Climate and Nature Scientist

Met Office; Devon and Torbay; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Civil Service pension

Annual leave up to 32.5 days incl. BH

Job summary

The Met Office is seeking an exceptional Climate and Nature Scientist to join the CaN team within CMA. This full-time role offers hybrid working, with a flexible pattern to suit personal circumstances, and a 37-hour week (minimum 30 hours also possible).

The role focuses on understanding climate-nature interactions, developing models, and communicating findings to both government and international audiences.

Qualifications

• Lead Criteria: Experience with observations and/or modelling and high-quality research outputs.
• PhD level or suitable research experience.
• Keeps up to date with scientific literature and learns new techniques for data analyses/modelling.
• Able to work collaboratively with colleagues and customers.
• Good scientific computing and programming skills (R or Python).
• Ability to write clear scientific communications, including papers or reports.
• Enthusiasm for presenting results to diverse audiences, including international conferences.

Responsibilities

• Develop quality-controlled code and tools to analyse datasets, build models and deliver outputs.
• Collaborate with nature experts and external organisations to address nature-related requirements.
• Work with CaN, CMA and wider Met Office teams.
• Stay current with climate/nature literature and publish outputs.
• Communicate project results in publications, reports and blogs.
• Present findings to national and international conferences and meetings.

Skills

Observations/modelling

Scientific computing

Scientific communications

Presenting at conferences

Collaborative work

Education

PhD level or equivalent research experience

Tools

R

Python

Job description

We're looking for an exceptional Climate and Nature Scientist to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Climate and Nature 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 30 hours per week. 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 work in the Climate and Nature (CaN) team which is part of the Climate Monitoring and Attribution (CMA) group in the Monitoring and Projections National Capability. Here, the term 'nature' includes individual species, natural and managed ecosystems and biodiversity across all living systems.

The CaN team work to improve understanding, monitoring and modelling of climate and nature interactions to help inform relevant UK government policies and targets, and appropriate adaptation and mitigation actions.

• Develop quality-controlled code and/or use other tools and techniques to analyse datasets, develop models and deliver outputs to assess and communicate climate and nature interactions.
• Collaborate closely with nature experts and organisations external to the Met Office to ensure project work addresses requirements for nature.
• Work effectively with colleagues in CaN and CMA, and across the wider Met Office.
• Keep up to date with relevant climate and nature literature.
• Communicate project outputs in peer-reviewed publications, reports and other media e.g. blogs.
• Present to national and international science conferences, policy or user meetings and public audiences.

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, 2024 and 2025 lists, as well as their '54 Best Workplaces for Women' 2023 list.

As our Climate and Nature Scientist, your total reward package will be up to £49,448 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

• Lead Criteria: Experience with observations and/or modelling, with evidence of working independently to provide high class research outputs (Expert by nature).
• A physical or biological scientific background equivalent to PhD level or suitable research experience.
• Evidence of keeping up to date with scientific literature and learning new techniques for data analyses and/or modelling (Keep evolving).
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and effectively with colleagues in a team and with customers (Better together).
• Good scientific computing and programming skills such as in R or Python (Expert by nature).
• Ability to write clear scientific communications, including substantial contributions to scientific papers or customer reports (Live and breathe it).
• Enthusiasm for presenting scientific results to different audiences, including at international conferences and meetings (Live and breathe it).

The panel may perform a preliminary sift of the lead criteria as indicated above.

Closing date 27/09/2026 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 12/10/2026. 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 Office are made by people, not AI. For more details, visit our approach to recruitment.

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.

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then in the first instance you should contact us at: If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: