About the job

Job summary

The Met Office is delighted to open our advertising for a number of progressive Industrial Placements, which will commence from July 2024 until July 2025.

What we are offering

We’re looking for an exceptional Weather and Climate Research - Industrial Placement 2024 to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Weather and Climate Research - Industrial Placement 2024 you will work a hybrid pattern of homeworking, we suggest spending at least one day a week in our Exeter HQ but at a minimum, once a month. You can choose to work more frequently in our state-of-the-art office if you'd prefer.

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

Why join us?

We invest in our people to unlock their full potential. As our Weather and Climate Research - Industrial Placement 2024, 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 Weather and Climate Research - Industrial Placement 2024, your salary will be £25606.00.

Whilst this is a temporary position until July 2025, there is potential for it to develop into an opportunity to join our Graduate Development scheme once you complete your University studies.

Why should I choose the Met Office?

• Flexible hours and hybrid working
• Annual Leave of 27.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) and an option to buy or sell up to 5 days per year of annual leave
• Access to discounted shopping on a range of retail, leisure and lifestyle categories.

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.

Our Industrial Placement scheme offers ambitious and capable undergraduates the opportunity to gain valuable experience working alongside diverse and highly skilled experts in their field. You’ll be working on projects that really matter and will make a difference.

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 description

Job Purpose:

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Met Office on a 12-month Year in Industry placement, developing your skills and knowledge and ensuring you gain the most value possible from your experience with us. You will have the opportunity to network with our cohort of Industrial Placement across the Met Office and understand what career opportunities we can offer you after you graduate.

The Met Office is a world-leading weather and climate research center, with approximately 550 scientists working in the Science Programme. Core underpinning research is 'pulled through' into weather and climate services for stakeholders including the public, government departments and industry. These key services include public weather forecasts, severe weather warnings, climate projections, commercial products and consultancy.

This role will report to the Private Secretary to the Met Office Director of Science, within the Executive Team in the Met Office. The successful candidate will work on and respond to (up to a maximum of two) priority projects that are raised through the Science Leadership Team or are strongly aligned with the Met Office Research & Innovation (R&I) Strategy. The Met Office R&I Strategy defines our priorities and strategic objectives in weather and climate research and operational delivery for the next 10 years.

One such project example would be to work as part of a team delivering the Met Office's contribution to TEAMx. TEAMx is an international research programme that aims at improving the understanding of processes in the atmosphere over mountainous regions and at advancing the representation of these processes in numerical models for weather and climate prediction. The successful candidate would work alongside Met Office experts on development of the high-resolution modelling systems used in support of the TEAMx observational capability, contributing to the Path to High Resolution R&I strategy, and play an important role in testing high-resolution modelling systems over orographic regions.

This is a unique industrial placement opportunity for a candidate who would like to develop a broad knowledge of Met Office Weather and Climate and gain experience working on varied projects in a leading scientific research organisation which is focused on delivering services for societal benefit to the UK and globally.

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

1. We’re experts by nature – you must be studying for an undergraduate degree with a strong background in a STEM subject.
2. We’re experts by nature – you have experience of contributing to code development (e.g., in Python, Matlab).
3. You are able to embrace our culture of "better together" - you have excellent verbal and written communication reflecting an ability to listen, engage and clearly and succinctly communicate with a varied audience, and to facilitate good teamwork.
4. You are able to demonstrate you “keep evolving” – you have excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise effectively.
5. You are able to demonstrate you “live and breathe it” – you have a proactive approach to work shown by an ability to work independently.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £25,606, Met Office contributes £27 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 our application form 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 21/01/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 20/02/2024. 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 askHR@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.