Senior Climate Scientist in Exeter

We’re looking for an exceptional Senior Climate Scientist to help us make a difference to our planet. As our Senior Climate 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.

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.

Your world of expertise: We’re looking for an enthusiastic and experienced Senior Climate Scientist to lead development of a new set of ‘High Impact’ climate storylines for the UK as part of our new package of UK Climate Information. UK Climate Information (UKCI) is a high‑profile new programme to deliver National Climate information which is used by a wider range of users to explore current and future climate risk and resilience, and to inform adaptation decision making. The new package of information in UKCI will represent a step change from the existing information available through UKCP18, drawing from the latest science opportunities to provide new types of decision‑relevant climate information.

The programme of science included in UKCI includes running cutting‑edge high‑resolution model simulations as well as developing a wider range of new projections products to meet a diverse range of user needs. Sometimes called ‘High Impact, low or unknown likelihood’ or ‘H++’, high impact storylines are used to represent plausible outcomes for the global climate that lie outside of the range of conventional projections, reflecting potential global scale events including ‘tipping points’ (including abrupt changes, irreversible changes) and enhanced warming scenarios (as a result of high climate sensitivity, carbon cycle feedbacks or unexpectedly high emissions). These new storylines will be applied in sectors or organisations where there is high vulnerability to climate change and low risk tolerance, allowing users to undertake ‘stress tests’ against worst‑case scenarios.

You’ll lead the design and development of a set of storylines that reflect the latest science on Earth system tipping points, enhanced warming scenarios, sea‑level and ice sheet projections to identify and analyse suitable simulations and scenarios that might underpin a set of High Impact storylines for use in risk assessment. You’ll build excellent working relationships with key experts in the relevant field within and beyond the Met Office to develop collaborations to ensure that the storylines reflect and synthesize the best available science and to gain ‘buy in’ from the wider science community in the development and provision of High Impact Storylines as part of UKCI.

You’ll consider the user needs for this type of information, working together with the experts in user engagement in the wider UKCI teams and the UKCI user groups to understand more about the types of information required, the types of risk assessment or decision they might inform, and the guidance needed to help users apply the scenarios appropriately. You’ll prepare appropriate datasets and written materials for scientific audiences (e.g. scientific publications and scientific conferences), guidance for UKCI users and communication materials for wider interest groups. You’ll work closely with scientists delivering other components of UKCI information to ensure that the High Impact Scenarios are complementary to and where needed consistent with other UKCI products and that key aspects of their construction and presentation.

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, 2024 and 2025 lists, as well as their ‘54 Best Workplaces for Women’ 2023 list.

Your total reward package will be up to £60,286 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:

• Proven track record of delivering high quality research in a physical or environmental science, equivalent to a PhD plus relevant postdoctoral research experience.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with a strong/improving publication record and the ability to communicate scientific and/or technical concepts to a broad range of audiences and translate user needs into specific scientific deliverables.
• Demonstrated evidence of experience in the development and use of scientific software, including familiarity with scientific programming languages.
• Experience applying scientific analysis (quantitative and/or qualitative) and interpretation, to address project requirements drawing on robust methodologies and the latest research.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently on challenging scientific or technical problems and to deliver high quality scientific output in a timely fashion through effective planning.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with others to deliver new scientific understanding and/or technical system improvements.

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 22/05/2026 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 18/06/2026. 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.

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, 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.