Port Met Officer - South East England

We’re looking for an exceptional Port Met Officer to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Port Met Officer for southeast England, the job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office, the field and 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, based in Southampton. If you would like to discuss this role further, please contact Emma Steventon.

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 Port Met Officer (PMO), you’ll be the regional focal point for the southeast England component of the UK Voluntary Observing Fleet (comprising 85 manual and 15 automated ships) ensuring the quality, timeliness and availability of marine surface observations.

You will become an authority on surface-based, marine meteorological instrumentation, both manual and automatic, as well as the methods of observation. You will be responsible for planning and carrying out inspections of equipment installed on ships in regional ports, ensuring instruments are kept within calibration and performing to agreed WMO and Met Office standards, as well as collecting and managing all associated metadata.

This is a varied and dynamic role which will require a high degree of independence and engagement with a variety of stakeholders, from internal teams to international shipping companies and observing officers. There will also be the opportunity to engage with international programme management via the EUMETNET European Surface Marine Programme (ESURFMAR) and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Ship Observations Team, as well as supporting the UK contribution to the Global Drifting Buoy Array.

Your key duties

• Managing the southeast England region; installing, inspecting and maintaining observing equipment onboard ships in ports extending from Southampton to Harwich
• Establish and build relationships with shipping companies, ship captains and observing officers, providing help to resolve issues and communicating the needs of both the Met Office and the WMO VOS Programme so that the observations consistently meet the required standards for timeliness, availability & quality.
• Work with national and international partners, including shipping companies and other National Met Services to ensure best practice, consistency and knowledge sharing across global marine observing networks.
• Arrange ship inspections in an efficient and organised manner, both as part of a routine maintenance schedule and in response to real-time incidents.
• Collect, manage and archive essential site and asset metadata in accordance with both Met Office and international requirements.
• Assist with the annual deployments of drifting buoys for both the Met Office and ESURFMAR contributions to the Global Drifter Array.
• Undertake appropriate training and development to ensure skills remain current and evolve with business need.

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 Port Met Officer, your total reward package will be up to £46,974.00 annually, which includes:

• £33,794.00 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Unsocial Hours Irregular Shift Allowance which is claimable when working occasional unsociable hours in the evening or weekend to align with ship port calls.
• 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. A proven ability to work proactively in an unsupervised, independent manner and utilise excellent time management skills. You keep evolving by planning and prioritising a busy and dynamic work schedule.
2. Evidence of excellent inter-personal skills and working better together in a team with a proven ability to influence, negotiate and develop mutually beneficial relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
3. An expert by nature with a broad knowledge of surface marine observing systems, both manual and automatic; and an understanding of the challenges faced in the operation of marine observing networks.
4. A force for good with a proven ability to communicate technical information clearly and concisely in a range of formats to audiences with varying levels of technical understanding.
5. Evidence of excellent IT skills and a high degree of competence, in particular, with the Microsoft Office suite of tools; and the ability to learn and adapt to new tools and processes quickly and efficiently.
6. Hold a valid UK driving licence with a willingness to drive regularly for work purposes, as well as being physically able to transport and install equipment on ships in a port environment, sometimes at height or in poor weather and occasionally outside of normal working hours.

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 11/09/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 23/09/2024. 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.