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Junior Software Developer
Job summary
We’re looking for two Junior Software Developers to help us make a difference to our planet by using cutting edge technologies to provide world-leading meteorological information to our customers.
As our Junior Software Developer, 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
Job description
Are you passionate about technology? Do you love solving problems and want to grow your technical skills?
Join our friendly, innovative team developing cloud-based systems and services that help deliver critical weather and climate data to users across the UK and beyond. This is a fantastic opportunity to start your career in an agile team, learning from experienced developers while implementing technical solutions to provide critical, real-world services that make a difference.
You will engineer solutions using Python and AWS cloud computing to bridge the gap between our data services and the user platforms. You'll help build scalable APIs and cloud-native services that ensures fast, reliable access to our forecasts and observations data, supporting the systems behind the Met Office App, Public Website and other services.
You’ll get hands on with the output of our cutting-edge supercomputing capabilities and make system performance, scalability, and reliability essential elements of your work. This is your opportunity to be part of something bigger - developing modern, cloud-based solutions that have a wide-reaching and positive impact, helping millions of people to stay safe and thrive.
Your key duties:
- Develop skills while working under supervision to deliver stories in a multidisciplinary team.
- Understand and be proficient in different types of testing.
- Be aware of but not responsible for security.
- Coach and mentor more junior colleagues.
This role is aligned to the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework Junior Developer role level. Further information is available at https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/role/software-developer#junior-developer on the GOV.UK website.
Person specification
Essential Criteria, skills and experience:
- An expert by nature - Programming and build. Demonstrable experience of designing, developing, testing and debugging software or scripts, ideally using Python. Experience may have been gained through employment, education, placements or personal projects. Describe your contribution to the delivery of working software solutions and your use of cloud-native technologies where applicable. (Lead Criteria)
- You keep evolving- Modern development standards. You understand and can explain the most important principles of modern development standards and how they apply to your work.
- A force for good - Service support. With a problem-solving mindset you can help fix faults following agreed procedures and carry out agreed maintenance tasks on infrastructure.
- We're better together - Team work. You approach your work as a team activity, actively working with others across multi-discipline or geographically-dispersed teams, to deliver shared goals.
The panel may perform a preliminary sift of the lead criteria as indicated above.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £28,600, Met Office contributes £8,285 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).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 Junior Software Developer, your total reward package will be up to £40,524 annually, which includes:
- £28,600 base pay.
- An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
- Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA) you will be paid £2,000 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 2026 until March 2027 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 09/08/2026 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 17/08/2026. 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 Check 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.
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
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.ukhttps://careers.metoffice.gov.uk/key-roles-met-office/technology
Salary range
- £28,600 - £31,327 per year