Pros
Galois is primarily a research services business with contracts around formal methods, analysis, and advanced cryptography. This affords you, the engineer/project leader/researcher, ample time to wrap your hands around interesting problems to make contributions, prototypes, and publications. So the first "pro" is that the work is interesting and exciting. * You, the typical researcher/engineer, can often choose your project so long as you find enough hours to fill your plate. As mentioned, this is good deep thinking kinds of work. * You, the typical project lead, get to orchestrate some great research with people who really want to see the tasks done as much as you do. Project leads are very busy with the most spliced of calendars, but they can rightly trust and expect when work is handed off that it will be done in style... well, maybe not style... this is Portland. But it will be done quite well. * You, the principle scientist, have a corporate machine that is superb at finding customers, helping them understanding what they want or need, encourages you to be honest and authentic (we've happily told potential customers that we could do the work but it would be expensive and they should find a better fit), and has top notch proposal coauthors and support staff used to the proposal process. * And if you are looking at a support/staff position I can't characterize your job (those vary the most), but we are extremely flat. Want to attend our offer building meetings? All meetings are open. How much time off do you get? The same as the CEO and everyone else. The list goes on. Secondly is Galois culture. I've said it's a flat organization but also * Work life balance is actually in balance. I bike in / bike out 9-6 or so. I don't have a set arrival time unless there's a meeting I can't dodge. Some people arrive at noon and work till late. Some at 7am. * Social groups, by no means mandatory, exist - weekly beering, board games, monthly poker/game night. * Good pay and surprising non-salary comps. * Portland is great (we have offices in Arlington and Dayton too but I can't speak to those physical spaces) * Great coworkers. * Well stocked kitchen * Pinball, NES, SNES, VR, Pool... my kids ask to go to the office when I get home.
Cons
There is no "product" that Galois develops which can be good as well as bad. The nature of research means that if some result, such as a software prototype, doesn't have another project lined up past the current one then it might be mothballed. Someone needs to be paying for the work and that someone _usually_ isn't an internal budget. That said, our deep experience in a given field is why we land contract. As a result many artifacts do continue to live on and even can be a driver of follow on work.