Ocean Forecast Verification Industrial Placement 2027

Met Office; Exeter; Hybrid; GBP 23,000 - 31,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary £27,170

Annual leave 27.5 days

Retail discounts

Job summary

Met Office is offering a 12-month Year in Industry placement in Exeter, starting July 2027. You will work with the Ocean Forecast Verification team on building a prototype Agentic AI capability for operational ocean monitoring and event attribution.

The role includes collaboration with marine experts and hands-on development of AI-powered monitoring tools. The placement emphasizes training AI agents, QA and anomaly detection for forecasts, and presenting system status in natural language for end

Qualifications

• Pursuing a degree in a mathematical or physical science with an industrial placement year.
• Demonstrated interest in AI/ML and computing.
• Experience in programming or scientific computing tools such as Python, Fortran or MATLAB.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Clear communication and collaborative teamwork skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop an Agentic AI-driven monitoring workflow for marine forecasts.
• Train AI Agents to assess model outputs and highlight anomalies.
• Support quality assurance and anomaly detection for marine forecasts.
• Summarise system status in natural language for end users.

Skills

Python

Fortran

MATLAB

AI/ML interest

Analytical thinking

Teamwork

Education

Mathematical or Physical Science degree (with industrial placement year)

Tools

Python

Fortran

MATLAB

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - Exeter

Job Reference metoffice/TP/1321/1476

Fixed Term Contract

Working Hours:

37

Location (City/Town):

Exeter

Closing Date:

08/11/2026

Profession:

Science

Region / Division:

UK Region

Job Introduction

The Met Office is delighted to open our advertising for Industrial Placements 2027.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Met Office on a 12-month Year in Industry placement, commencing at the start of July 2027, developing your skills and knowledge and ensuring you gain the most value possible from your experience with us.

You will have the opportunity to network with our cohort of Industrial Placements all over the Met Office and understand what career opportunities are on offer at the Met Office after you graduate .

We’re looking for Ocean Forecast Verification Industrial Placement to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Ocean Forecast Verification Industrial Placement, 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. As an Industrial Placement, we would expect you to attend the office once a week as a minimum.

Our opportunity is full time, 37 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’rea force for good- focusing on our environmental and social impact
• We’reexperts 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’rebetter together - understanding partnerships and inclusivity make usgreater
• We keep evolving- pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers

Your world of expertise

Our Industrial Placement scheme offers ambitious and capable undergraduates the opportunity to gain valuable experience working alongside diverse and highly skilled experts in their field . You’ll be working on projects that really matter and will make a difference.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a rapidly growing impact in many aspects of our lives. Weather and ocean forecasting is no different. Exciting advances are being made in the use of Agentic AI tools to assist and improve the ways we work. Working alongside members of our Ocean Forecast Verification team, you will develop a prototype Agentic AI capability for Operational Ocean Monitoring and Event Attribution. The overall aim is to create an intelligent monitoring assistant that can automatically monitor daily marine forecasts, detect anomalies and explain likely causes, and contextualise the forecasts against current and upcoming weather and oceanic events such as El Niño, tropical cyclones, and marine heatwaves.

• Working alongside marine experts on quality assurance and anomaly detection for monitoring marine forecast models and observations
• Developing an Agentic AI- driven monitoring workflow that replicates existing manual monitoring
• Training AI Agent(s) to assess model outputs to detect missing or erroneous diagnostics and highlight marine climate anomalies
• Training the Agent(s) to summarise system status in natural language for end users

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, 2025 and 2026 lists, as well as their ’54 Best Workplaces for Women’ 2023 list.

Your package includes:

• Your salary will be £27,170
• Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days
• Access to discounted shopping, inclusive of retail, leisure and lifestyle brands

Whilst this is a temporary position until July 2028, there may be an opportunity to apply for our Graduate Development scheme upon completion of your university studies. However, this is not guaranteed and would be subject to programme availability and a successful application.

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

• Lead Criteria: A clear interest in AI and machine learning, with a strong motivation to build skills in this area (Keep Evolving).
• Studying for a degree in a mathematical or physical science, with an industrial placement year included.
• Experience with programming or scientific computing tools such as Fortran, Python, or MATLAB, showing a commitment to continuous learning and technological development .
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to communicate technical information clearly and concisely, while working effectively and collaboratively with others as part of a team (Better Together ).

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

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 without caveats and/or restrictions for this role, 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.