Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer

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Job Reference metoffice/TP/1087/1488

Permanent

Working Hours:

37

Location (City/Town):

Reading

Closing Date:

01/11/2026

Profession:

Science

Region / Division:

UK Region

Careers website category:

Science

We’re looking for an exceptional Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software 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’rea force for good - focusing on our environmental and social impact
• We’reexperts 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’rebetter together - understanding partnerships and inclusivity make usgreater
• We keep evolving - pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers

Your world of expertise

You will join a team developing 100m-scale urban prediction techniques to forecast small-scale hazards like thunderstorms, heat, and fog. High-resolution physical models are computationally prohibitively expensive for routine use, creating a clear opportunity for data- driven solutions . Utilising our unique high-resolution training datasets, you will build, optimise, and implement machine learning models and workflows into practical, routine-running applications. Based at our University of Reading hub, you will apply advanced ML engineering to solve urban weather challenges alongside academic and research specialists.

• Contributing to research and software delivery for urban-scale machine learning, including refactoring, modularizing, and optimizing ML workflows; evaluating and adopting emerging algorithms; implementing software best practices; and optimizing code performance across high-performance computing (HPC, including GPUs) and cloud computing platforms.
• Working closely with colleagues across different teams within the Met Office to ensure consistency of approach and software standardisation.
• Working collaboratively with partners in UK universities and UM partner organisations to advance partnerships on sub-km/urban prediction applications, noting in particular links with University of Reading scientists which are being strengthened through the Local Hazard Prediction Centre of Excellence.
• Documenting and presenting the work in internal reports, meetings, scientific journals, and external conferences. To provide scientific/technical advice to peers, management and external stakeholders.

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 Urban-scale Prediction Foundation Scientific Software Engineer, your total reward package will be up to £42,524 annually, which includes:

• An outstanding…