The biggest issue is management culture. Across multiple industries, including startups and DoD work, I have not seen a workplace with this level of poor communication, inconsistent decision-making, and disregard for technical expertise.
-Promotions and leadership assignments often appear disconnected from relevant experience. In some cases, managers with no subject-matter background have advanced over qualified technical contributors, seemingly because they were better at presentation materials or internal visibility. This creates a culture where optics matter more than execution.
-There are also serious concerns around professionalism and accountability. I have personally observed or been made aware of inappropriate comments and behavior from management, including discriminatory remarks and blurred professional boundaries. HR has not inspired confidence that these issues are handled objectively or consistently.
-Processes are poorly defined and constantly changing. Responsibilities between groups are often unclear, which leads to duplicated work, internal conflict, and confusion over ownership. Instead of solving these structural problems, leadership often seems to blame the technical teams stuck trying to operate within them.
-The recent influence of Amazon-style management practices has made the environment worse. Employees are being pushed harder while receiving less respect for their actual work and expertise. The latest performance review cycle was especially concerning, with stacked-ranking-style outcomes and improvement plans reportedly assigned to employees who would normally be considered meeting expectations. This happened shortly before changes to the stock plan, which meant some employees received reduced equity based on what felt like an artificially harsher review process.
-For systems engineering specifically, the company does not seem to value the discipline. Senior technical experts have either left or been pushed out, and systems engineering is frequently treated as a convenient target for broader program stagnation. This has been an ongoing trend, and it appears to be getting worse.