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Flagship Pioneering

Engaged Employer

Theranos Vibes - Data Scientist Flagship Pioneering Employee Review

1.0
Apr 6, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Swanky, polished, decent pay, and supported with a lot of funding.

Cons

Virtually all of the FL companies come off as some egotistical undergrad's high thoughts -- "what IF we could cure all diseases with machine learning?!" Oh, so daring of you. And also, how embarrassingly naive of you. The company takes their 'Associates' (i.e. people who did a 3 month summer internship and fully drank the Theranos "image above science" Kool Aid and places them on some company working on a topic they know nothing about. The idea being that they'll approach this problem with a different way of thinking -- they're disruptors! The only problem is then having a bunch of untrained idiots telling PhD scientists what experiments to do and how to do them on topics they know nothing about. Imagine having a physicist impose their wishful thinking onto histology images they have no experience in looking at. Directing in vitro experiments like a high schooler assuming you can just say you want to test something and it'll magically happen. Beware of these companies at all costs -- they're directly responsible for the lack of funding hitting Pharma and Biotech right now. Companies with horrible ideas floundering and instilling a lack of investor confidence.

Explore other reviews about Flagship Pioneering

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A tremendous place to grow and work with collaborative and smart people. You are encouraged to experiment regardless of what team you are on. Pay is also great!

Cons

Some days are tough, we move fast, but that's better than staying complacent.

4.0
Jul 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Really good summer fellowship, learned a lot. Nice benefits (free meals, activities etc)

Cons

Expected to work really hard. Most days at least 12-14 hours. Given the illusion of scientific freedom but then pigeon holed back into more narrow focus.

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