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

How do I apply?

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you. Please click the link below and complete the application form, making sure to include evidence demonstrating 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. You may also like to take a look at our application tips sheet attached to the bottom of this advert.

Closing date 27/03/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 07/05/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed. Our interviews are taking place remotely via Microsoft Teams.

If successful, please note we are unable to offer expenses for travel to your normal place of work.

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, or before onboarding, depending on the area you will be working in.

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.