Pretty face, but "pretty is as pretty does" - Technical Staff RTI International Employee Review

2.0
Sep 9, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very good work facilities, buildings, computers, etc. Intelligent, congenial people to work with; most line employees are great people. Good outdoor recreational facilities.

Cons

Aside from a decent exercise room on main campus, there is no indoor recreational facility (small gym with basketball, volleyball, ping pong, etc.) Middle to top management is poor quality: short-sighted, poor relationship with staff, play play favorites; discrimination. RTI prides itself on saying that it "improves the human condition"; however, this only applies (sometimes) to clients, and not to employees. There have been many layoffs at RTI in the last year.

Explore other reviews about RTI International

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

RTI has a good mission

Cons

Adaptation to sudden federal funding loss.

3.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Remote work and reasonable working hours

Cons

If you're a PhD who enjoys research and hopes to use empirical research skills at a research institute, you'll likely be disappointed as I was. Projects in my business unit were largely implementation projects that required very little creativity or data analysis. I was told by my manager that empirical-research projects are harder to come by and when those opportunities do arise, everyone wants them. Even then, project directors are very unwilling (in my experience) to let you branch out to other projects. Using any overhead time to work on your own research is also discouraged, so I ended up working on manuscripts in my personal time. And there's no funding to attend conferences either. On top of all of this, constant layoffs create an aura of uncertainty and the feeling that you're lucky to even be there even when compensation for similar roles in private sector is far better.

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