Pros
Really talented and great people filling out the core roles throughout many different functions 401K match is great in theory. It has a 5 year vesting schedule which may never be realized given employment challenges and minimal company resources. Cool/exciting programs that allow for direct involvement in innovative space industry projects. Good resume experience for other Aero companies.
Cons
Too many to outline but I will try. First and foremost, the company is significantly resource strapped. This obviously affects everything that an average employee would experience. Pay raises and job growth opportunities are minimal to non-existent in most areas. In November of 2023 the company celebrated shipping Dreamchaser away from the factory and had a big event. The next day, hundreds of people were laid off during Thanksgiving week and the media caught wind of this and reported the layoffs. Since then, there have been numerous layoffs across all areas of the organization that happen in "Stealthy" increments to avoid the negative publicity of the first big round. One day 12 people in and org will be gone, the following Monday 10 more, etc. etc. No advanced communication of this, just people showing up to the office with their badge not working. Morale was TERRIBLE everywhere you look and people left for greener pastures. Despite layoffs and voluntary departures, countless job functions were left empty and the remaining people took on 3-4x the amount of work as before with ZERO increase in comp for years. Theoretically, this can all change if (BIG if) main company goals are achieved. Bonuses went away for 2024 as they were tied to one company goal everyone knew was unobtainable. In general, pay is below industry average. I had numerous co-workers leave for lateral positions across the industry who received 20-30% pay raises in doing so. From a management and ELT level, I can only speak to my experiences but there are numerous cases of inappropriate behavior. Directors cursing at employees and referencing their own early career experiences 35+ years ago as a tool of manipulation to have employees dedicate all their free time to working on programs (most of which who do not get paid overtime). The VP to employee ratio is insane as well. There are too many VP's filling arbitrary positions that don't serve any apparent benefit to company performance when performance is so dire. These are complete nepotism hires as they frequently are all ELT buddies looking for the cushy comp package before leaving in two years for retirement. For a long time, the directions from leadership were that small teams, with no resources, undefined strategy, or fully filled out skill mixes had to outperform legacy aero companies. Saying quite literally, "we need to do twice as much at half the cost" is great in theory but there was never any pathway to achieving these goals. From a benefits perspective, everything has slowly gone away. No more education assistance, 9x80's are long gone, and numerous other benefits that were ok are now gone altogether. The CEO was asked at an all hands if he would mandate full time RTO and he said he didn't believe in mandates and would never do one, allowing the decisions to flow through specific teams where in office requirements can be evaluated based on job function. Then one month later, the most poorly communicated RTO mandate happened. Areas like software engineers all left and it had to be backtracked for certain job functions but other areas had to be fully in office still. This would be acceptable if there was any sense of fairness or consistency but some VPs would still work remotely throughout the week and some teams had no oversight while others were heavily micromanaged. It was very demoralizing coming in on Friday's to an empty office so I can call people on teams and speak to no one throughout the day because of a mandate that was never communicated. Almost not even worth speaking to culture and values because everything is on life support. Turnover across all areas of the business prevents any culture and defined values from taking root. You go here to work for below average pay with no consideration of flexibility and hope you don't get laid off or get stuck doing the job of 4 people. The culture is hoping your immediate team is good and in the trenches with you. Overall, the lack of resources, "disappearing" coworkers in crucial roles at random intervals from arbitrary layoffs, terrible management, toxic work environment, and generally terrible morale defines the last several years. The billions raised didn't last long and while some investments were fruitful, the core resources are completely gone. I remember joining Sierra with genuine excitement. The marketing is sensational here but please be warned about joining Sierra unless you are truly desperate with no other options.
