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Location: Exeter, Hybrid Working, relocation package considered
Total Reward Package: £130k + competitive package
Contract: Permanent - Full Time
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Shape the Future. Enable National Impact.

The Met Office is one of the world's leading weather and climate science organisations, helping citizens, businesses and governments make better decisions to stay safe and thrive.

We are seeking an exceptional executive leader to join our Main Board as Managing Director, Enabling Domain incorporating Chief Financial Officer. This is a rare opportunity to lead a critical part of a nationally important organisation and drive transformation across the corporate services enabling functions that underpin our success.

This role combines strategic enterprise leadership with Chief Financial Officer accountability, overseeing the resources, systems, governance and people that allow the Met Office to deliver its mission.

Job description

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.

The Opportunity

As Director of the Enabling Domain, you will lead a diverse portfolio of professional functions that support the effective, secure and compliant operation of the Met Office, including:

Financial Management
Commercial
People & Culture
Communications and Engagement
Portfolio Delivery
Governance and Legal
Internal Audit
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Security and Cyber Security
Enterprise Design
Corporate IT

Reporting directly to the CEO and serving as a member of the Main Board, Executive Committee and Audit & Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC), you will help shape our long-term ambitions and deliver our strategy.

You will lead a newly established Enabling Domain of approximately 650 colleagues, working across multiple disciplines to build an integrated, high-performing and future-ready organisation.

Key Responsibilities

Executive Leadership

Contribute to the strategic leadership of the Met Office as a member of the Main Board and Executive Committee.
Partner with the CEO and fellow Directors to set organisational direction and ensure successful delivery of strategic priorities.
Promote a culture of innovation, inclusion, accountability and high performance.

Domain Leadership

Lead the Enabling Domain and oversee delivery of its strategy, operating model and transformation agenda.
Chair the Enabling Domain Board and provide clear strategic direction across all enabling functions.
Establish effective governance, policies and service arrangements across the organisation.
Drive operational excellence, simplification and efficiency through modernisation and automation.

Chief Financial Officer Responsibilities

Act as Chief Financial Officer for the Met Office.
Provide stewardship of annual turnover of approximately £300 million.
Lead a direct cost base of approximately £100 million.
Oversee substantial government loans, grants and capital programmes worth around £100 million, including major national infrastructure investments.
Ensure compliance with Managing Public Money, Government Functional Standards and all relevant financial governance requirements.
Deliver robust financial planning, forecasting, risk management and performance oversight.

Transformation and Change

Play a leading role in embedding the recently established domain model.
Drive organisational transformation and continuous improvement initiatives.
Build strong collaboration and alignment across the organisation's three strategic domains.
Ensure enabling services evolve to meet future business needs.

Stakeholder Engagement

Represent the Met Office at senior levels across government.
Build trusted relationships with Accounting Officers, senior finance leaders and key stakeholders.
Engage confidently with sponsoring departments, government functions and external partners.
Maintain the highest standards of governance, transparency and public accountability.

Person specification

About You

We are looking for a strategic and collaborative executive who combines financial expertise with broad organisational leadership experience.

You will bring:

Essential Criteria, Skills & Experience:

Significant executive-level leadership experience within a large, complex organisation, with board-level financial accountability and experience operating as a CFO, Finance Director or equivalent senior leader.
Proven executive leadership of large-scale corporate or enabling service functions.
Experience managing substantial budgets and delivering financial performance, efficiencies and value for money.
A strong track record of leading organisational transformation and change, with exceptional communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
Extensive understanding of governance, risk management and regulatory compliance.
Experience working with senior government stakeholders or within a regulated public-sector environment.

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:

Knowledge of Managing Public Money and Government Functional Standards.
Experience overseeing major capital investment programmes.
Experience leading technology, cyber security or digital transformation.
Professional financial qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA or equivalent).
Experience operating within a scientific, research, technology or data-driven organisation.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £130,000, Met Office contributes £37,661 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?

This is an opportunity to help lead one of the UK's most trusted public institutions.

You will join a highly respected organisation that delivers services critical to public safety, national resilience, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.

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.

In return, we offer:

A competitive total reward of £130k + package
An outstanding civil service pension
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
Relocation Assistance may be available
Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
Professional development opportunities
The opportunity to deliver national impact through world-leading science and technology

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 midnight on 14th August. 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. In addition we have retained Moon Executive Search to work with us on this executive search opportunity.

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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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.