Flood Forecasting Centre Industrial Placement 2021

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Flood Forecasting Centre Industrial Placement 2021

Our Industrial Placement scheme offers ambitious, capable undergraduates the opportunity to gain valuable experience working alongside experts in their field.

Why should I choose the Met Office?:

As an Industrial Placement at the Met Office, you will be paid £17,900 pa and have the opportunity to spend 12 months (between July 2021 - July 2022) working at the Flood Forecasting Centre based in the Operations Centre at the Met Office, helping to protect lives and livelihoods from flooding.

You will be working to support us in our day to day operations, verifying of our performance during periods of flooding or supporting us with science projects to improve our flood forecasting capability. You’ll also have opportunity to help us solve some key challenges, such as improved visualisation of probabilistic forecasts, development of dashboards that consolidate key forecast information or developing approaches that use social media to help understand flooding impacts in real-time and assisting in planning activities across our team.

This Industrial Placement is an exciting opportunity to see first-hand what we do, make a real impact that the Met Office and Flood Forecasting Centre truly values, and also gain an insight into flood operations at the Environment Agency.

Tell me a little more about what you do….:

The Flood Forecasting Centre is a hub of expertise that provide specialised hydrometeorology services to Government and Emergency Responders. We do this in the partnership by combining the meteorology and world-leading science of the Met Office with the world class expertise in hydrology of the Environment Agency.

All our specialist team are cross-trained in meteorology and hydrology, several have doctorates and many have expertise in related disciplines such as oceanography. Our blend of academic, technical and operational skills within the centre; whilst working alongside colleagues in the Met Office and Environment Agency, enables us to develop and operationalise world leading approaches to flood forecasting and operational flood risk assessment.

We also work with other organisations such as the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the British Geological Survey, consultants, as well as the research community including academia and consultants. By combining our knowledge and experience, we are vastly improving our ability to deliver longer lead time flood forecasts and more accurate, targeted information to the Category 1 and 2 responders who have roles and responsibilities in handling emergency situations. This earlier and better communication of flood risk enables national and local responders to support the public and local communities at risk of flooding. This provides people more time to take action to protect themselves and their homes and businesses from flooding.

Can I apply?:

To become an FFC Industrial Placement at the Met Office you will need to be someone who:

• Is studying for an undergraduate degree with a significant numeracy, science (e.g. Environmental Science) and/or IT element which MUST incorporate a placement year (i.e. sandwich course).
• Demonstrates evidence of good oral and written communication skills
• Can plan and organise work using own initiative
• Possesses strong IT and Applied Science skills
• Has an appreciation of customer needs and the importance of good customer service 6. Has proven ability to work well as a member of a team

As well as someone who can desirably demonstrate:

• Evidence of an understanding of emerging technologies and how they might be applied to FFC service development.
• Evidence of contributing to delivery of a range of projects

How do I apply?:

If you think this role sounds perfect for you and you meet the above requirements, then please follow these two simple steps… 

• Click on the link above to submit your application via our website
• Fill out the online application and give as much evidence as possible against the skills required 

When will I hear if I have been shortlisted?:

We will be accepting applications until 28th February 2021. During this time, we may get in touch if you are unfortunately not eligible or we have spotted something missing from your application. Otherwise, you can expect to hear from us before the 19th March once the hiring manager has reviewed all the applications received. We often receive a high number of applications so it can take a little while to look at each one but we always let people know the outcome.  The next stage is an interview (likely to be via Skype at the end of March/early April) and that’s it! Good luck!

Additional Information:

This placement is normally based in Exeter as you may be required for onsite meetings however there is likely to be a flexible remote working aspect involved.

This recruitment post is not offering UK Visa and Sponsorship and therefore requires all applicants to be eligible to work within the UK / EU without restriction. If you are a non–EU candidate, you will be required to provide and attach all relevant eligibility documentation to your application at the time of applying.

Please note that successful candidate/s will be required to satisfactorily undergo security clearance checks. This will generally require the candidate to have lived in the UK for at least three out of the last five years, but applicants not meeting this criteria may be considered.

We recognise that Great Minds Don’t Think Alike. Consequently, the Met Office is committed to working towards being a more diverse and inclusive organisation and to valuing and utilising visible and invisible individual differences. This includes continually striving to create a positive and open environment in which to work, along with ensuring that there are no barriers implicit in our policies or procedures preventing people from performing to the best of their ability. We are a “Disability Confident” employer, Mindful Employer, and we hold an Athena Swan Bronze award for our work on gender equality. We are proud to have a variety of staff-led networks who constantly work with us to enable everyone to fulfil their full potential. We are taking measures throughout our Recruitment process to tackle unconscious bias, and we apply the Civil Service Code to ensure that everyone is recruited on merit, fairness and open competition.