Job Description

Details

-----------

Reference number

428673

Salary

149,000 - 156,000
Total reward package is potentially worth in the range of 149,000 to 156,000 annually
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Other

Contract type

Permanent

Type of role

Senior leadership

Working pattern

Full-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

------------

Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

------------


Exeter, Reading

About the job

-----------------

Job summary

We are pleased to bring to the market the role of Chief People Officer at the Met Office.


As our Chief People Officer, you will act as the trusted adviser to the Chief Executive and the Board on people, providing strategic direction and leadership on corporate reputation, and brand issues and to develop high quality people and communication structures to deliver the strategic long term aims of the Met Office.


Based in Exeter or Reading, with regular attendance at our Exeter Headquarters, you will be an integral member of our executive committee, directing on a broad range of people related workstreams to ensure the organisation has an engaged, skilled flexible workforce and the organisational capability to deliver its strategic objectives.

World changing work

As one of the world's leading weather and climate organisations, the Met Office provides the most accurate weather forecasts, severe weather warnings and climate projections which are built on our deep scientific expertise. Our work supports everything from daily life and travel, to defence, agriculture, energy and emergency response.

Job description

Your world of expertise

As a member of the Met Office Executive Committee, reporting to Managing Director of Enabling Capabilities, you will be key in realising our new 2025-2030 strategic plan and helping the Met Office to deliver the most trusted weather and climate intelligence in a radically changing world. You will be accountable for developing the organisational capabilities we need to realise our ambitions and enable the organisation to be an inclusive and great place to work.


Your key duties:

Act as a trusted adviser to Chief Executive and wider executive board on all people related issues, leading the People Strategy, Corporate Value Proposition and Engagement strategy. Leading transformation and change - successfully managing the delivery of people focused transformational change management programmes. Managing significant and successful cultural change through the use of organisational development, behavioural insight techniques and change management, in a complex and diverse multi-stakeholder environment. Leading a team of 130FTE with a 7.2m budget - who span a wide range of responsibilities across the employee lifecycle on resourcing, employee experience, strategic workforce planning, talent management, reward, designing and delivery of meteorological training and design and delivery of corporate learning, staff engagement, social media and content, culture, internal and external communications, the press office, health and safety professionals and change management. Responsible for delivering the People strategy, ED&I strategy, Employee Value Proposition, Health & Safety improvement plans, Wellbeing and engagement strategy. Act as chief negotiator on pay bargaining with trade union side, ensuring accuracy and compliance of pay remits and pay and reward policies. Continually improve staff engagement, measured through increasing engagement scores from the People survey, including through effective deployment of skilled and professional change management resources. Leadership of employer brand and values to attract, retain and develop our employees to build on the Employee annual survey (EAS) to implement change initiatives to ensure the Met Office is seen as a "great place to work". Expected to play an effective role in Civil Service working with HR Directors across government.

Person specification

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

We are seeking a permanent appointment for an exceptional leader whose experience aligns with our criteria:

Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or equivalent. Experience in depth across the full range of HR disciplines (Organisational Development, workforce planning and resourcing, people systems and technology, pay and reward, conduct and capability, learning, leadership and management, talent management, employee and industrial relations) in a senior leadership capacity. Experience of delivering in a high performing executive team with track record of using professional expertise in team development and in a coaching capacity successfully advise board members. Leading and delivering executive level relationships and stakeholder activity in a complex and constantly changing environment. Evidence of balancing both strategic thinking and horizon scanning with pragmatism, to deliver and embed people transformation and culture change. Proven track record of managing significant budget (7.2 million) within agreed limits and extensive knowledge of corporate budgeting and financial processes. Demonstrable experience of leading large, multi-disciplinary People, Communications and Wellbeing teams, with a record of using innovation and creativity to solve people-related issues. Highly developed strategic thinking ability with proven track record in change management and capable of balancing both strategic, tactical and operational priorities; able to deliver strategy at pace, resilience to sustain the strategy, often through high levels of ambiguity and organisational change.

We would love to hear from you if you believe you meet the above criteria, but your skills and experience will be even better if you also possess any of the following qualities:

Portfolio of commitment to professional development. Realising people benefits from use of data, analytics and AI. Experience of pay negotiations and successful, innovative approaches to pay flexibility in complex organisations. Experience of advising or sitting on Remuneration Committees. Establishing executive reward retention, recruitment and incentivisation schemes in a wide a variety of organisations. Working with a wide a variety of Trade unions. British Psychological Society (BPS) qualified. Coaching qualifications.

Benefits

------------


Alongside your salary of 149,000, Met Office contributes 43,165 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Why join us

Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. The Met Office is accredited as a 'Great Place to Work UK' and in addition has achieved a place on both the UK's 'Best Workplaces in Tech' and 'Best Workplaces for Women' lists


As our Chief People Officer your total reward package is potentially worth in the range of 149,000 to 156,000 annually, which includes:

Executive level base pay. An outstanding Civil Service pension. A discretionary performance related bonus. 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. A relocation package is available.

Things you need to know

---------------------------

Selection process details

Our selection process

To apply, follow the steps below which will include a Cover Letter/Supporting Statement for you to evidence your experience and skills against each of the essential criteria.


How to apply


If you share our values, we'd love to hear from you. Apply below using your CV and a Cover Letter/Supporting Statement with evidence against each of the essential criteria by Sunday 12th October 2025 at 23:59. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a first stage interview taking place around 6th November, which will also comprise a presentation and stakeholder panel. Successful candidates will then proceed to a final stage with our Chief Executive and Chair.


How we can help:


If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via careers@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, 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.



Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .



See our vetting charter .
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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) 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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 .
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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

---------------------------------


The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

#

Job contact :

Name : Dan Evans Email : daniel.evans@metoffice.gov.uk
#

Recruitment team

Email : daniel.evans@metoffice.gov.uk

Further information

https://careers.metoffice.gov.uk/what-we-can-offer-you