IT Application Operations Engineer

We're looking for an exceptional Application Operations Engineer to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Application Operations 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

In this role you will be part of the Standalone Applications team who manage several key operational systems for data ingestion, data processing and product generation. For example; satellite data reception and radar data processing. These systems not only provide essential data used for the models that run on the supercomputer, but also use model data from the supercomputer to produce essential products used by forecasters and customers.

As our Application Operations Engineer, the key duties are:

• Provide support, as part of the team, to a range of key operational services, in a customer focused manner.
• Work towards achieving agreed service levels for supported systems by investigating and resolving reported problems.
• Support colleagues with managing the team's systems in terms of monitoring, lifecycle management, capacity planning and service improvements, including producing and maintaining procedures and documentation.
• Support colleagues in the team and in IT Operations to ensure high quality service is maintained.
• Work with fellow team members to improve the service delivered in terms of exploiting new capabilities, reducing risk, removing unnecessary complexity, or reducing cost so customer requirements continue to be met.

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 Application Operations Engineer your total reward package will be up to £39,976 annually, which includes:

• £26,954 base pay.
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA): you will be paid £2,200 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 2024 until September 2025 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. Skills in analysing & troubleshooting to resolve technical problems with the delivery of customer services (Experts by Nature)
2. Ability and willingness to learn new technologies and techniques.(We keep Evolving)
3. The ability to communicate technical information effectively to colleagues and customers with a range of academic disciplines (i.e. Science, IT, End Users/Customers).
4. Good team-working skills but also the ability to prioritise and work independently on allocated tasks (Better Together)

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:

1. Experience of working with Linux or Unix based systems, or equivalent qualifications.

How to apply

If you share our values, we'd love to hear from you. Apply below using your CV and a 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 Tuesday 30/04/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews from (week commencing) 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 . 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.