- If you are based in McLean, VA, you typically have to travel to Richmond for 1-2 days each week. This is ingrained in the culture and very few people can avoid this unless they are in support functions.
- Job families are very functionally-specialized so it is not a good place to get general management experience. Often times the senior leadership are people who were really good Business Analysts and got promoted, but do not have strong general management skills.
- None of the job families "own" the product, so no one has a traditional brand manager/product manager role that would be available at a consumer goods company like Procter & Gamble. The typical marketing functions are split between 3 roles:
1. Business Analysts - own the product strategy, valuations, financials
2. Product Managers - own the execution of product strategy, work with Brand to develop creatives and navigate through Capital One's complex processes to execute projects
3. Brand Managers - own the creatives, work with ad agencies
- Opportunities at the Director and VP level are limited and this can be frustrating for motivated employees. There are also no clear career paths for MBAs which is why the company has a hard time retaining them.
- Company rewards people who work on existing mainstream business, not those focused on growth or innovation.
