The following content displays a map of the job's location - Exeter.
We’re looking for an exceptional Senior Applied Statistical Scientist to help us make a difference to our planet.
As our Senior Applied Statistical Scientist, 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 22 hours 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
You will focus on the development and application of cutting-edge statistical and data science techniques, particularly focusing on extremes, to both lead and deliver high-quality projects to customers to operate more safely and efficiently, increasing their resilience to future climate change, and better plan their path towards net zero whilst contributing to the wider socio-economic benefit provided by the Met Office.
You will do this at the same time as continuing to develop your own skills and expertise to benefit projects: be that developing new methods for, say, integrating climate change into the analysis of extremes; gaining a greater understanding of how statistical and data science methods can be used to solve industry challenges; increasing your breadth in relevant scientific and technical capabilities to utilise and develop new ideas, concepts, and methods to scope, lead, and deliver projects; or build your skills working with customers.
You will join our team of scientists and scientific consultants (including another statistician) within Industry Consultancy, providing support and advice, working closely with our business colleagues and collaboratively with the broader organisation and academia, to ensure the latest pioneering science is being developed and employed to the benefit of our users.
This is an exciting opportunity for you if you have a relevant statistical background, are passionate about the transformation of your expertise into actionable outcomes for industry, where you can see the impact of your work today.
Please note, we are open to this role being at either our Scientist or Senior Scientist levels and as a result there are two adverts, one for each. There is, however, only one position.
Your job will encompass a range of activities, varying between projects. These will focus on:
* Researching new and improved statistical and data science methods to utilise weather and climate data as well as customer data to produce outputs to the benefit of our stakeholders. This will have a particular focus on extremes.
* Involvement at all stages of projects including sometimes leading the delivery of statistically focused consultancy projects from inception to completion; scoping future work in support of the development of proposals for new consultancy projects, designing and developing high-quality scientific computing code to undertake the required data analysis and clearly communicating science through reports and presentations to customers and peers.
* Developing and maintaining a good working knowledge of latest statistical and wider data science, Met Office capabilities and their relevance to customer needs and leverage existing and further develop a network of both internal and external statisticians and scientists to enhance own work and that of the team.
* Providing ad hoc statistical support to colleagues within the team and wider to ensure robustness of scientific outputs across a range of projects and be a contributing member of the statistical community at the Met Office.
* Working effectively as part of a team with colleagues and customers to ensure projects are delivered and fully meet requirements, whilst being motivated to grow your skills to take on more leadership of projects.
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 Senior Applied Statistical Scientist, your total reward package will be up to £58,419 annually, which includes:
* An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
* 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:
If you are unsure on where your skills and experiences sit between Scientist (alternative advert) and Senior Scientist (this advert) then apply to both and you will then be assessed against each of the relevant sets of criteria, as we are unable to transfer your application to a level to which you did not apply (even if this is a better fit for your experience).
Although these criteria are essential to the role, we appreciate everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and encourage applicants to apply even if they consider one or two areas may be slightly weaker than others.
* Substantial experience and knowledge in a field with significant statistical content – gained through, for example, multiple years working as a statistician, several years’ post-doctoral experience, or evidenced through Chartership (e.g. Chartered Statistician). (We’re experts by nature)
* Demonstrable experience of statistical applications in climate/atmospheric/(real-world) environmental/industry science, including for extremes: applying, learning and developing new statistical methods, handling and analysing large datasets, e.g. spatio-temporal data, including assessing appropriate approaches with only limited supervision. (We keep evolving)
* Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to understand user needs and translate complex scientific information for technical and non-technical stakeholders to be able to inform decision making. (We live and breathe it)
* Strong scientific computing skills (e.g. in R or Python) and demonstrated experience of writing and modifying complex code and producing high-quality analyses using appropriate quality assurance tools and processes. (We’re experts by nature)
* Effective team player with the ability to lead others and collaborate as a member of a team to deliver projects including the provision of scientific/technical advice to other team members. (We’re better together)
* An ability to develop, deliver and lead projects, that meet requirements on quality, cost and to delivery date, prioritising tasks as necessary. (We’re a force for good)
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. In your answers, we are looking for responses to convey both your breadth of experience and specific detail of cases. When giving examples, we recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills.
Closing date 27/03/2025 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 22/04/2025. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.
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. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.
#J-18808-Ljbffr