Technical Lead - Senior Infrastructure Engineer

Job summary

We’re looking for a Senior Infrastructure Engineer to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Senior Infrastructure 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, but we would also consider applicants wishing to work a minimum of 33 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

Job description

Your world of expertise

We are looking for an experienced and proactive Senior Infrastructure Engineer to join the Digital Workplace team. In this position, you will help define and deliver the technical direction of our digital infrastructure, with a particular focus on harnessing Microsoft technologies to support the organisation’s evolving requirements.

Your responsibilities will include designing, implementing, and maintaining robust, scalable, and secure infrastructure solutions, making full use of platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, and associated cloud services. These solutions will underpin the delivery of world-class meteorological services and ensure the Met Office remains at the forefront of digital innovation.

As a senior member of the team, you will provide technical leadership across a variety of projects, championing best practices and standards within the Microsoft ecosystem. You will also mentor and support other technical staff, contribute to complex problem-solving, and participate in strategic decision-making, ensuring our infrastructure remains resilient, responsive, and continuously advancing. Your deep expertise in Microsoft architecture will be integral in maintaining the Met Office’s reputation for technical excellence.

Your key duties:

• Design, build, configure, and operate infrastructure solutions, ensuring robust, secure, and efficient operation of systems and services in line with Met Office architectural standards.
• Administer and support IT infrastructure, proactively monitoring performance, troubleshooting issues, and implementing improvements to optimise service delivery and minimise downtime.
• Lead and mentor infrastructure teams, coordinating day-to-day activities, allocating tasks, and fostering a culture of technical excellence and knowledge sharing.
• Implement and maintain automation to improve service reliability, compliance and operational efficiency.
• Oversee the integration and delivery of infrastructure services, working closely with internal stakeholders and third-party providers to ensure high-quality, reliable service outcomes.
• Take ownership of problem management, swiftly addressing incidents and root causes, and applying corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• Ensure compliance with information security practices and departmental policies, actively managing risks and adhering to modern development, testing, and operational standards.
• Contribute to the planning and management of technology roadmaps, workforce requirements, and project delivery, supporting the Digital Workplace function’s strategic goals.

We operate an on-call roster in Technology to provide 24/7/365 support to respond to operational service requirements. This post may be part of an on-call roster and the postholder would be required to participate in an on-call roster where in operation.

Person specification

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

1. Experts by Nature - Strong technical competence across servers, networks, cloud platforms, and endpoint devices, with proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex infrastructure issues across multiple technology layers.
2. Live and Breathe It – Proven experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining robust IT infrastructure solutions, ensuring secure modern cloud-first and identity-driven architectures in line with organisational standards.
3. Better Together - Excellent communication skills, capable of conveying complex architectural and technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
4. Experience in managing relationships with internal stakeholders and third-party providers, ensuring service delivery aligns with agreed standards and organisational objectives.
5. Better Together - Demonstrable experience in managing and developing technical teams, including coaching, performance management, and fostering an inclusive and collaborative working environment.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,081, Met Office contributes £12,480 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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 Senior Infrastructure Engineer, your total reward package will be up to £65,568 annually, which includes:

• £43,081 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA) you will be paid £5,300 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 March 2026 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

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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 19/01/2026 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 02/02/2026. 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, 2 of these years must be immediately preceding the point of your application. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.

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: careers@metoffice.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: info@csc.gov.uk

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Resourcing Team
• Email : careers@metoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : careers@metoffice.gov.uk