Pros
Cutting-edge science, talented employees with a can-do attitude, confidence to challenge the status quo to work on difficult and complex problems in neuroscience ( a field that a lot of pharma/company's R&D departments have exited entirely); very competitive compensation and benefits; every day is a new challenge (for better or for worse)
Cons
Politics, cronyism, and favoritism reign supreme. In R&D, there are high experienced, competent employees that are not fairly compensated relative to other employees' background and minimal experience levels. It comes down to who your hiring manager was and his/her judgment in making hiring decisions. Sometimes poor decisions get made, causing loyal, hardworking employees to feel resentment to those less experienced ones (but higher up on the career level), leaving a culture with an extremely low morale, bitter resentment, and nasty gossip. Everyone in my group has talked trash about everyone else in my group, and this is not a secret to anyone. It truly epitomizes the worst toxic corporate environment.