User Researcher Industrial Placement 2027

Job summary

The Met Office is delighted to open our advertising for Industrial Placements 2027.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Met Office on a 12-month Year in Industry placement, commencing at the start of July 2027, 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 are on offer at the Met Office after you graduate.

We’re looking for a User Researcher Industrial Placement to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our User Researcher 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. As an Industrial Placement, we would expect you to attend the office once a week as a minimum.

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

Job description

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 Industrial Placement for user research will work closely with the user researchers in the User-Centred Design (UCD) team to provide support in gathering evidence about our users and their needs.

They will be involved in activities to enable our user researchers and user-centred design team, including maintaining guidance documentation and research insights, providing support with user recruitment and testing, and advocating user-centred design across the business.

Your key duties

• provide support for user-centred design teams including user recruitment, note taking, presenting research findings, creating research reports, and maintaining guidance documentation and templates
• be supported to work collaboratively with teams, understanding the importance of team dynamics, collaboration and feedback
• be aware of the need for careful analysis of research data to produce clear findings
• support in conducting basic user research methods
• work to a user research plan and follow standards for user research
• work in an open-minded and iterative way
• follow the Government Digital Service Standards and user-centred design best practice guidelines
• communicate effectively with technical and non-technical colleagues, supporting multidisciplinary discussions
• be an advocate for the UCD team within the Met Office and be able to explain why user research and user-centred design is important
• be part of the UCD community of practice and champion user-centred design

Person specification

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

1. Lead criteria 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.

The panel may perform a preliminary sift of the lead criteria as indicated above.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,170, Met Office contributes £7,871 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

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, 2025 and 2026 lists, as well as their ’54 Best Workplaces for Women’ 2023 list.

Your package includes:

• Your salary will be £27,170
• Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days
• Access to discounted shopping, inclusive of retail, leisure and lifestyle brands

Whilst this is a temporary position until July 2028, there may be an opportunity to apply for our Graduate Development scheme upon completion of your university studies. However, this is not guaranteed and would be subject to programme availability and a successful application.

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. Please also look at the Early Careers Programmes Application Guidance at the bottom of this advert.

Closing date: 23:59 on 8th November 2026. Please note, we often receive a high volume of applications, but we will contact everyone who applies once the closing date has passed.

Interviews will be completed by 16th December 2026.

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 without caveats and/or restrictions for this role, 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.

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 : careers@metoffice.gov.uk
• Email : careers@metoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : careers@metoffice.gov.uk

Further information

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

https://careershub.metoffice.gov.uk/members/?j=1479

Attachments

ApplicationTips_EarlyCareers2027 (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 142kB)