Job vacancy at Met Office:

Job Title: NEMO System Team Scientist

Salary Information

RD005 Senior Scientist: £36,684 - £40,352 pa*

RD006 Scientist: £30,325 to £33,260 pa*

RD007 Foundation Scientist: 23,673 - 26,119 pa*

*Salary quoted is based on full-time salary (37 hours) and 27.5 days annual leave and 8 bank holidays. Employees can buy or sell up to 5 days leave if full-time or for part-time staff up to their weekly contracted hours.

Background

The Oceans, Cryosphere and Dangerous Climate Change group (OCDC), part of the Met Office Hadley Centre, has a wide ranging role in developing the Met Office’s ocean modelling tools (used in forecasting on timescales from days to centuries, including a growing focus on coupled ocean-atmosphere weather prediction), and in applying those tools to understand and quantify the role of the ocean in climate variability and change.

Within OCDC the Ocean Modelling team focuses on development and evaluation of the ocean model configurations for the globe and for the North-west European shelf seas, that are the basis of the Met Office’s coupled weather and climate prediction systems. These configurations are in turn based on the NEMO ocean model code, which is developed by a consortium of six European partners including the Met Office.

The current post will contribute to the development and evaluation of the NEMO code and the Met Office configurations. We are seeking a versatile modelling scientist who can devise, implement, rigorously test and evaluate improvements to the underlying NEMO model code or its software infrastructure in collaboration with UK and/or European partners.

Job Purpose

To contribute to the work of the Ocean Modelling team in OCDC and the international NEMO Systems Team, through model development, testing and evaluation.

Job Responsibilities

The job holder will contribute to the overall ocean model development programme, agreed with Met Office customers and the international NEMO Systems Team. Precise projects will be determined in consultation with the successful candidate, taking account of his/her skills and those of the rest of the team. These are likely to include:

Developing underpinning NEMO capability, for example improving the representation of flow interaction with bottom topography, or the suite of tests used to verify / validate the NEMO code systemT

Testing and evaluating new NEMO developments in idealised test cases and in the Met Office’s global and shelf model configurations

Contributing to the development of diagnostics within NEMO and software for model evaluation

The job holder will be expected to present the work to internal and external scientific audiences, and to contribute to peer reviewed publications, at a level commensurate with their job role. He/she will have the opportunity to develop specialist expertise in particular areas of ocean modelling.

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities

Understanding of mathematics and physics relevant to the post, equivalent to a first degree (UK 2:1 or above, or equivalent) in a mathematically or physically based science

Potential to independently develop and evaluate scientific model software and experience in a subject area related to the post, commensurate with role level: At Foundation Scientist level: ability to think independently through a specified modelling problem, and evidence of successful simple software development or research project work At Scientist level: as above, plus evidence of productive work in a relevant field under regular supervision At Senior Scientist level: as above, plus evidence of consistent productive work in atmospheric/ocean modelling under limited supervision.

Demonstrated understanding of the technical, numerical and scientific issues related to fluid dynamical modelling, commensurate with role level. For Foundation Scientist this requires a basic understanding of the equations of fluid flow and approaches to their numerical solution. For Scientist and Senior Scientist levels, this should include an understanding of specific issues related to atmospheric/ocean modelling or numerical modelling of fluid flow.

Scientific programming skills in languages such as Fortran and Python, commensurate with role level. At Scientist level or above this includes experience of working with large, complex numerical codes

Demonstrated ability to produce clear written scientific papers or reports, commensurate with role level.

Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to deliver to joint goals

Ability to manage time well balancing the requirements of a number of different projects

Desirable Qualifications, Skills & Abilities

Knowledge and understanding of ocean circulation dynamics and models

Experience of working with the NEMO ocean model (running and developing code)

Experience with the Met Office software environment for modelling (e.g. ROSE)

Experience with High Performance Computing (for example, running and optimising code)

Ability to take part in discussions in French or Italian.

Key Dates

Closing date 18th August 2019 with interviews scheduled to take place on 5th September 2019. Please note that you will be notified if you are successful or unsuccessful.

Additional Supplementary Information

This post offers an excellent opportunity to work with some of the world’s most advanced forecasting and climate prediction systems, and the ocean models that underpin them. There will be opportunities for the post holder to develop specific areas of expertise within this remit. The post also offers the stimulus of working on collaborative projects with UK and international partners. A willingness to travel occasionally, within Europe and beyond, would be highly desirable.

Full-time, part-time and job share applications are invited. Successful applicants will be required to work ~75% of their working week in Exeter due to requirements for coordination. Homeworking (UK) may be considered for ~25% of week.

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. If you require any reasonable adjustments during these exercises, please include this information in your application.

This role will nominally be based in Exeter but we will consider applicants wishing to work elsewhere within the UK.

To apply, please click on the link below and attach the most recent version of your CV, along with a cover letter which briefly (no more than two-pages) states your experience against each essential and desirable criteria. Guidance on writing your CV and covering letter is available on Comet.

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. If you require any reasonable adjustments during these exercises, please include this information in your application.

Please note, when joining the Met Office all new employees will start on the salary band minimum.

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.

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