Meteorologist : Employers and vacancy sources

The largest employer of meteorologists in the UK is the Met Office , a government agency run on a commercial basis, incorporating the Met Office Hadley Centre , a world-renowned centre for advanced climate modelling and monitoring. The Met Office headquarters are in Exeter, but there are many smaller offices in other parts of the UK and overseas. A subsidiary of the Met Office is the Mobile Met. Unit (MMU), whose staff are attached to Royal Air Force (RAF) units and may be employed throughout the world on both military exercises and operations.

Other employers of meteorologists include:

• government departments, such as the Environment Agency (EA) ;
• research centres, such as the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) , the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) , the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) , the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) , the Dundee Satellite Receiving Station and the Walker Institute for Climate System Research ;
• UN technical aid programmes - the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)  has a list of its partner organisations;
• agricultural and fisheries institutes;
• service industries, such as oil, gas and water suppliers;
• environmental consultancies such as AEA Technology - see the ENDS Environmental Consultancy Directory for a list;
• private companies who provide weather forecasting services, such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)  and MeteoGroup  - details of more are available from the Royal Meteorological Society ;
• media organisations.

Sources of vacancies

• Search graduate jobs on this site.
• Earthworks Jobs
• Guardian Jobs
• Jobs.ac.uk
• Met Office
• Met-Jobs
• National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS)
• Nature Jobs
• New Scientist Jobs
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Check the websites listed under typical employers and consider sending a speculative application where appropriate.

Recruitment agencies rarely handle vacancies for meteorologists.

Get tips on job hunting, CVs and covering letters and interviews.