Braze reviews

* Salary’s pretty mid for the level of politics and process you deal with. * They bought an AI company. There seems to be no urgency, motivation is low. People managing AI initiatives don’t really seem to have the technical background to plan or execute any of it properly. Frustrating to see. * Company culture is very ego-driven. Tons of hierarchy, status games, and people protecting their turf. Leadership acts extremely confident while smaller startups are shipping faster and slowly eating their lunch. * Bureaucracy is brutal. Even relatively small launches can take forever. The amount of process around basic engineering work is honestly kind of insane, and leadership treats pretty normal deliverables like massive wins. * Overall it feels like a company stuck in its own bubble instead of adapting to where the industry’s actually going. If you enjoy navigating internal politics, you might love it here. If you actually care about AI, engineering, or building things fast, probably look elsewhere. * Work life balance.

The "Peter Principle" is rampant here. For those unfamiliar, the theory suggests that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a position where they are no longer competent. I can say firsthand that nearly every manager, from middle management to many directors, seems vastly out of touch with the business needs at times and instead focuses only on revenue-based activities rather than positive customer outcomes, regardless of the revenue generated. Some departments need a significant shake-up from the top down, as complacency has festered to the point of stagnation in innovation. You almost can't suggest an idea within Braze's four walls without someone asking how we can monetize it. Part of this comes with the territory of being a public company, but it can be almost sickening sometimes.