Lead Developer

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Job Reference metoffice/TP/726/1508

Apply for this job Contract Details: Permanent Working Hours: 37 Location (City/Town): Exeter Closing Date: 16/11/2026 Profession: Digital, Data & Technology (DDaT) Region / Division: UK Region Careers website category: Technology

Job Introduction

We’re looking for a Lead Developer to help us make a difference to our planet. 

As our Lead 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, but we would also consider applicants wishing to work a minimum of 30 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 

Working alongside another Lead Developer, you will provide technical leadership within our Transport Tribe. Our focus is delivering new services to the global aviation community, as part of our responsibility as a World Area Forecast Centre, as well as delivering new services to the rail and marine sectors.  You will be working with cutting edge technology on some unique projects which help to ensure safe flight operations, rail journeys and marine voyages. When you join us, you'll be fully supported by your teams to enable you to succeed and further develop your career at the Met Office. 

We use a diverse set of technologies, working mainly with Python and JavaScript programming languages for a wide range of applications, from scientific computing to web development. Our cloud infrastructure spans AWS and Azure, where we embrace containerization using Docker and serverless architectures to ensure scalability and efficiency. Additionally, we are making ever greater use of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies across the organisation to enhance our weather and climate predictions. 

Join us to work with these exciting technologies and more, as we push the boundaries of weather and climate science. 

 

Your key duties:

• Provide authoritative technical leadership to define, apply, and evolve modern development standards and practices across teams and complex projects. 
• Be proficient in a wide range of technical systems.
• Be involved in identifying appropriate technology and approaches, deciding when software should be written
• Contribute to the developer community, promoting knowledge sharing and adoption of good practice.
• Provide technical leadership, coaching and mentoring your teams, acting as a task and/or line manager when required.

We operate an on-call roster in Technology to provide 24/7/365 support to respond to operational service requirements. This post may be part of an on-call roster and the post holder would be required to participate in an on-call roster where in operation. 

This role could include line management and is aligned to the Government Digital and Data (GDaD) Profession Capability Framework Lead Developer - Management role level. For further information on these please refer to the relevant GDaD description 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 Lead Developer, your total reward package will be up to £79,657 annually, which includes: 

• £54,515 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• Recruitment Retention Allowance (RR