Reputation is far better than reality - Anonymous employee RTI International Employee Review

2.0
Mar 21, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Remote work allowed and very common - Campus is very pretty

Cons

- There is no onboarding at all. You just jump in and everyone only cares about their own work and their own billable hours (which leadership screams about constantly), so no one is interested in helping, including your own manager. - VERY bloated at the middle management level. Far too many people have "Director" in their title, but the company is in financial free-fall due to government contracts being terminated and they cut talent instead of managers. - Too many people at RTI have never worked anywhere else... and it shows. - Because of the heavy emphasis on billable hours (what is called "direct project rate"), everyone takes care of their own and there is no sense of collegiality or collaboration. No one is willing to share work or bring someone in who does not sit in their practice area. So much for the claims of "one RTI." - Benefits are actually quite poor for a company like this. Many federal holidays are ignored (despite being a major fed contractor), pay is somewhat reasonable but not as high as they brag, and other benefits are actually some of the worst I have ever seen. No sick days. - A lot of decisions are made at an elusive executive management level without foresight, planning, or even a full understanding of the impact on the work. There is no transparency, and I question the level of honesty happening at RTI in 2025. - People keep saying "it used to be so much better." That tells you all you need to know right there.

Explore other reviews about RTI International

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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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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