Good experience, but relatively low pay, long hours, and demanding workload - Associate Mathematica Employee Review

3.0
Mar 12, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mathematica is a good place for Associate/P1 -level staff to gain experience in a variety of job functions and across a wide range of subject areas. The people are generally kind and intelligent. The company has systems in place to document and disseminate SOPs, and is generally fairly organized. I would recommend this position to people who are very resilient to stress, excellent at advocating for themselves, able to manage 4-6 discrete projects simultaneously, and willing to work for less than the market value of their labor.

Cons

There is a significant culture of overwork at Mathematica, and the pay is not commensurate. Associates are pressured to take on increasingly high levels of responsibility (serving, for example, as Project Managers for portfolios cumulatively worth tens-hundreds of millions of dollars), but they are only paid $55k-65k. Unpaid overtime is normalized. Associates, who are hourly non-exempt, regularly work 50+ hours/week but, like everyone else, are basically required to document only 40 hours on their timesheets. As another reviewer put it, there is a culture of working more hours than are billed to the company's clients. Many staff are spread thin between their projects, some working on 6+ at a time and at >100% LOEs, and that exhaustion sometimes leads to corner-cutting on projects.

Explore other reviews about Mathematica

5.0
Apr 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great colleagues, 401k match, and interesting work

Cons

Work life balance could be improved and more ability to move between departments

3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart people, impactful work. A real community.

Cons

Poor strategic planning. Rather than performing real analysis and proactive thinking, leadership reacts to the environment. Strategy development and implementation at Mathematica seems like leadership throws wet spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. In the 2010s, it was predictive modeling. Rather than proactively using predictive modeling to support their client's goals and the organization's mission, they created a data analytics division, hired smart people, and provided no guidance to support the division. Today, AI has replaced predictive modeling. These examples provide two instances of failures of corporate leadership; many more exist. Unfortunately, the company suffers from short-term incentives and an aversion to long-term investments. As an employee-owned company, you would think that the board and leadership would be more responsive to the employees. No! Over time, they have removed employees' voices from decision-making and focused on increasing their own power and independence.

7
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All