Does Acumen pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Acumen employees rate their compensation and benefits as 2.8 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Acumen. This rating has improved by 15% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Acumen?

27% of Acumen employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Acumen 3.1 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.6 for culture and values and 2.7 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Acumen?

Data and Policy Analyst (69) , Data and Policy Analyst I (20) , Data and Policy Analyst II (16) , Analyst (11) , Statistical Programmer (11) , Data and Policy Analyst III (9) , Data and Policy Analyst IV (8) , Data Analyst (5) , Data and Policy Analyst - Statistical Programmer (5) , Policy Lead (5) , Research Analyst (5) , Lead Research Analyst (4) , Operations Coordinator (4) , Policy Analyst (4) , Senior Research Analyst (4)

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

"Nice people and generous on H1B applications" ((in 33 reviews)); "Nice coworkers across different departments" ((in 27 reviews)); "All administrative teams are friendly and helpful." ((in 19 reviews)); "Flexible work location and hours" ((in 9 reviews)); "Good working environment and great geographic location" ((in 6 reviews))

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

"Your life quality hinges upon the quality of your supervisor; not everyone gets assigned good managers;" ((in 42 reviews)); "Pay is low for the work and very low for the location" ((in 32 reviews)); "Hard for juniors to get a big picture of the projects they are doing; benefits are poor" ((in 18 reviews)); "life balance and poor upper management." ((in 17 reviews)); "Work/life balance can be difficult to maintain" ((in 15 reviews))

What are employees saying about Acumen layoffs in 2026?

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

What are the top reviewed Acumen locations?

Burlingame , Washington , Los Angeles , San Francisco , Millbrae , San Jose , Orem , Draper , Saint Louis , New York , Mesa , Oklahoma City , Atlanta , Red Oak , San Antonio , La Jolla , San Mateo , Marksville , Pittsburgh , Milledgeville , Tysons Corner

Acumen reviews

3.0

27% would recommend to a friend

(396 total reviews)

Thomas MaCurdy

5% approve of CEO

20% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.5

Diversity & inclusion

3.1

Work/Life balance

2.8

Compensation and benefits

2.7

Career opportunities

2.6

Culture & values

2.0

Senior management

Acumen has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 396 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Acumen employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Government & Public Administration industry (3.6 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

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Reviews by job title

396 reviews

2.0

Mar 11, 2014

Great research, poor management

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Can only speak to the research side. You will gain great research experience. You will become an expert at SAS. Acumen has a lot of great data. I only got to work on one area, but it seemed like there was a wide variety of interesting projects. While the skills are somewhat niche, they can be carried over to jobs at other research firms or in the health industry if you want. Most of the people you will work with are smart and are largely in their 20's. This can give it a sort of college or startup vibe, although without the perks. Its pretty social. The company is in the peninsula, but has a nice location right on the bay.

Cons

Project management was particularly bad at Acumen. From what I could tell, senior management did not understand the importance of having a clear reporting structure and clear, timely direction. It was difficult to know who was in charge of the project at any given time. This led to miscommunication, missed deadlines, last minute work, and constant lurching from one strategy to another. These problems are especially prevalent in work involving the CEO. The stress from these problems leads many people to leave after a year or two. Conflict management is poor; managers tend to ignore problems or sweep them under the rug rather than dealing with issues in a mature, open and honest way. If you're looking to learn from or be mentored by someone more experienced, this may not be the place for you, as most managers, including some senior ones, are only a few years out of college. On the flip side, you can rise higher and gain more responsibility faster than you would somewhere else.

Acumen Response

12y

We are lucky to be located in such a beautiful area right on the bay. Thank you for this feedback. You would be happy to hear we have just completed a management training course for our project managers at Acumen.

3.0

Mar 4, 2014

Great place to start/learn, communication could improve

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- Great place to start as a post-graduate as the company is owned by a Stanford professor - has collegiate feeling, consisting mostly of low to mid 20's - flexible work hours

Cons

- very little work/life balance - most managers do not have management skills - they were promoted because of seniority (definitely not all but applies to most) - poor communication from management which causes us to do something last minute and spend numerous hours on it after business hours - borderline laid back and unprofessional work atmosphere - company gives off vibe that employees are replaceable; therefore employees leave the company after around a year - sets company culture that this is not a good place to make a career out of

Acumen Response

12y

Thank you for this feedback. We are happy to hear you feel working under Managing Member and professor, Dr. Thomas MaCurdy is a great place as a post-graduate. You’ll be happy to hear our Human Resource department will be holding management training courses in the near future for all managers at Acumen.

4.0

Feb 27, 2014

Learn a lot, Tons of Responsibility, Smart People

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Most projects at Acumen are really very interesting and have an impact on public policy. You work directly with people who are deciding policy and regulating healthcare in the United States, and more often than not, your data analysis and suggestions to clients are received well and are highly valued. As a whole, the people who work here are really very smart. Bunch of Stanford/Cal/UCLA/Ivy League grads who care about the job and would rather work on fascinating projects instead of writing code for a startup trying to sell more ads online. The workforce is very young (lot of people out of undergrad/masters programs) and it's very common for coworkers to hang out with each other outside of work. If you are someone who is quantitatively capable, a solid communicator, and are good at creative problem-solving in a team environment, then you should expect to be given a good deal of responsibility fairly quickly. These employees advance quickly in terms of position/salary, and it is possible to be managing projects after a year or two of working at the company.

Cons

There are still some areas of the firm where the culture is such that it encourages long hours, but this has markedly improved over the last several years and continues to get better. If you happen to be on a project run by the CEO, it can be grueling and not have much direction or shifting goals. The projects are usually very interesting, but they often run right up against deadlines and are not very effectively managed. You are not going to get the traditional Silicon Valley perks of free organic lunch and dinner and free dry-cleaning etc. that has become pervasive in the area. However, that is more a comment on the spoiled nature of the tech scene and less a con about Acumen. Nevertheless, that is the competition.

Acumen Response

12y

Thanks for the feedback. As we continue to improve company culture, we appreciate you acknowledging the improvements already made.

Viewing 367 - 369 of 396 Reviews

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Great research, poor management

Great place to start/learn, communication could improve

Learn a lot, Tons of Responsibility, Smart People

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