Our Science Professional Skills

What is the Met Office Science Profession Skills Framework?

It describes the skills we expect all our Science Professionals to possess and develop as they undertake their jobs, and it is anchored to the Government Science and Engineering (GSE) Career Framework.

Who should use the Met Office Science Profession Skills Framework?

It applies to all three of our Met Office Science Profession Career Families: Scientist, Scientific Software Engineer (SSE, equivalent to Research Software Engineer; RSE) and Scientific Consultant. The way our Science Professionals demonstrate the skills will depend on their career family and their specific job.

How should the Met Office Science Profession Skills Framework be used?

To support our Science Professionals in understanding the skills they may need or want to develop and to support their future job aspirations, and to provide a structure for the development conversations our Science Professionals have with their line manager, who will enable opportunities for them to develop their skills.

Our skills

  • Knowledge and Experience: The accumulation of both your relevant science professional working expertise and your application of that expertise.
  • Communicating and Discussing Knowledge and Ideas: How you share and discuss appropriate information with the appropriate people, in the appropriate way, at the appropriate time, to obtain the best outcome.
  • Advancing Understanding: How you advance the organisation's scientific and technical understanding, as guided by the Met Office strategies and roadmaps.
  • Developing the Profession: How you support the development of skills and professional identity across science professionals and communities, both internal and external to the Met Office.
  • Designing, Delivering and Maintaining Solutions: How you ensure that your scientific and technical knowledge and expertise is used to its full potential by our stakeholders.
  • Seeing the Bigger Picture: How you identify and maximise current and future opportunities, including how your area of expertise can be applied more widely.
  • Planning and Oversight of Developments or Services: How you plan and deliver the correct scientific and technical aspects of project work in the appropriate way, at the appropriate time, to our project and resource managers.
  • Quality Assurance: How you apply good Quality Assurance (QA) processes and best practice to your work.

Competency levels

  1. Awareness: You can describe the skill, and apply the skill in low complexity work under supervision.
  2. Working: You have a good understanding of the skill, and regularly apply the skill independently.
  3. Practitioner: You have a deep understanding of the skill, regularly apply the skill independently in medium and/or high complexity work, and regularly share knowledge and experience of the skill with others.
  4. Expert: You have an expert understanding of the skill, regularly apply this skill in high complexity work that requires unique considerations for the specific situation, coach others in the development of this skill, and set direction for best practice.

Skills Framework Infographic

An infographic describing the Met Office Science Profession Skills Framework; all the text from the infographic is included on this web page.