About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Head of Regulated Transport Services to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Head of Regulated Transport Services you will be based at Exeter HQ. 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 full time, 37 hours per week, but we would also consider applicants wishing to work a minimum of 30 hours per week and 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 Head of Regulated Transport Services, 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.

As our Head of Regulated Transport Services, your starting salary will be £59754.00. New joiners to the Met Office will start on the salary band minimum. Our 2022-25 pay award means the salary will increase to £64846.00 from 1st April 2024, and you will be able to progress towards £68985.00 over time.

Your total reward package is potentially worth up to £88730.00 annually, which includes basic salary, potential corporate bonus and employer pension contributions.

Relocation Assistance may be available.

Job description

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:

Provide strategic leadership to the Regulated Transport Services team and take personal responsibility to:

• Deliver the ~£200m five-year Regulated Aviation NR23 Plan and negotiate future five-year plans through industry consultation and engagement.
• Deliver regulated Marine Services.
• Report on delivery to CAA, MCA, DfT and Met Office Exec.

As an ICAO Met Panel member and IMO member for the UK:

• Set global policies, and supporting regulation, to ensure safety of mariners, aviators and their passengers.
• Increasingly setting new policies to ensure efficient operations to reduce CO2 emissions from these sectors, globally.
• Proactively influence global regulated aviation and marine services through ICAO and IMO.
• Lead international Working Groups within ICAO & IMO, to set new international policies and regulation to ensure safety of global, and national, aviation & marine operations.

Key activities:

• Negotiate, agree, and deliver the aviation Met Services and developments set out in the UK’s Civil Aviation NR23 plan and the Met Office’s designation for national & international services.
• Negotiate, agree, and deliver the UK’s international & national marine services.
• Report on delivery of regulated services to CAA & MCA respectively.
• Fulfill the role of the UK’s ICAO Met Panel Member and Rapporteur of the Met Panel Meteorological Met Operations Group.
• Represent UK and Met Office within international maritime meetings and working groups, fulfilling the role as METAREA co-ordinator.
• Influence future aviation and maritime services and standards to maximise the use of meteorology to enhance safety and efficiency.

International travel is a key component of this role. Typically, you can expect to be on overseas trips totalling 5 or 6 weeks per year.

Additionally, due to the international nature of the work, remote meetings will often be outside of normal UK working hours and therefore flexibility of work pattern is required to accommodate these.

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

1. Have demonstrable Operational Meteorological experience, coupled with a thorough understanding of the observations to forecast service production chain.
2. Have experience of either working in, or working with, an international organisation, such as WMO, ICAO, IMO, etc.
3. Have demonstrable experience of successfully delivering a significant programme of work, in the role of SRO, or similar.
4. Demonstrable experience of line managing a team that is customer and outcome focussed.
5. Demonstrable experience of working with customers, or stakeholders, agreeing a programme of work with them and reporting on progress against that programme’s deliverables.
6. Have demonstrable experience of influencing and negotiating skills through being able to formulate evidence based persuasive arguments and the ability to encapsulate these in clear concise persuasive written proposals.

Desirable Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

We encourage you to apply if you believe you meet our essential criteria, but we’re also keen to discover if you have:

1. Have aviation or marine Operational Meteorological experience.
2. Have contributed to, or ideally have led/chaired, working groups convened on behalf of an international organisation.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,754, Met Office contributes £16,193 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. 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 17/03/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 01/04/2024. 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. This post is contractually aligned to Exeter HQ, 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 undergo a criminal record check. 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.