We're looking for a number of exceptional Foundation Scientists to help us make a difference to our planet.
As our Foundation Scientist, 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 30 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.
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
Your world of expertise
We are looking to recruit around a dozen scientists who show real potential to be exceptional team members and who are passionate about the transformation of their expertise into products & services that benefit our customers. These scientists will be joining one of four areas, namely:
- UK Applied Science
- International Applied Science and Services
- Industry Science and Consultancy
- Observations Research & Development
Each area works with a range of customers and performs research that spans weather and climate timeframes. The work we undertake is diverse, and depending on your skills you could be involved in:
- Understanding UK Climate Projections and using them to support decision-making
- Supporting delivery of international projects related to weather and climate, providing expertise and building national, regional and international capability to enhance resilience and adaptive capacity.
- Working across timescales to understand how weather predictions and climate projections can be translated into risk to ultimately support our customers' medium to long-term planning
- Developing information that directly supports decision making within climate-sensitive sectors, including urban, agriculture, energy and transport.
- Building national and international capacity and capability to develop and deliver weather and climate information
- Prototyping and co-delivering scalable climate services that meet our customers' needs for climate information
- Assessing the potential impact and value of a diverse range of meteorological and environmental observations
The underlying skills required are outlined in the essential criteria below, however support and training will be given based on each successful candidate's individual experience and the skills required for the respective projects.
Key duties
- Developing and applying suitable techniques for analysing and quantifying the impacts and associated risks of weather and/or climate upon the customer's interests.
- Working with the wider Met Office team and partners across government to understand current and future Met Office capabilities; developing and applying those capabilities to address identified customer/stakeholder requirements.
- Contributing to the production of project reports for customers/stakeholders and the publication of scientific papers based on the project outputs (as applicable).
- Representing the Met Office at national and/or international customer/stakeholder meetings, workshops, scientific conferences, seminars etc. where the application of Met Office science (both weather and climate) need to be presented and discussed.
Why join us
Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. The Met Office is Great Place to Work UK certified. We are also featured on their 'Best Workplaces in Tech' 2023 and 2024 lists, as well as their '54 Best Workplaces for Women' 2023 list.
As our Foundation Scientist, your total reward package will be up to £37,776 annually, which includes:
- £26,954 base pay
- An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%
- 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
Essential Criteria, skills and experience:
- We keep evolving - degree-level proficiency in a physical, mathematical, environmental or other quantitative scientific subject area, this includes relevant social science subjects. This could be obtained through experience from a job in a relevant area, or through an undergraduate degree (2.1 or higher / equivalent) or Masters degree.
- Expert by nature - Experience of using data visualisation tools and/or writing computer code, preferably Python, with an interest in applying this to address scientific problems.
- We're a force for good - Good oral and written communication skills, with demonstrated ability to communicate complex scientific and/or technical information to a range of audiences.
- We're better together -Evidence of being a strong team player with the potential to build internal and/or external relationships, support others, challenge ideas and collaborate with scientific and technical colleagues to deliver successful outcomes.
- Live and breathe it - Good organisational skills, with an ability (with appropriate supervision) to contribute significantly to high-quality scientific output while meeting tight deadlines, planning and organising own work as required.
How to apply
If you share our values, we'd love to hear from you! Click apply to begin your application. Please complete your career history and provide evidence against each of the essential criteria in the supporting statement questionnaire. We recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills.
Closing date 01/12/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 11/12/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.
How we can help
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this opportunity further, please contact us at .
If you're considering applying and need support to do so, please get in touch. 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.
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