Inexperienced people, poor management, unethical treatment - Anonymous employee Ultragenyx Employee Review

1.0
Sep 28, 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay, benefits, community resource groups, some good people

Cons

Unfortunately, there are so many inexperienced, overpaid people here. They have had multiple layoffs over the past year and prior to that were just handing out promotions to people who have no idea what they are doing. There were some retaliation issues I became aware of with no accountability and no apologies. Some of leadership literally sit in meetings and do no work and furthermore do not know how to conduct clinical research. It is a shame because they have lost some good people by not recognizing the issues or listening to the people that spoke up.

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Ultragenyx Response
2y
We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on your time at Ultragenyx. We are happy to hear that our pay, benefits and employee resource groups were positive for you. We work hard to be sure to not only provide robust benefits to our employees but want them to feel connected to one another as well. To that end, we are sorry to hear about your not so positive experiences at Ultragenyx. Again, we care deeply about our employees and recognizing their hard work accordingly. We also do not tolerate any forms of retaliation and, if you feel comfortable sharing more information, please reach out to our Employee Relations team at EmployeeRelations@ultragenyx.com. It is important to us that we not only build the best teams to most effectively help those with rare disease, but that we also conduct all aspects of our business with integrity. We wish you luck in your future endeavors!

Explore other reviews about Ultragenyx

5.0
May 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place with great people who are all pulling toward a common goal of bringing therapies to market that will change people's lives

Cons

For a small company, decisions can take a while to make because everyone wants to be involved, and most people in centralized roles work across all of the different brands within the company.

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Ultragenyx Response
1mo
Thank you for your review and thoughtful feedback. We’re proud of the passion our teams bring to advancing therapies for patients, and we appreciate you sharing your perspective on how we work together. We’re glad to have you with us!
3.0
Jul 18, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits and generally reasonable work-life balance.

Cons

In my experience, the organization had many layers of leadership (many VPs, Sr Directors and Directors), unclear decision-making authority, and frequently changing priorities, which sometimes slowed progress and weakened accountability. Considerable time was devoted to meetings, presentations, and strategy, but these activities did not always translate into measurable scientific outcomes. Hands-on scientists often appeared to have limited influence over technical decisions. Leadership also seemed to favor established hypotheses, outsourcing, and new biology-focused pilot studies over investing in innovative platform technologies that could address multiple diseases. Alternative perspectives and technical concerns did not always receive sufficient consideration. Career advancement appeared more accessible to highly visible employees with strong networking and presentation skills than to those contributing primarily through laboratory and technical work. While the benefits and work-life balance were positive, I would have valued clearer priorities, greater scientific openness, and stronger support for hands-on contributors.

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