About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Head of Platform Technology to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Head of Platform Technology, 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. 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.

Whilst this is a temporary position for 2 years, there is potential for it to develop into a permanent position.

World changing work

From science to technology, from meteorology to management, and from planning to communication, our expertise helps us stand out as the authority on weather accuracy and climate prediction. We help individuals, industries and government to make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. This is the Met Office. This is who we are.

• 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

Job description

Your world of expertise

The Met Office's technology teams are relied upon to deliver trusted IT services to it’s customers so that they can make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. 

Your key duties

• Provide strategic leadership for the area, inspiring the team to deliver high quality services that enable the Met Office to achieve its goals
• As a member of the Operational Technology senior leadership team, lead by example, setting clear and consistent standards for staff management, staff development, workforce planning and change management
• Ensure effective financial and risk management processes are employed to manage the relevant IT capabilities within agreed budgetary and risk tolerances
• Adopt and embed relevant good practice, both technical and organisational, that ensures the area meets the current needs of the wider organisation and that plans and resources are in place to meet agreed future ambitions
• Embed a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging teams to challenge existing ways of working and to seek improvements that have tangible benefits for themselves and their customers
• Work with peers and partners to undertake horizon scanning of industry trends, determining their applicability to the Met Office and developing plans to adopt these
• Embed a secure-by-design culture into the teams, ensuring that we are positioned to protect our services and capabilities from cyber threats

Person specification

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

1. Professional qualification or chartered accreditation in technology or associated experience relevant to this post (experts by nature)
2. Experience of leading large multidisciplinary and diverse teams, empowering autonomy, fostering active collaboration and delivering significant outcomes.  Including utilising a range of resourcing options (We're better together)
3. Financial literacy – proven track record of managing a significant budget (measured in £millions) within agreed limits and experience of budgeting and forecasting processes
4. Excellent change management skills, including a proven ability to work collaboratively with stakeholders to agree a clear vision for the future, gain buy-in to this from the wider team and drive towards realisation of that vision (We keep evolving)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £64,846, Met Office contributes £17,508 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 to apply

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you! Click apply to begin your application. Please complete your career history and provide evidence against each of the essential criteria in the supporting statement questionnaire. We recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills.

Closing date 11/08/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 19/08/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

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.