About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Technician Engineer to help us make a difference to our planet by improving our weather radar network.

Job description

As our Technician Engineer, 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, but we would also consider applicants wishing to work a minimum of 4 days per week/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 Technician Engineer, 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 Purpose

The Met Office operate a network of 15 weather radars across the UK. We're unique in having designed, built and installed these ourselves. This is an exciting opportunity to join the Radar Hardware Team - a team of engineers who continue to develop the system by enhancing data quality, adding new capability, improving reliability, making them easier to maintain and repair and addressing obsolescence.

When needed, we assist in the operational running of the radar network, providing expert technical support to the operations and field engineering teams, helping them identify and repair faults at site. We also repair the more complex radar components in our engineering facilities at Exeter.

The team are currently working on several major projects:

• Installing a new radar near Norwich. You’ll have opportunities to be involved in the preparation and testing leading up to a month of installation and commissioning.
• Working with the radar R&D team to design a new, next-generation radar receiver - a key component of the system. We’ll be designing and then building the new radar receivers and transitioning these into operational use. This will involve many different engineering disciplines – mechanical/CAD, electrical, electronics and manufacturing - through specifying and sourcing components, designing parts and arranging their manufacture, building & testing assemblies and drafting documentation.

As our Technician Engineer, you'll contribute to the successful operation and improvement of the Met Office weather radar network.

Your key responsibilities are:

• Using existing and emerging engineering practice to contribute to the identification, development, and implementation of technical improvements to the Met Office weather radar network.
• Contribute to the design and arrange manufacture of parts or specify and source them.
• Contribute to the drafting of engineering documents such as drawings, specifications, assembly & test instructions, reports to record or convey technical information.
• Contribute as the team provide advice to other engineering teams particularly the operational teams to help keep radar network running
• Work safely at all times, keeping the health and safety of ourselves and others at the heart of what we do.
• Carry out continuing professional development in line with current and future needs of the Met Office.

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities

1. Possess good underpinning engineering knowledge or equivalent experience at Level 6 qualification or higher, such as a Degree or Level 6 NVQ/Certificate/Diploma. (Experts By Nature).
2. Show a desire for continuous improvement to identify, develop or implement technical changes improving the design, parts, or processes (We Keep On Evolving).
3. Evidence of good written and verbal communication skills to be able to record technical information or communicate it to others (Better Together).
4. Ability to tackle and solve technical problems (Experts By Nature).
5. Demonstrate basic practical engineering skills - the ability to use common test equipment and simple engineering hand tools (Experts By Nature).
6. Enthusiasm for engineering (We Live And Breathe It).

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. Membership of a Professional Engineering body affiliated to the Engineering Council such as the IET, IMechE or similar or willing to work towards gaining professional recognition.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,954, Met Office contributes £7,277 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

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 25/03/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 15/04/2024. 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.

Additional information

We have currently a single post available for either Technician Engineer or Engineer.

Reserves from theses campaigns will be considered for any future opportunities.

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.