Awful management - Executive Director UBS Employee Review

2.0
Mar 31, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

In the operational teams there are numerous good people who want to collaborate to get things done and who are willing to be good corporate citizens despite the intense pressures placed upon them by management. I also found the compensation to be good in comparison to what I had been used to previously at Credit Suisse (though acknowledge the difference in trajectories and profitability of UBS to Credit Suisse would've impacted that).

Cons

Absolutely the worst part of working at UBS was the culture that I experienced. Being part of the 'Non-Core & Legacy' group (i.e. ex-Credit Suisse Investment Bank), I can say that despite communications to the contrary, UBS management's actions showed to me that they view those CS heritage employees as expendable and ultimately less-than the UBS heritage staff. As a senior member of the team, I sat in meetings with UBS management who acted in aggressive and unprofessional ways towards NCL staff, applying unnecessary pressure, overloading them with work and unreasonable deadlines (even passing comments at points that they should be grateful to still have jobs), and generally just creating a toxic work environment within the division. To see the massive successes of those NCL staff praised at quarterly town halls and in results whilst having also seen the disrespect behind the scenes was incredibly disappointing. What was also especially poor, in my opinion, was the championing of Raleigh as a strategic location for the group (housing a couple of thousand incredibly talented CS staff) but then many job opportunities being closed off because UBS hiring teams don't consider Raleigh to be a "strategic hub" or needing "more time to understand the footprint" (it's already been 2 years since the acquisition). I escalated / saw this be escalated by others to UBS management on multiple occasions, but I would say that no meaningful action was taken to address this and the Raleigh location remains in a situation with limited opportunities (especially for senior staff members) despite the talent that exists there.

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5.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

It was full of smart people

Cons

Can feel like you get lost in the sauce

5.0
Jul 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

One of the biggest pros is brand value and global credibility. UBS is a top-tier global wealth management and investment bank, so having it on your resume immediately signals experience in a highly structured, regulated, and performance-driven environment. That tends to carry weight across financial services and corporate TA roles. Another major advantage is strong learning exposure. Because UBS operates across wealth management, investment banking, asset management, and corporate functions, employees usually get exposure to complex stakeholder groups, senior leadership, and high-volume, high-stakes hiring environments. For recruiting roles specifically, that often means experience with executive searches, niche skill sets, and global requisitions.

Cons

other factor is workload during restructuring cycles or market downturns. Financial services recruiting is highly market-sensitive, so hiring freezes or sudden ramps are common. That can create uncertainty or shifting priorities in requisition ownership and pipeline planning. From a career perspective, role specialization can sometimes feel narrow. While UBS is large, some employees find they become highly specialized in one function (like wealth management or a specific region), which may require intentional effort to broaden experience.

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