Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Team Leader

Met Office

Exeter, South West England, EX1 3PB

Job Summary

We’re looking for an exceptional

Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Team Leader to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Team Leader, 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

Your world of expertise

This position is within National Capability Technology. National Capability encompasses the science and technology required to deliver the data which underpins weather and climate services.

The Supercomputer Support Team support, monitor and manage the supercomputer users and systems which support the running of our meteorological forecast and climate prediction models. This involves working with the user community to advise them on the appropriate use of the system and support their needs. The team are responsible for managing the operating systems and core application software of the Met Office supercomputer complex. This is alongside our 24x7 colleagues in IT Operations and our delivery partners Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

As the Senior Infrastructure Engineer Team Leader, you are responsible for a team that builds, manages and supports the infrastructure services that underpin all internal user services and services to the public.

Job Description

Ensure delivery of the Supercomputer service.
Lead the team focusing on Lean ways of working and maintaining focus on Continuous Improvement of tools and processes.
Support the team by removing impediments and actively dealing with delivery risks.
Lead continual planning process with the team.
Communicate effectively with team members and stakeholders.
Identify and address issues that might negatively impact team dynamics.
Ensure delivery of the Supercomputer service.
Lead the team focusing on Lean ways of working and maintaining focus on Continuous Improvement of tools and processes.
Support the team by removing impediments and actively dealing with delivery risks.
Lead continual planning process with the team.
Communicate effectively with team members and stakeholders.
Identify and address issues that might negatively impact team dynamics.

Person specification

Lead Criteria: Technical Leadership - Proven ability to lead and line-manage technical teams, driving performance and accountability (Expert by Nature).
People Development & Continuous Improvement - Experience coaching individuals and continuous service improvement using techniques such as Agile/Lean practices (Live and Breathe It/Keep Evolving)
Service Management & Reliability - Experience maintaining reliable and high-availability services, using ITIL/service management principles, including incident, problem, and change management (Better Together).
Systems & Platform Expertise - Knowledge of Linux/Unix, system administration, and production infrastructure/services (Expert by Nature).

Desirable Criteria

Experience in scientific or meteorological systems.
Experience in HPC/supercomputing environments, and parallel computing tools (e.g. schedulers [e.g. PBS, Slurm]; parallel filesystems [e.g. Lustre, GPFS]; etc.).

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

Alongside your salary of £43,081, Met Office contributes £12,480 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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 Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Team Leader, your total reward package will be up to £65,568 annually, which includes:

£43,081 base pay
An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA) you will be paid £5,300 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

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

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 21/06/2026 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 06/07/2026. 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 ***email_hidden***.

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: ***email_hidden*** If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: [email protected]

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.

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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

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 : Resourcing Team
Email : ***email_hidden***

Recruitment team

Email : ***email_hidden***

Further information

***email_hidden***

https://careers.metoffice.gov.uk/what-we-can-offer-you