Pros
I'm a full-time Researcher at GW so my opinion is distinct from some of the undergrad students. It's nice because we get free tuition and healthcare is fine. I'm pretty sure that you can get free tuition for your children if that's relevant. If you are on the research side, co-authorship is pretty easy to get. Senior researchers rely heavily on junior researchers for quant analysis which gives good opportunities for developing responsibility on a research team but not necessarily great mentorship/advice to develop those skills.
Cons
I work in a research group at GW that is bidding on the same or similar contracts as large private companies. If I were in one of the private sector research groups working on the same contract, I would be making >30% more than I am here. Even by nonprofit standards, my pay is low which is crazy because we bring in significant money for the school through research contracts. I don't know if the managers are unaware of this or they don't care but it is incredibly annoying. Raises are also pretty bad. I've been here two years and after accounting for inflation, my wage has increased by 1%. It's a good place to start out but I wouldn't stay long-term. There are way better opportunities -- both in terms of impact and pay -- elsewhere. Senior leadership at the school isn't really present in the day-to-day of most employees which is fine but academic research group leads aren't necessarily born leaders, either.