Stay away. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" - Engineer Kleinfelder Employee Review

1.0
Mar 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good experience for recent grads. Work from home available. Variety of projects available.

Cons

The workforce seems to be a mirage. Seems like mostly hollow at the bottom and middle, then stacked with a FEW good seniors at the top who seem to carry all the burden and responsibility, and do the majority of the work. Most of the really good engineers left years ago after the original sale of Hood Engineering. The rest left more recently around 3 to 4 years ago. US owners seem to only care about employee's performance metrics, and returning maximum payback to shareholders. US owners seem to take, take, and take everything from an employee then seem to spit them out when they're no longer useful OR if the employee seems to question upper management's authority or decision making. It seems to be very much modelled on the US Military's structure. There seems to be only one answer given to US owners: "YES" It seems that upper management is only concerned about saying "yes" to US owners, without any consideration to; current job market, employee satisfaction, employee retention, performance and capability of employees, etc, etc. It seems that people who say "yes" are promoted up regardless of actual job performance. It seems that good performers are "forced out" It seems that the company employs what I call "bait and switch" sales pitches to new clients. It seems to sell the client on a high performing senior, then seems to switch out the project work to very green juniors. It seems that most of the time these juniors burn through lots of budget, because they have no idea what they're doing, and the seniors are running around putting out fires everywhere. It seems that the PM asks the client for more money via a change order. I think this drives the clients ballistic, and they don't give any more work. Wash, rinse, repeat. For me, this is truly a horrible, soul crushing place to work. I think, only those who are true self-hating masochists misanthropists can survive long term here. It's by a couple orders of magnitude the absolute worst experience I've had in my almost 35 year working career--Including ALL part time jobs I had as a teenager. Not much investment in employee professional development. Bad benefits package. Not much recognition.

Explore other reviews about Kleinfelder

5.0
May 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Gained a lot of experience in the field Thorough onboarding and training Covered a required certification process Will help immensely for my future Overall, friendly and helpful employees

Cons

6:30 a.m. start time was a tough adjustment, but I ultimately got used to it. I did cry at the end of my time there, because I knew I would miss the people.

1
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Kleinfelder Response
13h
Thank you so much for leaving a review! We're so glad your internship experience at Kleinfelder was a positive one ... we hope you'll be able to return some day!
4.0
Jun 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- lovely coworkers - some really cool projects since Kleinfelder wins lots of different types of projects! thankfully i had good relationships with the project managers, but peers that don't have a long history don't have enough work flow or don't get to work on projects they want to - very caring boss - flexible work from home policy

Cons

- incredibly repetitive sometimes - inconsistent work and stress related to staying billable - drab and uninspiring workplace energy - lots of non-optional travel - anyone other than my boss and direct peers was not caring - it's all just a bit corporate and no one is really in love with what they're doing - barely got raises consistent with inflation

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