Satellite and Surface Assimilation Industrial Placement 2026

Satellite and Surface Assimilation Industrial Placement 2026

The Met Office is delighted to open our advertising for Industrial Placements 2026. This is an exciting opportunity to join the Met Office on a 12 month Year in Industry placement, commencing at the start of July 2026, developing your skills and knowledge and ensuring you gain the most value possible from your experience with us.

You will have the opportunity to network with our cohort of Industrial Placements all over the Met Office and understand what career opportunities are on offer at the Met Office after you graduate.

We're looking for a Satellite and Surface Assimilation Industrial Placement 2026 to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Satellite and Surface Assimilation Industrial Placement 2026, 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. As an Industrial Placement, we would expect you to attend the office once a week as a minimum.

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

Our Industrial Placement scheme offers ambitious and capable undergraduates the opportunity to gain valuable experience working alongside diverse and highly skilled experts in their field. You'll be working on projects that really matter and will make a difference.

You will be working in the Software for Observations and Data Assimilation (SODA) team within the Satellite and Surface Assimilation (SSA) strategic area.

Data assimilation involves combining observational data with a dynamical model to provide an optimal estimate of a system's state. In the context of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), this involves combining ensembles of short range weather forecasts with the huge quantities of observation from Earth observation networks. This provides an optimal initialisation for medium range weather forecasts.

The Met Office will soon have in place its next generation data assimilation and observation processing suite. This involves significant upgrades to our current operational system so that we can benefit from cutting edge HPC technologies (e.g., exascale computing, GPU acceleration, etc.). You will contribute to the further development of our observation monitoring and bias correction system. This allows us to select and verify observations from the tens of millions available every day. This is a key step in both providing an accurate data assimilation analysis as well as measuring and monitoring its skill.

Responsibilities

• Work in the SODA team within the SSA strategic area.
• Contribute to the development of observation monitoring and bias correction systems for the next generation observation processing suite.
• Assist in data assimilation projects that combine observational data with NWP models using high performance computing technologies.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to verify observations and support operational forecasting.

Essential Criteria, Skills and Experience

• Software development in scientific languages such as C++, Fortran and Python.
• Aptitude and interest to use software to solve scientific problems.
• Engagement with others to understand the requirements of your work.
• Taking conscientious steps to produce readable, maintainable software.
• Communicating knowledge accurately and clearly to a variety of audiences.
• Proactively developing your skills, leading to beneficial impacts in your work.

Package and Benefits

• Your salary will be £27,170.
• Annual leave starting at 27.5 days.
• Access to discounted shopping, inclusive of retail, leisure and lifestyle brands.

Whilst this is a temporary position until July 2027, there may be an opportunity to apply for our Graduate Development scheme upon completion of your university studies. However, this is not guaranteed and would be subject to programme availability and a successful application.

EEO Statement

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 must 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.

Recruitment Process (summary)

1. Apply through our careers website. Each application will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the job advert.
2. Screening: The sift panel will assess all applications against our essential criteria. The screening process usually takes one to two weeks following the closing date of the advert.
3. Interview: Most recruitment processes will include a single stage interview, some of which are virtual and some may be in person. Our interviews tend to blend competency questions with values based questions.
4. Assessment (if required): Some roles may require you to attend an assessment day. Any job specific assessments will be outlined in the job advert and more details will be provided at the interview stage.
5. Offer: If you are successful following the interview, the hiring manager will contact you to offer the role. The Resourcing Team will then follow up with an offer letter and start your onboarding.
6. Onboarding: Before we can confirm a start date, we will first need to complete security clearance and reference checks. These usually take between eight to ten weeks to complete. We'll also discuss any workplace adjustments that you may need so they are in place on your first day.

Ready to apply?

Satellite and Surface Assimilation Industrial Placement 2026

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