MITRE Principal Systems Engineer/Program Manager reviews

2.7

25% would recommend to a friend

(149 total reviews)
avatar

Mark Peters

75% approve of CEO

9% positive business outlook

Principal Systems Engineer/Program Manager employees have rated MITRE with 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 149 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Principal Systems Engineer/Program Manager professionals have an average working experience there. MITRE is rated 26% below average by Principal Systems Engineer/Program Manager professionals compared to other employers within the Government & Public Administration industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

149 reviews
3.0
Jan 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

*supportive department heads, supportive peer staff among senior, mid, and junior level staff *valued and funded research and higher education (doctorates) within reason *highly collaborative environment, prior to the multiple RIFs in 2025 *were considered valuable experts in specific federal fields before the multiple RIFs in 2025. *treated RIFd employees incredibly well financially as part of the RIF, and even provided a transition coaching company for RIFd employees. *traditionally has been very lenient with allowing personal time or deference to time off (by allowing what the company refers to as Z-time) to accommodate personal needs. *promoted career advancement and learning, and provided many self-paced and MITRE-funded educational opportunities *allowed for somewhat easy department-to-department and center-to-center career transitions if you wanted to expand or explore other industries or opportunities outside your typical space *from my personal experience, had an exceptional retirement saving package (which differs from the waning benefit package over time) *As of 2025, the current CEO was handed an exceptionally difficult task to navigate government funding shifts due to new administration priorities; to my view, he handled it very well and with empathy. He contrasted very positively and starkly with the prior CEO who seemed to financially mismanage the company.

Cons

*In 2025, RIFd a significant portion of their senior staff (in multiple waves), particularly in healthcare. The RIF appeared to target mid- to late-career employees, eliminating most of the institutional knowledge that MITRE has been known for historically. *Director level management structure has historically / typically poorly performed. Department heads and senior staff carry much of the management burden and institutional knowledge among the staff, which has now most recently been RIFd. Emphasis has been placed on hiring early career individuals to replace RIFd employees, which shifts the dynamic. *Restructured their management structure after the RIF and eliminated much of the institutional knowledge, particularly within the healthcare space. *Executive VPs (not necessarily referring to the Center-level VPs) seem to demand loyalty and have shown very little empathy toward the employees their decisions affect. I have worked in multiple MITRE Centers, including labs, and the priorities seem to be poorly focused and funding decisions seems to be baffling. The exorbitant fees imposed on MITRE contracts are reflective of this. *In prior years, the value of MITRE's involvement was the long-range institutional knowledge and delivery of tangible prototyping and research. MITRE contribution has since been reduced to writing executive-level papers (what real benefit does that provide, and will that warrant a premium fee?) rather than tangible research or prototypes by funding research labs. Much of the overhead research funding promoted by the executive VPs of the company are for pet projects of the executive VPs rather than focusing on the expressed needs of the government sponsors - this is particularly true within the labs.

2.0
Jan 14, 2026

Risk premium

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

New CEO is a major upgrade from previous CEO

Cons

MITRE has a diminished value proposition to its own workforce Mismanagement of corporate finances for far too long. Example: MITRE squanders more than a $100M annually in its internal R&D program with little accountability.

4.0
Dec 12, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great new leadership, means well, resolute and made the right moves during an extremely difficult year. Trying to modernize the company.

Cons

Business model under threat from Defense Reformation, FORGED Act, etc. Need to differ from Seta contractors to remain a true SME company.

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