Operational Meteorologist
We’re looking for exceptional Operational Meteorologists to help us make a difference to our planet.
As our Operational Meteorologists, 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.
We have opportunities working with a variety of customers across the UK Met Office network. Location details are below and further information is available on our Careers Site. Please contact Careers@metoffice.gov.uk for any specific enquiries.
Our opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week. 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
Your role as an Operational Meteorologist within the Met Office involves interpreting real-time weather information and delivering meteorological and environmental services and advice to support decision makers. Services are delivered both face-to-face and remotely, depending on the customer requirements and location.
We expect to have vacancies for already qualified meteorologists coming up at MOD Aberporth, as well as Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps stations throughout the UK.
You’ll also have the opportunity to work flexibly with our Overseas and Deployed teams in locations including Cyprus and Gibraltar and as far away as the Antarctic and South Atlantic. These provide excellent opportunities to work alongside our customers as part of their teams in remote locations.
Your purpose is to provide accurate and timely forecasting services to customers in order to meet service agreements as a member of a shift-working roster. Using your meteorological knowledge you will be able to advise customers on the impact weather may have on their business, meaning that you should be as confident interacting with and influencing customers as you are forecasting.
Your key duties:
- Be part of a shift working team to provide observing and forecasting capability to support customer operations.
- Using local knowledge, analyse and enhance forecast guidance, to deliver services and advice to the customer in a style that suits their requirements.
- Deliver high quality services to the customer, including briefings, and through customer engagement look to continually improve these products and services.
- Through use of excellent customer liaison skills and enhanced customer knowledge, provide guidance on impacts to allow the customer to operate in the most safe and cost-effective manner.
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 Operational Meteorologist, your total reward package will be up to £53,648 annually, which includes:
- £35,145 base pay.
- An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
- £4,200 as an Unsocial Hours Allowance for shift working, if applicable to the working pattern of your post. These allowances are currently under review so there maybe changes from January 2026.
- 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:
- Evidence of being an expert by nature with a range of operational forecasting experience delivering meteorological services to customers.
- Show you live and breathe it with a proven track record in communicating meteorological information to both technical and non-technical audiences, including customers and more senior staff.
- Demonstrate being a force for good through excellent customer service focus and an appreciation of weather impacts on customers.
- Evidence of being better together, with the ability to work as part of a team, contributing towards team goals and improving products, services and performance standards to ensure quality and consistency.
- Keep evolving with a willingness to actively engage and contribute towards the development of new capabilities and ways of working.
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 10/11/2025 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 24/11/2025 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.
Rewards and benefits
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.
Generous holiday allowance
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.
Civil Service pension
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.
Continuous career development
We’ll invest in your training and personal development throughout your career to help you reach your potential. We provide you with the space and freedom to think, innovate and try new things and have professional frameworks aligned to each area. We encourage and support professional memberships, have an array of internal apprenticeship and qualification opportunities and a comprehensive mentoring and coaching programme to name just a few initiatives to create your world of development at the Met Office!
Cycle to work scheme
We can help towards the purchase of bicycles and equipment for healthy, low carbon travel via a salary sacrifice scheme.
Lifestyle support
Whether you wish to utilise our excellent family-friendly schemes, be paid up to 3 days for volunteering with your chosen organisation, have the reassurance of a generous sickness pay scheme or be part of an organisation that is happy to pro-actively talk about flexible working the Met Office wants you to have a great work and lifestyle balance.
Established hybrid working
We have bases all over the UK and some roles allow for you to work abroad so there is the option to travel for work also, we have established amazing hybrid working practices across all of our offices and have enhanced technology to enable office and home-based meetings. We work with employees to agree on a suitable working pattern that works for us both and have various working patterns in place.
Onsite parking and EV charging
We offer onsite free parking at our main offices with disabled parking spots also available. We are ever expanding our eCharging stations and have these available for use at most sites.
Benefits platform
We offer an enhanced discount shopping portal and schemes for employees to make everyday savings including retail shopping such as your weekly food shops, technology products, DIY projects, travel and trips as well as active lifestyle options. We also have an instant recognition scheme with the potential for you to receive vouchers for when you have gone the extra mile to demonstrate our Met Office Values.
Employee wellbeing
Across our offices we have an array of different options to support your wellbeing including 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) with phone and app provisions, lots of EDI initiatives to empower our diverse workforce and a dedicated wellbeing network with regular events to help you thrive!
