Job Description

Details

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Reference number

436971

Salary

35,145 - 37,701
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Higher Executive Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Type of role

Science

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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

Location

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Exeter, South West England, EX1 3PB

About the job

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Job summary

We're looking for an exceptional

Scientific Software Engineer - Workflows Infrastructure

to help us make a difference to our planet.


As our Scientific Software Engineer - Workflows Infrastructure, 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 24 hours per week and we will also try our best to consider those intending to work a job share. 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

Job description

Your world of expertise

The Met Office's world leading weather forecasts and climate research are incredibly complex and varied. They rely on high quality automation and orchestration pipelines (workflows) to get the best out of our software, staff time, and our world-class supercomputing. Our workflows keep a million CPU cores constantly busy, with hundreds of thousands of HPC-jobs flowing through our supercomputers per day, 24/7.


This is an opportunity to join the team that develops the workflow solutions to keep Met Office science running, scaling, and evolving.


Your role would include development, maintenance, communication and support of the open source software Cylc (https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow) and Rose (https://github.com/metomi/rose), working as part of a team that includes international partners from New Zealand and Australia. It would also involve helping scientists and scientific software engineers develop and optimise their workflows that use Cylc and Rose. This is a wide role across many technical areas, and we would expect that training and learning are an important part of developing you in this role where necessary.

Your key duties:

Design, develop, maintain and support specialised scientific software solutions, that enable Met Office Science and Technology to be recognised as world leaders in weather and climate science and services, in a rapidly changing world.


You will:

Deliver meaningful advances in capability for colleagues and/or stakeholders through the effective application of scientific software engineering knowledge, understanding and skills. Provide proactive scientific and technical insight into the solving of scientific software engineering tasks or problems. Engage with others to understand the requirements for your work and its wider context, and contribute to the development of plans to meet these requirements. Proactively apply good Quality Assurance processes, best practice, standards and/or regulations to all aspects of your work to achieve the agreed standard. Communicate accurately and concisely with colleagues and wider stakeholders to develop trust and credibility, tailoring your method of sharing to a range of audiences Develop your skills proactively and provide support to others to develop their skills leading to beneficial impacts.

You can expect to work specifically on topics like:

Python backend development. Web app frontend development. Working with databases. Working with communication protocols (e.g. HTTP). Consulting on developing scientific software workflows.

Person specification

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

Technical Skills. Evidence of showing technical insight through delivery of significant advances in software capability in Python and/or Javascript, preferably showing evidence of UI/UX considerations as well as non-user-facing work (value: Experts By Nature) Platform Skills. Evidence of automating software to achieve beneficial impacts. (value: Live and Breathe It) Understanding Requirements. Evidence of engaging with others to understand the requirements for software development and its wider context, and contribute to the development of plans and software to meet these requirements. (value: Better Together) Quality Assurance. Evidence of proactively applying good Quality Assurance processes, best practice, standards and/or regulations in your work. (value: Experts by Nature, Live and Breathe It) Communication. Evidence of communicating knowledge accurately and concisely in written documents and group discussions, tailoring communication for diverse audiences and building trust and credibility. (value: Better Together) Skills Development. Evidence of proactively developing your software development skills and supporting others in developing theirs, leading to beneficial impacts. (value: We Keep Evolving)

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 35,145, Met Office contributes 10,181 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 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 Scientific Software Engineer - Workflows Infrastructure, your total reward package will be up to 49,448 annually, which includes:

35,145 base pay An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97% Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA) you will be paid 2,200 per annum as a market supplement to reflect the demand for your skills. Whilst in post, you will be paid this market driven allowance from April 2024 until March 2026 in your monthly pay 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

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

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 28/11/2025 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 08/12/2025. 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.


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

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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

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Job contact :

Name : Resourcing Team Email : careers@metoffice.gov.uk
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Recruitment team

* Email : careers@metoffice.gov.uk