Business Manager - Surface Transport - INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

Job Introduction

This is an Internal Advert, only available to current Met Office employees.

We’re looking for an exceptional Business Manager - Surface Transport to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Business Manager - Surface Transport, 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 and we will also try our best to consider those intending to work a job share.  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

The Transport Team sits within the Markets Directorate of the Met Office. The Transport Team collectively manages customer and stakeholder relationships in the transport sector (land, sea, air & space) and deliver profitable revenue through delivery of a range of existing and new services to address the customer’s needs.

This role will be to lead the customer and stakeholder management for surface transport (road & rail) to build effective customer relationships that will support these sectors to maximise the value from weather and climate science. In turn realising extraordinary impact and benefit from our services whilst delivering profitable revenue. The primary focus will be on relationships and contracts with Department for Transport, National Highways, Network Rail, Transport Scotland as well as supporting the private gritting sector. There is the potential for involvement with autonomous vehicles as this sector matures.

Your key duties

• Develop and build profitable long-term relationships with existing and new customers in the Transport sector, in line with sector plans as required as well as providing the lead co-ordination for DfT engagement. 
• Task management of a team of Account Managers, ensuring that they have the support and expertise to undertake their role and developing capabilities in line with competency frameworks and development plans.
• Develop and maintain account plans and engagement strategies to identify and promote activity on areas of greatest potential ensuring the overall strategy is aligned to future, Markets and emerging Met Office capabilities in order to maximise the value of weather and climate services for the customer. 
• Deliver the financial P&L which will include being responsible for setting and delivering on budgets through delivering revenue, managing costs and pricing of the portfolio.
• Provide sector specific and customer insight for aiding Demand Management, Propositions and Service Catalogues and Lifecycle Management processes and engage with, and inform, internal teams across Propositions, Services and Programmes to ensure customer requirements are consistently understood. 
• Enable the representation of the Met Office within national stakeholder working groups. This will be through activities such as:
  1. Supporting the setting of policies and regulation, to ensure safety of the UK surface transport network and to ensure efficient operations to reduce CO2 emissions from this sector.
  2. Influence future services and standards to maximise the use of meteorology to enhance safety and efficiency. 

This role comes with task management responsibilities. Some travel around the UK may be necessary.

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.

As our Business Manager - Surface Transport, your total reward package will be up to £72,530 annually, which includes:

• £52,799 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%
• 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. Experience in building and maintaining robust relationships to drive business objectives, agreeing a programme of work with them and reporting on progress against that programme’s deliverables.
2. Successful track record in identifying new business opportunities and developing strategies to pursue them effectively, building relationships to maximise lifetime value.
3. Proven ability of working collaboratively across internal or external teams or stakeholders with a history of getting things done through influence and collaboration.
4. Ability to gain trust, build rapport and communicate clearly and persuasively, with people at all levels within an organisation using a range of written and oral media.
5. Experience of developing business strategies for a particular area, task managing a team to deliver on the goals, whilst maintaining focus on timely delivery of agreed outcomes.  
6. Experience of pricing, contract management, and knowledge of the principles of using corporate financial systems and associated corporate budgeting and planning.

Desirable Criteria 

We encourage you to apply if you believe you meet our essential criteria, but we’re also keen to discover if you have:

How to apply

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you. Apply below using your CV and a Cover Letter/Supporting Statement with evidence against each of the essential criteria. We recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills.

Closing date Monday 06/05/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 13/05/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

How we can help:

If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via careers@metoffice.gov.uk . 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.