Commitment to our environment and biodiversity
Our force for good value aligns perfectly with our support for environmental impact improvements. We were the first public sector body to be awarded the prestigious Wildlife Trusts’ Biodiversity Benchmark Award and have different initiatives across our sites from our beautiful biodiversity butterfly garden, toilet water provided from the cooling of our epic supercomputer, car share schemes, team beach clean events and extensive recycling facilities for our everyday use.
It’s good to talk
We have a fantastic group of employee volunteers who form our Mental Health First Aiders as well as Dignity & Respect at Work groups. Alongside our EAP they are in the office or a remote call away to support with a listening ear and can signpost you to helpful resources and support.
ED&I staff networks
We recognise the benefits that networks can offer to our employees not only in terms of better together peer support but also in raising awareness of the challenges some of our employees may experience, and we know that people perform better when they can be themselves.
Investing in your development
The world around us is constantly changing. New technologies, shifting climate patterns, artificial intelligence. These factors and more shape the need for us to develop our skills and knowledge as a business and as individuals. Our investment in learning and development is testament to this and we have partnered with external bodies in each profession to help shape the way we develop the incredible talent right across the Met Office. We help everyone to understand their strengths and opportunities and tailor learning programmes that match their career. For us, this is world-leading learning and development.
More about what we can offer you
Meet some of the team
Annie Shuttleworth
Presenter and Meteorologist
The training and opportunities I’ve had during my time with the Met Office so far have given me the confidence and expertise to communicate weather and climate information to the public whilst doing a job that I really love.
Ele Hands
Deputy Chief and International Meteorologist
I joined straight from university and did a year of training to be a forecaster. I spent eight years at various military bases, forecasting and observing the weather. I was part of a team which responded to a call for help from the Haitian Met Service back in 2010 after an earthquake. It was fantastic to be able to help in a time of emergency need. Now I work in the Expert Weather Hub on the global bench providing guidance to our customers and colleagues, as well as working on international projects with funding partners and other National Meteorological Services.
Robert Parish
Senior Operational Meteorologist (Mobile Met Unit)
I joined the Met Office in 2005 at the Edinburgh Climate Quality Control Department and progressed to become a Meteorological Observer. I joined the Mobile Met Unit deploying on a wide range of operations to provide weather advice to defence. I later completed forecaster training and for the last eight years, I’ve been based at Heathrow as a Senior Operational Meteorologist. The vast training has allowed me to develop my customer and meteorological knowledge along with communication, collaboration and decision-making skills.
Rebecca Gilbert
International Meteorologist
I started my career at the Met Office with a year of training to become a meteorologist. When I wanted to forecast abroad, I was given on-the-job training at an RAF Brize Norton and RAF Lossiemouth. When I wanted to become a manager, I was given management training. When I wanted to train new weather forecasters, I was given the opportunity to complete an Award in Education and Training (AET). At the Met Office we keep learning and developing.
Bria Grange
Civil Contingencies Advisor
Throughout my education I developed a fascination with the intersection between the human and the natural world. I'm incredibly fortunate to now work in a role that bridges this connection, helping the emergency response community to prepare and respond to severe weather and ultimately protecting lives, property and infrastructure.
Our typical recruitment process
1. Eligibility
For those living outside of the UK, there are some roles where we can sponsor Skilled Worker visas. However, you will still need to pass security clearance which requires you to have resided in the UK for 30 months in the last three years.
2. 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. Evidence your answers and reference our values to bring your application to life.
3. Screening
The sift 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. After which, we'll be in touch to let you know whether your application has progressed to the next stage.
4. Interview
Most recruitment processes will include a single-stage interview, some of which are virtual interviews and some may be in-person. Our interviews tend to blend competency questions, which focus on the essential criteria, with values-based questions.
5. Assessment
Some roles may require you to attend an assessment day. Any job-specific assessments will be outlined in the job advert and more details will be provided at the interview stage.
6. 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.
7. Onboarding
Before we can confirm a start date, we will first need to complete security clearance and reference checks. These usually take between eight to ten weeks to complete. We'll also discuss any workplace adjustments that you may need. So they are in place on your first day.
8. Your first day
On your first day your new manager will introduce you to the team and you’ll start our online corporate induction. You’ll also be asked to update your details in our People Hub system including bank details ready for your first pay day.
Ready to apply?
Operational Meteorologist
Location: Various
Reference number: 987
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