'My work is diverse and fascinating'

Background 

Hi, I'm Jim. I grew up in Exeter in the 90s and studied physics at university.  I spent a few years working in civil engineering in the private sector, but I was always aware of the Met Office as a potential employer with a good reputation for early careers.  In my late 20s, I went back to uni for a year to study computer science, then joined the Met Office in 2008. 

Over the next 13 years, I had the chance to work in various roles, including supporting radiosonde networks (weather balloons), being a radar scientist, a database developer, and then a technical team lead and architect leading the development of cloud-based software systems.  I learned about financial management, IT support, communication, weather science, data engineering, software engineering, cloud technology, management, and leadership. 

Now in my 40s, I have gained a wide range of skills, gained industry recognised certifications, met amazing people, and found my passion for technical architecture.   

Day to Day 

As a lead technical architect at the Met Office, my work is diverse and fascinating. I lead the design of solutions that align with our broader enterprise architecture, making sure they are secure, efficient, cost-effective, and support the delivery of excellent products and services to our customers.  A big part of my job is focused on enabling access to the vast amounts of environmental data the Met Office handles, which is expected to grow exponentially as supercomputing technology and science evolve.  

Right now, I'm working on services that will provide API access to environmental data (observations and forecasts). API stands for Application Programming Interface – a set of rules and definitions that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. They are essential for integrating different services and enhancing the functionality of applications. It's exciting to be at the forefront of adopting and influencing industry best practices for geospatial data on the web. I'm also part of a metadata working group aiming to make data discovery easier for staff and collaborators.  I collaborate with Enterprise Architecture colleagues on Guardrails and design governance, and I'm involved in departmental budgeting and recruitment.  So, lots going on! 

My tools include architecture modelling and diagramming software, threat analysis software, Visual Studio Code, local database development environments, and various Amazon Web Services technologies for prototyping. I also rely heavily on communication— talking, listening, and sometimes bribing colleagues with coffee for help. I try to be generous with my time for others as well. 

Leaving and Returning 

In 2021, I decided to move into the private industry, where I spent 2.5 years as an architect working on geospatial data platforms on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. This experience was incredibly valuable, as I learned so much both technically and in terms of "ways of working," which significantly improved my competence as an architect. 

I returned to the Met Office in April 2024, motivated by its purpose: helping people make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. It's important to me to do meaningful work, and the Met Office provides that. Have a look at the impacts.

The working environment is fantastic—flexible working hours, a great pension, great colleagues, a gym, a coffee shop, and facilities that make cycling to work easy. 

Since returning, I've noticed a strong organisational effort to align work with strategic objectives—to "do the right thing" as well as "do the thing right." From a personal development perspective, there are more opportunities for leadership roles in both technical and management disciplines. The Met Office embraced cloud technology in the late 2010s and is currently researching AI and machine learning. Whatever the future holds, I'm sure it will be interesting and rewarding work. 

This blog was published in March 2025.