We’re looking for a Senior Operational Meteorologist to join our team at NATS and help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Senior Operational Meteorologist at NATS, 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, based in Southampton. We’re seeking to appoint one permanent Senior Operational Meteorologist, but will also look to create a reserve pool to fill future permanent or temporary vacancies that may arise at NATS over the next twelve months.

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

NATS provides air traffic navigation services to aircraft flying through controlled UK airspace and at numerous UK airports. As the UK’s sole provider of en-route services, NATS handles 2.4 million flights and 250 million passengers in UK airspace each year. NATS pride themselves on delivering a safe and efficient air traffic service across the UK, which involves managing some of the most complex airspace in the world.

As a skilled meteorologist, you’ll provide smart, tailored and focused meteorological information and impact-based forecasts to ensure that the primary customer and their stakeholders are as resilient to the weather as possible. Based within NATS’ Swanwick operational control centre, you will integrate seamlessly with the customer, building strong relationships which help enhance and develop Met Office services with the aim to further develop supporting science and technology.

This is a high-profile customer and you’ll need to adjust operational tempo dependent on the customers’ requirements, directly impacting their decision making around disruptive weather – benefiting and driving operational efficiencies for millions of passengers in the UK.

This is a fantastic opportunity to drive our understanding of Civil Aviation Operations and define future products and services in an important and continuously developing relationship. You will feed back learning and understanding of the customer, working with wider Met Office teams (eg. Science and Markets) to help develop capability.

Your key duties:

• Provide meteorological information and advice to NATS key decision makers regarding impacts on the network and operations. This ranges from tactical advice and nowcasting within the operations room, to weekly and monthly forecast information for planning purposes, ensuring that the right person has the most up to date information in real time.
• Develop an in-depth knowledge of the customer, including a full understanding of the weather elements which impact on their operations and the contingencies which may be implemented to help to mitigate these impacts.
• Understand NATS organisational structure and communicate clearly with all parties within the organisation to ensure that technical information is conveyed in a relevant way to all interested parties.
• Manage workload effectively to respond flexibly and quickly to changing customer requirements, whilst maintaining a clear focus on operational priorities and ensuring consistent messaging of the forecast through liaison with other meteorological teams.
• Work with the Aviation Business team to ensure that information about customers is captured and used to promote continued service improvement and the development of a long-term relationship.

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 Senior Operational Meteorologist (NATS), your total reward package will be up to £58,419 annually, which includes:

• £41,725 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• £4,200 as an Unsocial Hours Shift Allowance until end March 2025. This allowance is currently under review and there may be changes from April 2025.
• Relocation Assistance may be available
• 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:

• Successful completion of a forecaster foundation training programme, or equivalent, with evidence of ongoing professional development (we’re experts by nature).
• Evidence of strong customer service focus, through excellent communication skills and a flexible approach that demonstrates a wide-ranging understanding of customer requirements (we live and breathe it).
• Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of impacts of weather on aviation customers, with a proven track record of delivering operational forecasting (we’re experts by nature).
• Evidence of working well with others as part of a team and the capability to make independent decisions without direct supervision (we’re better together).
• Evidence of delivering innovative improvements to a service (we keep evolving).

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 05/02/2025 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 17/02/2025. 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.