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Foundation Scientific Software Engineer - AI for Climate

Job Reference metoffice/TP/29515/909

Permanent

Working Hours:

37

Location (City/Town):

Exeter

Closing Date:

12/10/2025

Profession:

Science

Region / Division:

UK Region

Careers website category:

Science

Job Introduction

We’re looking for two exceptional Foundation Scientific Software Engineers in AI for Climate to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Foundation Scientific Software Engineers in AI for Climate, 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 30 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

We have two opportunities for Foundation Scientific Software Engineers in AI for Climate to help develop innovative data- driven solutions for climate applications . As a Foundation Scientific Software Engineers in AI for Climate you will be part of a large community of over 100 Scientific Software Engineers (SSE), supporting and enabling cutting-edge science at the Met Office.

We are seeking two talented individuals to join our efforts in advancing AI/ML applications for climate science. The first role focuses on developing ML-based downscaling capabilities.Whilst the Met Office has a wealth of information on global weather and climate, traditionally we have relied on physics based models to translate these to local scales relevant for impact. However, these traditional approaches are computationally costly and time consuming to perform, which has limited our ability to translate much of our global data to local scales. Emerging ML approaches have the potential to learn from physics based datasets to produce locally relevant climate and weather information, augmenting our high-resolution modelling capability. This role will join a team testing, evaluating, and developing ML approaches.

The second Foundation Scientific Software Engineers in AI for Climatewill help to join our pioneering work in Data- Driven Climate Modelling (DDCM) as part of the Met Office’s AI4Climate initiative.This is your chance to apply cutting-edge machine learning and AI to one of the most urgent challenges of our time— understanding and predicting Earth’s changing climate in the Earth System Data Science team .In Earth System Data Sciences team, you’ll work in a multidisciplinary team of scientists, software engineers, and external collaborators to develop and evaluate data- driven climate models that complement traditional climate projections .Your contributions will help to build the Met Office’s capacity to adapt, assess, and ultimately create its own data- driven climate models—tools that are faster, more flexible, and scalable for climate change applications and climate services to public .

In these roles you will undertake research and development in the use of data science and machine learning for climate prediction, including model evaluation and interpretation.You will contribute to projects under the AI4Climate project, working with colleagues across the Met Office and with external partners.Artificial Intelligence for Climate (AI4Climate) is a flagship initiative recently launched by the Met Office to bring advanced machine learning methods to the challenges of climate modelling.

You will work within a multi-disciplinary team of data scientists, software engineers,and climate experts. Internal and external partnerships are a key part of how we work.You will have the opportunity to work with a wide range of partners with different areas of expertise both in the Met Office and with partner universities, other Met Services, research institutions and commercial partners.Through tackling these challenging problems together, you will have the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills in machine learning and data science .

Successful candidates will be based in teams within the Hadley Centre but will maintain close links to related projects in other areas of the office.

• Working on projects at the forefront of machine learning for climate science using recommended tools and promoting best practices for ethical, reproducible use of machine learning.
• Researching, developing, and applying high-quality software solutions and practices for machine learning, creating data workflows, adapting and optimising cutting-edge machine learning architectures for climate applications.
• Communicating research outcomes in a variety of ways, such as peer-reviewed publications, talks at conferences or seminars (internally and externally).
• Engaging with domain experts both within the Met Office and with external partners. Sharing knowledge and experience (for example, the wider Scientific/Research Software Engineering community including Communities of Practice).

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 Foundation Scientific Software Engineers in AI for Climate, your total reward package will be up to £40,480 annually, which includes:

• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 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 March 2026 in your monthly pay
• 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:

• Expert by nature: Evidence of undergraduate in physical, environmental or computational science or data science field to at least degree level (2:1 or above).
• Keep evolving :Knowledge of application of machine learning and deep learning methods in data science.
• Experience of strong programming skills and a demonstrated ability to use them to solve technical problems and/or answer scientific questions.
• Better together:Evidence of ability to work effectively as a member of a team to deliver successful outcomes .
• Evidence of ability to apply good Quality Assurance processes, best practice, standards and/or regulations to all aspects of your work to achieve the agreed standard.
• Evidence of excellent written and oral communication skills, with an ability to communicate complex scientific and technical information to a range of audiences via a variety of media.

We encourage you to apply if you believe you meet our essential criteria, but we’re also keen to discover if you have:

• Evidence of prior experience of working with data driven weather or climate models or experience working with machine learning down scaling .

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 12/10/2025 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 20/10/2025. 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 Officeare 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.