Cyber Security Industrial Placement 2023

The Met Office is delighted to open our advertising for a number of progressive Industrial Placements, which will commence from July 2023 until July 2024.

We are looking for an exceptional Cyber Security Industrial Placement 2023 to help us make a difference to our planet.

Our Cyber Security Industrial Placement 2023 will work a hybrid pattern of homeworking and suggest one day a week but at a minimum, once a month in Exeter HQ with a salary of £20,048 in line with planned increase to National Living Wage from April 2023, plus amazing benefits.

Why should I choose the Met Office?

• Flexible hours and hybrid working
• Annual Leave of 27.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) and an option to buy or sell up to 5 days per year of annual leave
• Access to discounted shopping on a range of retail, leisure and lifestyle categories

Who we are

Right across the world, every single day, people make decisions based on the weather. We have a strong purpose and provide critical weather services and world-leading climate science, helping people make better decisions to stay safe and thrive.

Our exceptional people deliver scientific, technological and operational expertise, working together to deliver extraordinary impact, making us one of the most trusted forecasters in the world.

Our Industrial Placement programme 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. Whilst the placement is a temporary position until July 2024, there is potential for it to develop into an opportunity to join our Graduate programme after you finish your studies. Together:

• 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

Job Purpose

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Met Office on a 12-month year in industry placement, 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 we can offer you after you graduate.

You will be working in our Cyber Security Operations Centre helping to keep the Met Office safe. You will gain valuable experience of operational monitoring, incident investigation and giving users advice and guidance. You will also help us progress our backlog of improvement activities. This is an excellent opportunity to develop and apply your knowledge and skills in cyber security.

During the placement you will rotate through four focus areas helping to develop our threat management, protection, detection and response capabilities aligned to the NIST framework.

Further to this rotation, you will be working on a project, of your design, which will have benefit to the Met Office.
You will be supported by a task manager in the appropriate area, alongside a mentor who will stay with you for the entire placement. Your mentor will also be helping you with your project. As our Cyber Security Industrial Placement 2023 , the key duties are:

• Learn about the security tooling that we use within the Cyber Security Operations Centre and the wide range of technology and services that we run at the Met Office.
• Assist with operational monitoring developing a level of autonomy investigating alerts and hunting for threats.
• Assist with investigations into potential security incidents and with incident response. Help identify root causes to avoid similar incidents happening in the future.
• Help end users by providing advice and guidance on cyber security.
• Continuously update knowledge on general and Met Office specific threats to inform threat management activities
• Improve our monitoring systems by developing new alerts and fine-tuning existing alerts.
• Assist with identifying and implementing improvements across our IT Infrastructure, to enhance our protection from ever-evolving threats
• Work on a project of your design with the aim of helping improve the Met Office’s security posture.

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

• Studying an undergraduate degree in Cyber Security/Computing or equivalent.
• Demonstrate a keen interest in Cyber Security and Technology (we do not expect you to be an expert, but we do want someone that is curious, motivated and willing to learn).
• Cyber security is truly a team effort, and we are looking for someone who is keen to collaborate with and support others. Provide evidence of good communication and interpersonal skills. (Better together)
• Evidence of applying problem solving skills to complex situations. We are interested in how you approach problems, and how you balance individual autonomy with seeking help from others. (Keep evolving)
• Awareness of ethical implications in the context of security monitoring and investigations, including relevant legislation such the Data Protection act.

Desirable Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

We encourage you to apply if you believe you meet our essential criteria, but your application will be even stronger if you have:

• Awareness of network technology, operating systems and other areas of IT.
• Awareness of defensive (blue team) tools, such as intrusion detection systems, endpoint detection and response, or SIEM solutions.

How to Apply

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you. Please clink the link below and complete the application form, making sure to include how you meet each of the criteria above.

We are accepting applications until 29/01/2023 at 23:59 with interviews commencing between 06/03/2023 . You will hear from us once the closing date has passed. Please note we often receive a high volume of applications but we will contact everyone who applies. Our interviews are taking place remotely via Microsoft Teams.

If successful, please note we are unable to offer expenses for travel to your normal place of work. Please ask at interview if you would like extra clarity on how often this requirement is likely to be.

How we can help

If you are considering applying and need assistance to do so, please contact us via askHR@metoffice.gov.uk. You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. 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.

You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident (Guaranteed Interview) Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

We are an equal opportunities employer, welcoming applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.

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 need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.