Senior Developer in Exeter

We’re looking for two exceptional Senior Developers to help make a real difference by supporting our armed forces, wherever their work takes them around the world.

Your world of expertise

As a Senior Developer in our Defence Data Services, you will create and maintain systems which bridge the gap between our front-end products and the back-end science, ensuring that we are able to make the very best use of our ever-evolving supercomputer capability. This is an exciting opportunity to work in a development team that has a wide-reaching and positive impact, helping people to stay safe and thrive around the globe. You will work with your team to understand, design, and implement modern, full stack, cloud-based solutions. You will work collaboratively with your peers in the Science and Technology community, building relationships and sharing your knowledge. Within our applications team, you will develop and support systems that help our users understand the impact that weather has on their operational safety and effectiveness.

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

Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. 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.

As our Senior Developer, your total reward package will be up to £65,568 annually, which includes:

• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA) – you will be paid £5,300 per annum as a market supplement to reflect the demand for your skills. Whilst in post, you will be paid this market-driven allowance until 31st March 2027.
• 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

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. This opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week, but we would also consider applicants wishing to work a minimum of 30 hours per week. 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.

Programming and build (software engineering): You can collaborate with others, when necessary, to review specifications. You can use the agreed specifications to design, code, test, and document programs or scripts of medium-to-high complexity, using modern standards and technologies including Python and/or Java.

Systems Design (Integration and Service Support): You can design and review cost efficient systems using design standards, methods tools, and ensure they are applied effectively. You can identify and articulate risks and their potential impacts. You can apply efficient use of resources and integration of multiple systems and technology. You can define the integration build and co-ordinate build activities across systems to undertake and support integration testing activities. You can identify, locate, and fix faults and design support processes for others to follow to keep services operational.

User focus: You can collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally. You can explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user. Champion user research to focus on all users. Prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so. Offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use.

Information Security: You understand information security and can design solutions and services with security controls embedded, specifically engineered with mitigation of security threats as a core feature.

Team Membership: You approach your work as a team, working with others across multi-disciplinary and geographically dispersed teams. You can share your expertise with others in the team as needed including mentoring and coaching junior members. When needed, you can lead a team and ensure that work is done to the highest quality and in a timely manner.

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 (Context, Action, Result and Learning) method to best demonstrate your experience and skills. When providing examples, you should include the context of the example, the action you took, what the result was and any learning you took from this example. We suggest 300 to 500 words per answer to keep your response focused and impactful.

Closing date 08/02/2026 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 02/03/2026. 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 would like to better understand the organisation, the role or have any questions please contact us at careers@metoffice.gov.uk. 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. 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.

Our rewards and benefits are as varied as our customers and our people, depending on your role, and which part of the business you join. The one thing they have in common is that they’re designed to recognise your contribution to our success. Starting at 27.5 days and rising to 32.5 days after five years of service (both figures exclude bank holidays). As well as the flexibility to buy or sell annual leave annually. You’ll automatically qualify to join our alpha pension scheme, part of the Civil Service Pension arrangements. The scheme is recognised as one of the most generous occupational pensions.

Our typical recruitment process

• Application – Apply through our careers website. Each application will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the job advert. We recommend that you use the CARL or STAR method to answer the key questions.
• Screening – The screening panel will assess all applications against our essential criteria. Our screening process usually takes one to two weeks following the closing date of the advert.
• Interview – Most recruitment processes will include a single-stage interview, some of which are virtual interviews and some may be in-person.
• Assessment – Some roles may require you to attend an assessment day. Any job-specific assessments will be outlined in the job advert.
• Offer – If you are successful following the interview, the hiring manager will contact you to offer the role. The Resourcing Team will then follow up with an offer letter and start your onboarding.
• Onboarding – Before we can confirm a start date, we will first need to complete security clearance and reference checks, which usually take between eight to ten weeks. We'll also discuss any workplace adjustments that you may need.