Developer - Climate Observation Databases (Part-time)

We’re looking for an exceptional Developer for our Climate Observation Databases to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Developer – Climate Observation Databases, 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 part time, 18.5 hours per week, based in Edinburgh or Lerwick. 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

As a developer in our Observations Quality Management team, your role will be to develop new solutions to improve the efficiency and resilience of the observations quality management systems and provide support for operational quality control software and observations databases.

Working with technologies including SQL, PL/SQL and Python, you’ll be part of a collaborative team environment, where you'll design and implement modern solutions, while building strong relationships within the wider Observations community.

Your key duties

• Develop, own and maintain software to meet the needs of the Observations Quality Management team
• Collaborate within a team to determine what needs to be developed to enable product delivery and build solutions to meet these requirements
• Support and maintain the existing processes and data feeds within the Climate Observations Database (MIDAS)

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 Developer – Climate Observation Databases, your total reward package will be up to £46,974 annually, which includes:

• £33,794 base pay (pro-rated for part-time)
• 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 September 2025 in your monthly pay.
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%.
• 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. Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, a related field, or equivalent experience.
2. Technical Skills: An expert by nature with an ability to create high-quality, maintainable, and secure code with a strong understanding of programming languages, frameworks, and tools, primarily PL/SQL and Python.
3. Database Experience: We keep evolving with proven experience working with Oracle databases to develop new operational services and products.
4. Collaboration: We're better together and therefore you can collaborate with stakeholders to develop requirements and use this information to deliver software (using the right tools and methods) that accurately meets user needs. Experience working in Agile development environments
5. Support: We live and breathe it by supporting time-critical services and responding quickly to problems. Ability to work with others to identify, locate, and fix faults, and communicate clearly and appropriately according to the audience.

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 08/10/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 21/10/2024. 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.