National Capability Weather Intelligence Foundation Scientist in Exeter

We’re looking for an exceptional National Capability Weather Intelligence Foundation Scientist to help us make a difference to our planet. 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 and we will also try our best to consider those intending to work a jobshare.

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.

• 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: The National Capability Weather Intelligence (NCWI) area is made up of a mix of Scientists and Scientific Software Engineers with a range of backgrounds. As both individuals and teams we deliver high quality, impactful outputs, whilst ensuring we work together in a positive, collaborative and supportive way; understanding we all have lives and responsibilities beyond our jobs, respecting each other, benefiting from our differences and building and developing both our own and others’ skills to progress as a team and in our own careers.

The focus of the NCWI area is to innovatively apply our world‑leading weather science to ensure our customers can make the best possible use of meteorological information in their decision making. At the heart of this are our Post‑Processing teams, working with stakeholders to understand the challenges they face and researching and developing underpinning forecast capabilities to meet the needs of a wide range of users. You will develop an excellent understanding of how weather information is used inside and outside the Met Office. Your work will combine this with your relevant scientific and technical background to develop and support the next generation of weather forecast services for new and existing Met Office customers, for example by developing Machine Learning tools to improve the quality of our forecasts.

Responsibilities include:

• Researching cutting edge science and technology to utilise weather forecast data and observations to produce outputs that benefit our customers.
• Developing high‑quality scientific computing code to undertake the required data analysis and designing and building forecast production systems.
• Working as part of a multi‑disciplinary team to successfully deliver a range of projects.
• Clearly communicating science through reports and presentations to customers and peers.
• Carrying out the scientific and technical activities to ensure timely delivery of operational services for the benefit of our customers.

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.

Your total reward package will be up to £40,524 annually, which includes:

• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 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:

• Experience and knowledge in a physical science or quantitative scientific discipline at graduate or equivalent level
• Demonstrable experience of applying scientific and analytical methods to numeric data, including exploring and learning new methods to solve problems
• Scientific computing skills (e.g. in Python) with experience in learning and applying software tools and programming languages to address scientific/mathematical problems
• Strong communication skills (written, oral, presentation and listening) with the ability to clearly communicate scientific and technical information to a range of audiences
• An independent thinker, able to proactively take ownership of your work, to identify and address your own knowledge gaps and able to plan your work
• A contributing team player with the ability to work and collaborate as an effective and productive team member to deliver scientific/technical projects

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 25/11/2025 at 23:59 with first‑stage interviews commencing from 02/12/2025. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

Using AI in your application: We welcome applications that use AI tools for support in drafting or refining, as long as they accurately reflect your own skills and experience. All hiring decisions at the Met Office are made by people, not AI. For more details, visit our approach to recruitment.

How we can help: If you have any questions or would like to discuss this opportunity further, please contact us at careers@metoffice.gov.uk. 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.

Equal opportunities: 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.

Security clearance: 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, 2 of these years must be immediately preceding the point of your application. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.

Lifestyle support: Whether you wish to utilise our excellent family‑friendly schemes, be paid up to 3 days for volunteering with your chosen organisation, have the reassurance of a generous sickness pay scheme or be part of an organisation that is happy to proactively talk about flexible working we want you to have a great work and lifestyle balance.

Established hybrid working: We have bases all over the UK and some roles allow for you to work abroad so there is the option to travel for work also. We have established amazing hybrid working practices across all of our offices and have enhanced technology to enable office and home‑based meetings. We work with employees to agree on a suitable working pattern that works for us both and have various working patterns in place.

Investing in your development: The world around us is constantly changing. New technologies, shifting climate patterns, artificial intelligence. These factors and more shape the need for us to develop our skills and knowledge as a business and as individuals. Our investment in learning and development is testament to this and we have partnered with external bodies in each profession to help shape the way we develop the incredible talent right across the Met Office. We help everyone to understand their strengths and opportunities and tailor learning programmes that match their career. For us, this is world‑leading learning and development.

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