Account Manager - Space Weather

We’re looking for an exceptional Account Manager to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Account Manager, 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 4 days 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

Your world of expertise

The Space Weather Business Team is part of the Transport Business Team that collectively manages customer and stakeholder relationships in the transport sector (land, sea, air & space) that are mutually beneficial, align to Met Office and government strategies and deliver profitable revenue. The Transport Team sits within the Markets Directorate, and we contribute by understanding customer needs, securing funding and working with colleagues, in Markets and beyond, to deliver a range of existing and new services to address the customer’s needs.

A Key Account Manager supports the Met Office by managing a portfolio of existing customers and stakeholders as well as developing new relationships. A Key Account Manager ensures we deliver the Met Office’s purpose to ensure profitable revenue and realise extraordinary impact and benefits.

As the Space Weather risk owner, on behalf of Government, we have a responsibility support the mitigation of a severe space weather event in the UK in support of the realisation of the UK Government’s Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy.

Your key duties

• Responsible for day-to-day support and responding to queries from customers and stakeholders for the range of services delivered for space weather.
• Supporting the Business Manager and Senior Account Manager in engagement and education of organisations likely to be impacted by space weather.
• Capturing market and customer insight to support Business Lead and Products Team to understand sector vulnerabilities to space weather and to manage product lifecycles, including the identification and development of potential new product or service offerings.
• Ensuring that major space weather event escalation and communications plans are kept up to date, working in coordination with Services.
• Ensuring conformity to engagement and business processes to consistently deliver to customers with appropriately maintained business management information.
• The post holder will be required to travel both nationally and internationally.

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 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 Account Manager, your total reward package will be up to £46,974 annually, which includes:

• £33,794 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Relocation Assistance may be available
• 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:

1. Proven ability of working collaboratively across internal and external teams or stakeholders with a history of using your networks to get things done through influence and collaboration.
2. Successful track record in identifying new business opportunities and developing strategies to pursue them effectively, building relationships to maximise lifetime value.
3. Ability to understand a customer or stakeholder’s needs through building effective relationships and fostering collaborative working environments.
4. Demonstrable ability to communicate technical and scientific information to a range of technical and non-technical users.
5. Have demonstrable experience of influencing and negotiating skills through being able to formulate evidence based persuasive arguments and the ability to encapsulate these in clear concise persuasive written proposals.
6. Proven ability to understand and describe users’ needs, gaining insights that can be translated into value propositions and new services, working in conjunction with Product Managers.

Desirable Criteria:

We encourage you to apply if you believe you meet our essential criteria, but we’re also keen to discover if you have:

1. A demonstrable understanding of space weather.
2. Previous experience of working with either the space sector or a range of Critical National Infrastructure operators.

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 14/07/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 29/07/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

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. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.