About the job

Job summary

Reward Package:

We’re looking for an exceptional Senior Scientist in Atmospheric Dispersion to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Senior Scientist in Atmospheric Dispersion, you will work a hybrid pattern of home working and from our Exeter HQ - the frequency required within office will be 1+ day/week.

Our opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week, but we will consider applicants wishing to work on a part time basis and 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?

We invest in our people to unlock their full potential. As our Senior Scientist, 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 Senior Scientist, your starting salary will be £38838.00. New joiners to the Met Office will start on the salary band minimum. Our 2022-25 pay award means the salary will increase to £41,725.00 from 1st April 2024, and you will be able to progress towards £45,257.00 over time.

Your total reward package is potentially worth up to £53,757.00 annually, which includes basic salary, potential corporate bonus and employer pension contributions.

Your package includes:

- Outstanding Civil Service Pension

- Flexible hours and homeworking

- Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising to 32.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) after 5 years and option to buy or sell up to 5 days per year of annual leave

- Cycle to work scheme for the purchase of a bicycle and equipment for healthy, low carbon travel

- Access to discounted shopping on a range of retail, leisure and lifestyle categories

Job description

Who we are:

We provide critical weather services and world-leading climate science, to help 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

The Atmospheric Dispersion and Air Quality (ADAQ) strategic area within Weather Science conducts research, model development, application and operational deployment and support related to atmospheric dispersion and air quality hazards. The group is responsible for developing and operating NAME (Numerical Atmospheric dispersion Modelling Environment), a key Met Office modelling system. NAME is a world leading hybrid Lagrangian-Eulerian atmospheric dispersion model. It provides the atmospheric dispersion research and emergency response capability in the Met Office and is used by operational Environmental Monitoring and Response Centre (EMARC) meteorologists and ADAQ scientists to advise a wide range of stakeholders on the dispersion, deposition and impact of material released in a range of incidents such as large fires, nuclear power station accidents, volcanic eruptions and airborne animal and plant diseases.

Scientific understanding, combined with technical skills enables us to develop and improve the vital delivery of dispersion information to emergency responders and stakeholders to help protect lives, infrastructure and the natural world.

The work is highly collaborative with team members working across ADAQ on delivering the shared NAME developments and operational capability. Beyond ADAQ, team members engage with a wide range of UK academics, UK government researchers and internationally with leading researchers and national weather service colleagues.

Job Purpose:

The work of ADAQ offers a highly diverse range of subject areas. These include fundamental model developments involving an understanding of fluid mechanics, using statistical and computational techniques to expand the area of uncertainty quantification, ground-breaking work in data science exploring ways in which AI can advance our capabilities, the use of data fusion to improve our forecasts using observations, and application-specific developments to improve information for stakeholders.

While the successful candidate will have the opportunity to specialise, all members of the team work on a range of atmospheric-dispersion modelling research projects and in supporting our response to atmospheric dispersion events. The successful candidate will be innovative, flexible and motivated by seeing science developed and applied in tackling real world and often critical situations.

Job Responsibilities:

Work in ADAQ is varied and the role may include some or all of the following depending on the skill set of the individual and the work priorities:

• Conducting research and development of the Met Office atmospheric-dispersion modelling capability.

• Develop enhanced operational response capability in areas such as radiological atmospheric releases, industrial accidents, animal and plant health, and volcanic ash/gas releases to provide targeted decision-making advice to our customers.

• Conduct model validation and improvement using data from field campaigns and real-world events.

• Conduct model sensitivity studies to explore the importance and impact of model improvements and the propagation of uncertainty in dispersion forecasts.

• Participate in and develop scientific projects with collaborators in academia and other agencies.

• Disseminating results via academic papers, project reports and oral and poster presentations

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

1. Substantial post-graduate experience in a relevant discipline, i.e., physical, environmental, computational, or mathematical science. (We keep evolving)
2. Demonstrably excellent scientific knowledge of own subject area and evidence of how this has been applied to solve relevant problems. (We’re experts by nature)
3. Experience of writing, modifying and reviewing complex code and producing high quality data analysis and visualisation using languages such as Python, shell scripts, Fortran. (We’re experts by nature)
4. Evidence of effective communication skills (written, oral, presentation and listening) with an ability to communicate complex science in a relevant way to specialists and non-specialists.  (We live and breathe it)
5. Experience of working independently and in collaboration in a flexible manner to deliver to demanding deadlines. (We’re better together)

Desirable Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

1. Knowledge of atmospheric dispersion modelling or meteorology and their application.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,838, Met Office contributes £10,525 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 by completing the application form.

Closing date 31/01/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 26/02/2024. 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. 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 assistance 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 (Guaranteed Interview) Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

We are an equal opportunities employer, welcoming 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.