Industrial Placement - User Research

The Met Office is delighted to open our advertising for a number of Industrial Placements, which will commence from July 2025 until July 2026.
 
 We’re looking for an Industrial Placement to work with our User Research team to help us make a difference to our planet. 
 
 This is an exciting opportunity to join the Met Office on a 12-month Year in Industry placement, 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 we can offer you after you graduate.

As our User Research - 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. 

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 

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.

The Met Office purpose is to help people stay safe and thrive. To achieve this, we need to understand the people we serve and their needs. Our User-Centred Design team includes User Researchers who plan, design and carry out research activities with our users that helps delivery teams get a deep understanding of the people that use our products and services. You will work closely with the user researchers in the team to provide support and gather evidence about our users and their needs. 

Your key duties 

• Enabling user researchers with recruitment and research planning
• Supporting with research activities such as observation, note taking and conducting basic user research methods 
• Aiding in the analysis and synthesis of user research data
• Creating research reports and presenting findings
• Maintaining guidance documentation and user research templates for the user-centred design team

Why join us 

Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. The Met Office is accredited as a 'Great Place to Work UK 2023' and in addition has achieved a place on both the UK's 'Best Workplaces in Tech' and 'Best Workplaces for Women' lists. 

Whilst this is a temporary position until July 2026, there is potential for it to develop into an opportunity to join our Graduate Development scheme once you have completed your University studies.

Your package includes:

• Your salary will be £25,606
• Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days 
• Access to discounted shopping, inclusive of retail, leisure and lifestyle brands

Essential Criteria, skills and experience: 

1. Knowledge of user research. You understand the need for user research to drive good product decisions and can bring this knowledge to the role. You can explain some basic user research methods and are passionate about putting these into practice. 
2. Analysis and synthesis. You have an awareness of the need for careful analysis of research data to produce clear findings and to help us be 'experts by nature'. 
3. User focus and advocacy. You can explain how user-centred practices can be used to build products that 'keep evolving' to changing user behaviour and needs. You are willing to champion a user-focused approach with your colleagues. 
4. Better together. You are able to communicate effectively with stakeholders and team members and present user evidence that is relevant to them. You can be an active member and advocate of the user-centred design community. 
5. Agile thinking. You understand the benefits of agile working and the different roles in a multidisciplinary team. You are willing to evolve and iterate in your work.

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: 08/01/2025 at 23:59. Please note we often receive a high volume of applications, but we will contact everyone who applies once the closing date as past.  Interviews will be completed by 25/02/2025. 

For additional guidance on our recruitment process and how to apply please look at our approach to recruitment page on our careers site.

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.