Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer

Met Office; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 29,000 - 43,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Civil Service pension with employer 28

Job summary

Met Office is seeking an exceptional Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer to advance techniques forecasting small-scale hazards with data-driven ML approaches. Based at the Reading hub, you will integrate ML engineering with university collaborations to deliver practical, routine-running applications.

The role emphasizes research, software delivery, and communication across stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Understanding or experience in machine learning, AI, or data science methods to solve complex problems.
• Ability to work with teams to understand requirements and context.
• Consider good QA processes, standards and regulations in work.
• Strong written and verbal communication of complex technical information.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to research and software delivery for urban-scale ML, refactor and optimize workflows.
• Collaborate with cross-team colleagues to ensure consistency of approach and software standardisation.
• Engage with university partners and industry to advance urban prediction projects.
• Document and present work in reports, meetings, journals, and external conferences.

Skills

ML engineering

Data science methods

Communication

QA processes

Tools

GPUs

HPC

Cloud platforms

Job description

We're looking for an exceptional Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer, 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. 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 join a team developing 100m-scale urban prediction techniques to forecast small-scale hazards like thunderstorms, heat, and fog. High-resolution physical models are computationally prohibitively expensive for routine use, creating a clear opportunity for data-driven solutions. Utilising our unique high-resolution training datasets, you will build, optimise, and implement machine learning models and workflows into practical, routine-running applications. Based at our University of Reading hub, you will apply advanced ML engineering to solve urban weather challenges alongside academic and research specialists.

Your key duties:

• Contributing to research and software delivery for urban-scale machine learning, including refactoring, modularizing, and optimizing ML workflows; evaluating and adopting emerging algorithms; implementing software best practices; and optimizing code performance across high-performance computing (HPC, including GPUs) and cloud computing platforms.
• Working closely with colleagues across different teams within the Met Office to ensure consistency of approachand software standardisation.
• Working collaboratively with partners in UK universities and UM partner organisations to advance partnerships on sub-km/urban prediction applications, noting in particular links with University of Reading scientists which are being strengthened through the Local Hazard Prediction Centre of Excellence.
• Documenting and presenting the work in internal reports, meetings, scientific journals, and external conferences. To provide scientific/technical advice to peers, management and external stakeholders.

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

As our Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer, your total reward package will be up to £42,524 annually, which includes:

• £28,600 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA) you will be paid £2,000 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 2026 until March 2027 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:

1. Lead Criterion: Show technical insight through creation of code-based solutions showing the effective application of technical knowledge, understanding and skills
2. An understanding of, demonstrable interest in, or experience of machine learning, AI, or data science methods to solve complex problems (Expert by Nature)
3. Engage with others to understand the requirements for your work and its wider context (Better Together)
4. Consider good Quality Assurance processes, best practice, standards and/or regulations in your work (Live and Breathe It)
5. Communicate knowledge accurately and concisely in written documents and discussions in small groups (Better Together)
6. Proactively develop your skills and support others in developing theirs (Keep Evolving)

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

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.

How we can help

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this opportunity further, please contact us at .

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 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.

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: