Junior Software Developer

Job Introduction

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

Your world of expertise 

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.

Why join us 

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%.

Essential Criteria, skills and experience: 

1. 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)
2. 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. 
3. 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.
4. 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.

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. 

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