Pros
-Phenomenal salary and benefits. -Very bright colleagues -Access to the best minds and most cutting-edge work in your field -Opportunity to support amazing people doing amazing work -Culture of genuine commitment to mission by both staff and management (though I encountered some careerists, too) -Excellent work flexibility as long as you perform, and the tools you need to take advantage of that flexibility -Great business/IT/ops/travel/Events, etc support teams. -Great food, generous events.
Cons
-What others have written about the politics and bureaucracy are true. The place can sometimes feel like something out of Kafka or Heller. -It's also true that it can be a very cut-throat place, but that varied by team, manager, and director. -And it's also true about the perpetually shifting sands, continual reorgs, and endless Powerpoints. I think one reason for this is the unrealistic goal-setting, at least in some program areas. Departments often set themselves up for failure by setting goals that are nearly impossible and whose achievement they have no control over. -Permanent sense of inadequacy: Despite year after year of positive reviews and 360s there was always a nagging sense of inadequacy. (As one colleague, a Stanford PhD, once put it, "I've never worked anywhere where I felt so dumb.") I felt bad about myself all the time, even when I was winning awards for service. -There is a lot of churn, and very little chance for advancement. But it should be noted that the organization is very up-front about this. They make it clear: No career ladder. And while there are no formal "term limits" for program staff, there's an expectation that you'll cycle back into your field after 3-5 years. -All the policies and tools that enable you to work anytime, anywhere--which is great for flexibility--can, along with all the pressure, make work-life balance difficult. (But some managers and directors do try to mitigate the problem, with some success.)