Climate and Nature Scientist

Job Introduction

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 

The successful scientist will work in the Climate and Nature (CaN) team which is part of the Climate Monitoring and Attribution (CMA) group in Climate Science. 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. 

Your key duties: 

• 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.

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 and 2024 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 £47,606 annually, which includes: 

• £33,794 base pay
• 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: 

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

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 29/09/2025 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 14/10/2025. 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.

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.