Mantech is an average contractor, don't have high expectations
Pros
Mantech can pay a higher salary for the same position than other contractors, but the benefits aren't all that great. Work-life balance can be ok, depending on your contract and the site you work on. The bar is set low in terms of performance, and the upper management doesn't understand what goes on on the programs on a daily basis. So it's not hard to perform well since the management mostly stays out of your way.
Cons
Mantech's business model is akin to a staffing company, whether they like to admit it or not. They do not make any product or software they can sell as their own, they essentially win services contracts and fill positions for the government. As such, it's their prerogative to keep cost as low as possible in terms of direct rates and overhead rates. The raises are very small, and bonuses tend to be non-existent. So if you're coming here, make sure you negotiate your salary up front. Because it will likely not go up more than 1-2% each year. They are very strict about overhead spending. Do not expect to get paid training of any sort, or any sort of perks like a free lunch here and there. This largely depends on what site you support. At the corporate sites, they are more likely to spend overhead dollars. If you are on a remote or customer site, they will spend as little as possible on you. The upper management, rather than being concerned with large issues impacting our ability to win business, is more concerned with how much they're spending on coffee for the employees. They are a business that grew very quickly, and as such still act like a small business. Several of the individuals in the upper management roles have no business being there, and are only there because of their tenure with the company. They do not delegate any authority whatsoever. The approval for a $100 overhead expense goes to the same person as a $1,000,000 expense. In other words they're more concerned with chasing pennies while ignoring problems costing them millions of dollars in lost work. There is a large degree of favoritism that is very evident in upper management. Promotions are difficult to achieve. Their internal systems are very poor, and they spend more time trying to fix issues with the system each month than supporting their customers. Their recent system upgrade has impacted them in a very negative way and has cost them a large amount of money for a system that works worse than its predecessor. They are losing business at a rapid rate. Think a 30% decline in Revenue the last 2 years for the corporation. This is because they are more focused on themselves than the customers they support. Mantech likes to bid positions direct bill to the customer, and then ask the same employees to perform internal non-value added tasks. These tasks have nothing to do with the customer, but Mantech gets the benefit of billing the client for that employee's time, so they can essentially get free labor from the salaried employee for their internal tasks. For Program Managers, they hire a PM to support and run large multi-million dollar programs; but then immediately expect them to act as Capture Managers and bring in new business. Essentially being a PM and business development at the same time. Realistically this doesn't work out, as either the program suffers or their ability to win work suffers. They want to pay 1 person for doing 2 jobs, and spend as little as possible on Bid and Proposal work. Somehow they expect to win work while trying to spend absolutely nothing on the proposal process, I guess they've never heard of the mantra you've got to spend money to make money. There is also questionable labor charging practices than run rampant. Think having employees work on a program billing a customer, then work on B&P work while not recording time worked for the B&P, despite their disclosed DCAA timekeeping practice requiring them to do so. In summary, Mantech wants cheap labor to staff government positions. The nature of their model is to hire for as low as possible, squeeze as much free labor as they can out of the employee, and provide little to no training, bonuses, merit increases, etc. They have a very high attrition that they think is due to the nature of the services industry, but in reality is due to their lack of concern for employee retention. Take a job here if you need one. Take a job if it's a promotion for you and will help you find another better position. But make no mistake, Mantech is not a place for a career. It is a job, so make the most of it while you're here. Make contacts with the customers, have them pay for a new degree, etc. Just don't expect them to help you in any way in terms of your career while you're under their employ.