Pros
Provides good experience for junior researchers. Good stepping stone out of academia for PhDs. Get to work on impactful contracts.
Cons
Limited growth opportunities for senior researchers - they like to hire PhDs but then don’t give them room to grow. If you’re a recent PhD considering FMG, it’s a great place to get some experience but a difficult one to grow your career at (though not impossible). Culture on some teams also encourages overwork, which leads to burnout being a problem. They will do “comp time” in which you earn PTO for hours worked over 40 hours a week, but accrual is maxed at 40 hrs. I know of people all across the company that had maxed out their comp time bucket and never felt able to take time off and actually had time off expire because it went unused. Be ready to set boundaries if you want to maintain a healthy work life balance.