Is NIH a good company to work for?

NIH has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5, based on over 2,843 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 3% over the last 12 months. 80% of employees would recommend working at NIH to a friend and 60% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about NIH have been left by employees working as Postdoctoral Researcher , Intern and Summer Intern .

Does NIH pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, NIH employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.9 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at NIH. This rating has decreased by 2% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at NIH?

80% of NIH employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated NIH 4.1 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.2 for culture and values and 3.9 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at NIH?

Postdoctoral Fellow (298) , Research Fellow (124) , Postbaccalaureate IRTA (103) , Staff Scientist (63) , Postdoctoral Research Fellow (40) , Intern (38) , Research Assistant (38) , Summer Intern (29) , Post-Baccalaureate Fellow (27) , Scientist (25) , Research Scientist (23) , Biologist (22) , Program Analyst (21) , Post Doctoral Fellow (20) , Visiting Fellow (20)

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

"The people are great and having a role in biomedical research is rewarding" ((in 139 reviews)); "Good benefits and thrift savings plan (like a 401K) with up to 4% employer contribution per year." ((in 125 reviews)); "Flexible and good work/life balance" ((in 75 reviews)); "Great lab and colleagues." ((in 58 reviews)); "Great opportunity to be mentored and grow as a scientist" ((in 49 reviews))

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

"Low salaries and lack of benefit." ((in 79 reviews)); "can become repetitive, sometime poor management, same activity repeated," ((in 29 reviews)); ""Bad" Departments has poor leadership, micromanage and terrible behaviors unbecoming of what a manager should be." ((in 14 reviews)); "too much bureaucracy and regulations" ((in 13 reviews)); "Certain managers (and this is a systematic problem government wide) that focus on promotion based on "time in grade" rather than job performance." ((in 9 reviews))

What are employees saying about NIH layoffs in 2026?

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

What are the top reviewed NIH locations?

Bethesda , Rockville , Washington , Baltimore , Frederick , Durham , Gaithersburg , Silver Spring , Research Triangle Park , New York , North Bethesda , Phoenix , Raleigh , Boston , Herndon , Maryland Heights , Houston , Columbia , Bowie , Cambridge , Shady Grove , Little Falls , New Brunswick , Wayne , Princeton , Chicago , Kewanee , Annandale , Clifton , Reston

NIH reviews

4.1

80% would recommend to a friend

(2,341 total reviews)

Francis S. Collins

82% approve of CEO

60% positive business outlook

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

NIH has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 2,341 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The NIH employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

5.0

Jul 19, 2014

Awesome

Research fellow

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent environment for scientific research. Excellent mentors, coworkers and learning environment. Great benefits, specially health benefits. Great resources for both experimental and computational scientific research. On site baby care. The salaries are very good.

Cons

The work-life balance is not very good. You are paid for working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and you end up working more than 10 hours a day and some weekends without any compensation. The promotions are very difficult.

5.0

Jul 16, 2014

Enjoy the enriched scientific resources and environment!

Research fellow

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great training resources and enjoy the time to talk and collaborate with many excellent scientists. You will also have a great chance to attend various seminars and get the most updated perspectives in your field.

Cons

They don't authorize diploma, so there's not many graduate students here. But I think the graduate students are very important to the science progression. I hope the starting or young future scientists could also enjoy this good training resources in NIH.

5.0

Jul 10, 2014

Great job security

Biologist

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

The best part of working here is the benefits, job security, and schedule flexibility. The people are very nice and there is very little pressure.

Cons

Lack of job advancement and lack of motivation. Personnel that stays well past retirement.

Viewing 2092 - 2094 of 2,341 Reviews

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Jobs at NIH

Computational Biologist

Postdoctoral Fellowship

NIH

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Awesome

Enjoy the enriched scientific resources and environment!

Great job security

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