Going down with the ship - Sr. Scientist RTI International Employee Review

3.0
May 13, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Used to be a great company, then Dr. Holden took over and turned us all corporate. Now we have Tim G., who has not subject matter expertise, no national reputation at all, and no ability to drag us up from all this DOGE mess. At least Holden had some DC connections, but the new president has worked nowhere else but RTI, and has nothing in the tank by way of social and intellectual capital. Companies like RAND and WESTAT have leaders who are nationally and internationally recognized and are pulled into meetings that allow them to gain an inside track. Mr. Gabel is nice, and good manager, but he is not the guy that folks are looking toward for solutions. My guess is that we will lose him in about 2-3 more years---just long enough for him to get a name on a building, then Amy Roussell will step in next.

Cons

Tough when your leaders are supposed to have a seat at the table, but instead are back in the pack with the pogues and lemmings.

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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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