Is SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory a good company to work for?

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 405 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 71% of employees would recommend working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to a friend and 68% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have been left by employees working as Research Associate , Intern and Staff Scientist .

Does SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.4 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. This rating has decreased by 2% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory?

71% of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 4.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.7 for culture and values and 3.3 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory?

Intern (16) , Research Associate (12) , Summer Intern (11) , Staff Scientist (10) , Staff Engineer (9) , Associate Staff Scientist (7) , Mechanical Engineer (7) , Postdoctoral Research Associate (7) , Engineer (6) , Manager (5) , Project Manager (5) , Research Assistant (5) , Software Engineer (5) , (4) , Engineering Physicist (4)

What are the pros of working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory according to real employee reviews?

"great for people who can take initiative" ((in 59 reviews)); "It has several good benefits" ((in 30 reviews)); "Friendly coworkers." ((in 10 reviews)); "A nice place to work using the cutting edge synchrontron techniques; smart colleagues; relative good work" ((in 9 reviews)); "Very good mentorship and research exposure" ((in 5 reviews))

What are the cons of working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory according to real employee reviews?

"short of budget; politics, bad management" ((in 22 reviews)); "Low pay for software developers." ((in 10 reviews)); "This can be due in part to the low salary offered for these non" ((in 10 reviews)); "But the leadership of the lab are a disorganized mess." ((in 8 reviews)); "capable executive managers who surround themselves with incompetent people in order to support personal agendas, and not the customer." ((in 6 reviews))

What are employees saying about SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory layoffs in 2026?

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

What are the top reviewed SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory locations?

Menlo Park , Palo Alto , Stanford , San Francisco , San Jose , New York , Oxford , Los Angeles , Carlsbad , Livermore , Pleasanton , San Mateo , Los Altos , Sunnyvale , Santa Rosa , Menlo , West Menlo Park

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reviews

4.0

71% would recommend to a friend

(318 total reviews)

John Sarrao

71% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

Company ratings over time

Ratings trend for the last 6 months (318 reviews)

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 318 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Government & Public Administration industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

318 reviews

4.0

Mar 21, 2014

AMAZING

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Love it--HR, employees are all super efficient and answer any and all queries one may have. Some of the smartest people I've ever met

Cons

Parking can be a bit tricky and there's a lot of construction which can be a bit cumbersome--but I've seen much more difficult construction/parking

4.0

Mar 11, 2014

Rewarding and educational academic and scientific environment

Manager, operational support area

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Wonderful, friendly, brilliant, helpful people. Challenging, interesting work for all. Attachment to important mission. Stanford caliber research. Fabulous benefits and beautiful campus.

Cons

Frustrating, cumbersome, lengthy administrative processes create roadblocks for scientists and research. Employees need to be enabled and empowered to use ingenuity/creativity/brilliance to do their jobs. SLAC can be even more amazing!

3.0

Feb 28, 2014

Good place to work, but it has lost focus on what it is really doing

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Diverse international community, with large scale forward thinking projects. Dedicated people, and many opportunitees for learning.

Cons

With the drastically reduced spending on science research in the US, the lab has taken to drastic cuts. But it is still trying to do research in many directions, with constantly reduced resources. This has resulted in a loss of focus on what the lab does, and great uncertainty in the future of any job there.

Viewing 271 - 273 of 318 Reviews

Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you

US Army

4.1★Compensation & Benefits

US Navy

4.0★Compensation & Benefits

US Air Force

4.2★Compensation & Benefits

US Marine Corps

4.1★Compensation & Benefits

Jobs at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Entry-Level Scientist (Q-NEXT)

Intern - Microelectronics Algorithms, Software Scaling

Intern - Transmission X-ray Microscopy, SSRL

Intern - Microelectronics Architecture/Hardware Energy Efficiency

Venture Operations Associate