Strong technical direction but serious leadership issues - Engineer Motional Employee Review

4.0
May 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company seems to be moving in the right technical direction. The benefits package is truly excellent. Good opportunities if you want to develop modern cloud and data. There are some truly excellent technical leaders if you're lucky enough to work for them directly.

Cons

The equity packages they offer are worthless and illiquid — dishonestly so. Plagued by inflated titles, disconnected remote work culture, massive differences in time zone between US and Singapore teams, and a product vision that doesn't make sense. Managers are allowed to work remotely while employees must work in office — laughable from a leadership perspective. Some managers are simply not qualified technically but hold inflated titles so that HR will approve big enough comp packages to poach them from competitors.

Explore other reviews about Motional

5.0
May 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

State of the art technology

Cons

Changes in leadership and org structure

4.0
Jul 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent place to learn and grow a career. In software, especially cloud and data products, very kind and collaborative culture of people who work hard to learn and grow. Very good benefits package. Lots of room to have autonomy and to be a builder and a maintainer. Leadership team requires that promotion cases demonstrate real business impact, which makes it a good environment to learn how to be impactful.

Cons

Significant portion of company located in Singapore can be awkward for a few select roles. The company is past the funnest startup phases and needs to be aligned with frugal, fiscally conservative safety-first culture of South Korean Hyundai (parent company). Equity package looks inflated on paper by about 3-4x (the stock options are little more than a tax complication). Lots of red tape. Company moves slow. Cross-functional nature of domain-scoped teams requires program management and a bit of bureaucracy to get many things done. Leadership leverages the glass ceiling effect very effectively, which can have the unfortunate effect of orienting engineers to business problems instead of engineering.

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