Great People, Poor Governance - Fraud Practice Tech Lead FICO Employee Review

3.0
Jan 7, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Middle Management and Technical Leads are talented and willing to help. Fraud technology (neural networks) is cutting edge.

Cons

Very poor product quality in the last 5 years. Management clearly had no clue how to resolve development process, so focused instead on cost-cutting and pushing sales to compensate. Went with overseas development, which made quality a bigger issue and stretched already-challenged people management process to the breaking point. Led to exorbitant sales comp packages and a speedier- than-usual revolving door for sales acct execs, client partners. Poorly conceived and poorly executed product marketing has demoralized the technical base. Sadly, many customer have come to expect less-than-acceptable product quality, in order to get to FICO fraud detection models The new CEO, Will Lansing, has remained well hidden, beyond a few global emails announcing products (which assistants write anyway) and chiding us to pretty-please come to the office and not work from home (even if there's nobody in the office with whom we work...) Internally, Finance runs the show, so other departments are forced to do their work for them, and woe be to anyone that questions it. We have time to fix this, but with competitors (SAS, IBM, etc.) starting to eat away at market share, time is running out.

Explore other reviews about FICO

5.0
Mar 6, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Salary, work life balance, people

Cons

Nothing much to say, all good

4.0
Jan 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

FICO is a great place to work as a software engineer. I had a very positive experience collaborating with smart, thoughtful teammates on technically interesting problems that have real-world impact at scale. The engineering culture values code quality, thoughtful design, and pragmatic decision-making over hype. Leadership was supportive, expectations were clear, and there was a strong emphasis on ownership and accountability. Overall, it’s an excellent environment for engineers who enjoy working on meaningful systems in a stable, well-run organization.

Cons

Slower pace of change compared to startups or high-growth tech companies, which can feel restrictive if you prefer rapid experimentation. Legacy systems and tech debt in parts of the organization that require patience and careful refactoring. Process-heavy at times, with multiple reviews or approvals slowing delivery. Less emphasis on cutting-edge frameworks—the focus is more on stability and correctness than chasing the newest tools.

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