About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Senior Developer to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Senior Developer, 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.

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

Why join us

Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. 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.

Job description

Your world of expertise

This role is within the Analysis, Visualisation and Data (AVD) team, who are responsible for developing, maintaining and supporting the scientific visualisation and analysis software used in research and operations in the Met Office.  
 
We mainly work in the public domain, owning the SciTools project on GitHub and contributing to a range of open-source projects.  The primary programming language we use is Python, with libraries in a variety of languages contributing to the capabilities we provide. 
 
We are evolving our toolset to provide capabilities to the scientific research and operational meteorology communities. Additionally, we provision and maintain the conda based Python environments used by our communities including operational systems. These capabilities are part of the Met Office making best use of our supercomputer to work at the forefront of weather and climate science for protection, prosperity and well-being.  This is a unique opportunity to work within a cutting-edge development team that is creating vital tools on which Met Office science depends.

Your key duties

• Lead the support and maintenance of conda tooling and provision of Python based environments 
• Lead the delivery and optimisation of complex programs and components 
• Providing support to scientific programmers and application developers 
• Taking on abstract technical problems and apply your expertise to devise innovative solutions 
• Provide mentoring on technical areas across teams where appropriate 
• Identify future technologies and libraries for adoption 
• Participate in Community of Practice (Guilds) 

Person specification

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

1. Demonstrable experience programming in Python and using conda (Our Values: Experts by nature) 
2. Demonstrable, high-level skills in software development, programming philosophies and data analytics (Our Values: We keep evolving)  
3. Excellent communication skills that adapt to all level of stakeholders (Our Values: We're better together)  
4. Mentoring developers on best practice and general advice 
5. Engaging with and using Open-Source community & tooling 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,725, Met Office contributes £11,265 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 Supporting Statement with evidence against each of the essential criteria. We recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills.

Closing date Sunday 28/04/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 06/05/2024. 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.