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Charles River Analytics

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Great place to work - Software Engineer Charles River Analytics Employee Review

5.0
Jan 25, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

CRA is a great place to work. People are generally friendly and there are many experts in their respective fields, from machine learning to human-computer interaction and robotics. Much of the work being done here is cutting edge research, covering a broad range of topics, so no matter what your interest is, you can likely find people working on it. There is a lot of room for growth and taking on leadership roles and responsibilities, but you do need to be willing to push for it and go after it. The company is employee owned, so there is much more of a sense of the company caring about their employees. Salary is fair, if maybe a little low (at least for Software Engineers), but the benefits are extremely good and make up for the difference. Very flexible and family-friendly. Management tends to be very open about the state and direction of the company, much more so than I have seen other places.

Cons

CRA primarily focuses on research and development projects, so if you are a Software Engineer expecting to work on the same project for years and do typical product support work, you won't find that here. You will typically be on multiple projects (2-3) and some will only last for 6-12 months. Some people love that environment, but some don't. You will typically end up working with a core group of people on a particular area of research problems. It can be hard sometimes to branch out to other groups or areas of interest, but this is something the company has been working on.

Explore other reviews about Charles River Analytics

5.0
May 20, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

CRA is a great company to work with. The flexibility, and overall company culture is hard to find these days.

Cons

Management should reach check in with employees more often.

4.0
Jun 28, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

R&D environment with many small projects and ‘all hands on deck’ culture is good for gaining exposure to new technologies, building up a diverse skillset and learning about the business side of R&D. Opportunities for self-direction and ownership for enthusiastic proposal writers. Excellent opportunity for early career engineers/scientists hoping to build up a technical foundation.

Cons

As the company’s bread & butter, R&D proposal wins are King, and technical excellence is valued only insofar as it enables these wins. Funding opportunities are typically small and fragmented, rarely offering room for achieving the critical mass needed to truly create something of lasting value/impact. Good for research and learning, poor for developing products. The company has made unusual decisions regarding the administration of its IT infrastructure in a bid to mimic their expectation of how larger defense primes would operate, sacrificing development speed and thereby one of the few advantages a small business has over larger established players. The company has become highly adverse to taking on risk, and which is a major hurdle to growth.

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