Is The Broad Institute a good company to work for?

The Broad Institute has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 926 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months. 75% of employees would recommend working at The Broad Institute to a friend and 55% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about The Broad Institute have been left by employees working as Computational Biologist , Postdoctoral Fellow and Postdoctoral Associate .

Does The Broad Institute pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, The Broad Institute employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.6 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at The Broad Institute. This rating has decreased by 6% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at The Broad Institute?

75% of The Broad Institute employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated The Broad Institute 4.1 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.1 for culture and values and 3.5 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at The Broad Institute?

Research Associate (54) , Research Scientist (28) , Process Development Associate (25) , Postdoctoral Associate (21) , Postdoctoral Fellow (20) , Research Associate I (18) , Research Associate II (18) , Computational Biologist (16) , Process Development Associate I (15) , Software Engineer (15) , Accessioning Technician (14) , Research Scientist II (13) , Administrative Assistant (11) , Postdoctoral Research Associate (10) , Project Manager (10)

What are the pros of working at The Broad Institute according to real employee reviews?

"People there are great and willing to help you out." ((in 87 reviews)); "Great work life balance" ((in 37 reviews)); "My colleagues are smart, motivated, and collegial and together we tackle the biggest problems in genomics." ((in 22 reviews)); "great opportunities as a young scientist" ((in 16 reviews)); "Great coworkers and great benefits" ((in 11 reviews))

What are the cons of working at The Broad Institute according to real employee reviews?

"Low pay compared to competitor and workload" ((in 53 reviews)); "Salary is low for Cambridge/Boston" ((in 50 reviews)); "unclear career path as you become more senior" ((in 13 reviews)); "Poor leadership" ((in 10 reviews)); "Upper management is very far removed from the lab and the difference in care between different lab supervisors is extremely vast, some will fight tooth and nail against management to maintain their lab’s happiness and others will throw their lab members under the bus" ((in 9 reviews))

What are employees saying about The Broad Institute layoffs in 2026?

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

What are the top reviewed The Broad Institute locations?

Cambridge , Boston , Burlington , Berkeley , Nashua , Cambridge , Laurel , White Plains , Hyde Park , Malden

The Broad Institute reviews

4.0

75% would recommend to a friend

(805 total reviews)

Todd Golub

80% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

The Broad Institute has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 805 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The The Broad Institute 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

805 reviews

2.0

Sep 10, 2016

As an Employer Its Best Days Are Behind It

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great place for trainees and academic faculty. The work some of the departments have produced is outstanding.

Cons

This is where staff scientist careers go to wither and die. There are people at the Broad who have had excellent carrers as staff scientists but they joined when it was growing. Now it is a large institution and most of the leadership positions go to tenure track faculty. It is difficult to get supervision experience and so when there is a rare staff management position they often hire from industry. As a result, there is no real career path for staff scientists. The Broad also has a track record of laying off people who were good and had worked there for 10+ years when grants ended because there was no cooperation between departments filling open positions. Some departments are better than others, but unless your 10 year plan is to be scientist II, you might be happier somewhere that supports growth and pays (you) better.

The Broad Institute Response

9y

Thanks for your comment. You raise two important issues that we have been actively working on. First, regarding career paths for staff scientists: At the Broad Institute, we believe that scientists have leadership potential whether they choose to follow a faculty path or not. One of our missions is to help all researchers grow their careers and contribute to all of our scientific endeavors, and we are taking deliberate steps this year to put the mission into action. Second, to your point about positions and grant funding: This is something I care deeply about and believe we have made progress in helping people find new opportunities within Broad. I really do appreciate you raising these issues and would be happy to have you reach out to discuss further. Andy Porter

1.0

Nov 30, 2021

Micromanagement, Hostility, Trial by Fire

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunity to learn with some good people. Hybrid working model, optimism from some managers, input can be heard. Employees with full-time benefits have benefits.

Cons

Being a contractor sucks at any job. Broad often expects you to fly and provide your own wings. It's one thing to be trained, or have previous experience, but to be at 150% productivity is a difficult standard to meet. If you have work issues they will assume you have something wrong with you, ask probing questions about your personal life, family, disability status, and make it seem like you can't succeed anywhere. Unpaid overtime is the expectation, not the exception which for some projects I can understand, but for contractors it's already bad enough you don't get to use the benefits now you have to work 50 hours a week. Broad uses too many contractors to do critical work, then will get upset when they leave for full time opportunities. The training is often a series of tasks you won't have context for, creating an excellent outcome, and being yelled at for mistakes that will occur given the short time training for high level projects. Every department of Broad is disorganized in their own way, so it becomes detrimental to be criticized for being unaware of what some protocol is on day 1.

The Broad Institute Response

4y

Hello, my name is Jennifer Crotty and I am the Director of HR Partners and Employee Relations here at the Broad. I am sorry to hear of your experience as that we really try to ensure that our contractors feel that they are part of our Broad community. I'd appreciate the opportunity to discuss your feedback further so that we can involve the contractor experience; if you are willing, please email me at jcrotty@broadinstitute.org.

2.0

Nov 16, 2018

Associate Computational Biologist

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

-Great 401K benefits -Very generous amount of vacation and sick days -Very flexible with working from home -Nice co-workers -Very quick & responsive IT and HR teams

Cons

-Relatively low pay compared to industry standard/for skill set -Low pay rationalized by telling you your work is benefiting scientific research -Alot of required meetings, some of which turn into shouting matches -Very disorganized - most of the on-boarding documentation and procedures are either out of date or non-existent. -No solid metrics for how your performance is being evaluated -No formalized path for advancement -Poor communication amongst upper management -Poor communication between management and HR -Long hours are part of the culture and are considered typical -Mental health issues pushed aside or swept under the rug

The Broad Institute Response

7y

Hi, this is Chelsea from Human Resources. Thank you for providing your feedback - I am glad to hear you’re happy with our benefits. I agree that they are great! To your point about onboarding, we are currently overhauling the entire onboarding experience. Our onboarding program manager is rolling out new programs and tools to provide support for new hires during their first six months. We are also developing new onboarding tools for managers to help them set new Broadies up for success. Mental wellness is also something we care a lot about across the Broad -- it’s the research focus of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Disease -- and it plays a big role in our benefits plan, support structures, and policies. We provide multiple resources to support the mental health and wellness of employees including things like free mental health consultations with our Employee Assistance Program, access to therapists via Wellness Connection from Blue Cross of MA, on-site wellness offerings (weekly meditation, yoga, massage, and fitness bootcamp), and seminars and workshops to address major life stressors including parenting, caring for aging parents, and financial planning. Please contact the BroadLife office, broadlife@broadinstitute.org, if you have more specific feedback that could be helpful to our community, and absolutely reach out if we can help you as an individual -- we don’t want to fall short. I would also be happy to continue the conversation regarding any additional feedback you may have. Please reach out to me at cbodenstab@broadinstitute.org.

Viewing 16 - 18 of 805 Reviews

Jobs at The Broad Institute

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Operations Specialist I

Computational Scientist I - McCarroll Lab