Is Illumina a good company to work for?

Illumina has an overall rating of 3.3 out of 5, based on over 2,978 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months. 46% of employees would recommend working at Illumina to a friend and 33% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Illumina have been left by employees working as Intern , Bioinformatics Scientist and Research Associate II .

Does Illumina pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Illumina employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.4 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Illumina. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Illumina?

46% of Illumina employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Illumina 3.7 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.3 for culture and values and 3.0 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Illumina?

Engineer (58) , Software Engineer (57) , Intern (47) , Manufacturing Technician (47) , Manager (45) , Director (40) , Scientist (34) , Senior Manager (34) , Associate Director (32) , Senior Software Engineer (30) , Research Associate (28) , Senior Scientist (26) , Quality Engineer (24) , Project Manager (22) , Bioinformatics Scientist (21)

What are the pros of working at Illumina according to real employee reviews?

"Good benefits including company shutdowns one week in July and December" ((in 270 reviews)); "Good work life balance with hybrid and remote work options" ((in 154 reviews)); "Awesome and great colleagues." ((in 98 reviews)); "Campus is beautiful and centrally located." ((in 79 reviews)); "pay is good and the shift hours were amazing" ((in 74 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Illumina according to real employee reviews?

"Poor management in Prototype Services department" ((in 138 reviews)); "Frequent layoffs (usually every 6months)" ((in 76 reviews)); "Some of the senior leadership (C" ((in 68 reviews)); "Workload can be overwhelming at times but managers do their best to support the employees" ((in 66 reviews)); "Upper management is afraid of firing people who do not perform at a decent level, no accountability." ((in 50 reviews))

What are employees saying about Illumina layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Illumina layoffs and their outlook for job security at Illumina in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Illumina locations?

San Diego , Hayward , Foster City , Madison , San Francisco , La Jolla , New York , Los Angeles , San Jose , Salt Lake City , Redwood City , Santa Clara , Boston , Chicago , Phoenix , Washington , San Diego , Seattle , San Diego Country Estates , Birmingham , Saint Louis , Brooklyn , Hayward , Raleigh , San Antonio , Eden Prairie , American Canyon , Temecula , Carlsbad , Fremont

Illumina reviews

3.3

46% would recommend to a friend

(2,567 total reviews)

Jacob Thaysen

53% approve of CEO

33% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.7

Diversity & inclusion

3.7

Work/Life balance

3.4

Compensation and benefits

3.3

Culture & values

3.0

Career opportunities

2.6

Senior management

Illumina has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 2,567 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Illumina employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

3K reviews

4.0

Oct 26, 2011

Great people but management needs improvement.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Illumina was an exciting place to work but not sure how it's going to be after the recent layoffs. The technology development teams are excellent and overall the people at the company are great to work with. The place can feel like a start up at times which is both great and insane for a company of its size.

Cons

The company is still run like a start up and needs with too few people making all of the decisions. Management is ultimately ineffective in making decisions which clearly has led to recent problems. The company's best days are behind it unless management is able to focus on the right areas and run the show differently.

2.0

Oct 7, 2011

Extremely underpaid

Electro mechanical assembler

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

There are some smart people and advanced technology. If you are so inclined, you can really learn a lot working here.

Cons

It seems like incompetance is rewarded here. There are a couple very incompetant and stupid people here in high positions that just hang around and make life difficult for everyone else. Contract employees are extremely underpaid and undertitled. Many contract employees have degrees from UCSD and other schools of equal quality, who are titled Electro-Mechanical Assembler 1 and are paid $16 per hour - ridiculous!

3.0

Aug 29, 2011

Illumina Cutting Edge BioScience, but average pay.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Illumina is Cutting Edge Bioscience. There is no competition - probably a bad thing for the customer.

Cons

Executive management does poor job of communicating direction and vision. Illumina has lost that start-up feeling and is becoming like every other big company

Viewing 2542 - 2544 of 2,567 Reviews

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Jobs at Illumina

Onsite Field Service Engineer 2 - Austin, TX

Senior Staff Supplier Relationship

Sr. Administrative Partner - Strategy & Corporate Development

Sr Mechanical Design Engineer

Illumina

Illumina reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Great people but management needs improvement.

Extremely underpaid

Illumina Cutting Edge BioScience, but average pay.

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