Not a Good Outlook - Director Leidos Employee Review

3.0
Jun 6, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Mission of making the world safer, healthier, and more efficient through technology, engineering, and science.

Cons

Organizational Changes: The new CEO's reorganization and decisions have caused unnecessary confusion. The addition of a Dig Mod sector that works across multiple clients, traditionally and currently supported by other sectors, was a mistake. It's not uncommon for a middle manager to report across multiple sectors without a clear direction. For managers, this means a mess of duplicate meetings/processes and folks who don't want to work together. You also have top executives battling for turf - who will support what projects and go after capture opportunities. The CEO's Boeing-esque philosophy that you can't gain traction without friction has caused more conflict than collaboration. The CEO broke up the Growth organization. Splitting it into two organizations, Business Development & Capture (Growth), and Marketing, Communications, and Government Affairs (Marketing). The belief is he did this so he could bring an old friend on to fill the new Chief Marketing Officer role, to have an ally on the Executive Leadership team. The CMO has now "realigned" that organization, and morale is the lowest ever. Like any place, there is a mix of great, good, bad, and toxic managers. The problem is that Leidos keeps and even elevates bad and toxic leaders into executive roles despite negative exit interviews after negative exit interviews. While some great leaders are moved around or even let go. The result of all of these decisions is that some of the organization's hardest-working and most talented people leave the organization. Salary and compensation are below its competitors. Stock options take three years to vest, which I think is deliberate, because they know people will leave when it vests for the reasons outlined above. The technology that the company provides to its employees is subpar. You can spend hours, if not days, with IT problems that I've never experienced anywhere else. DOGE.

Explore other reviews about Leidos

5.0
May 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Large companies. Willingness to work with you.

Cons

Low paying. No hybrid opportunity

3.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Leidos provides opportunities to work on complex government programs with meaningful technical challenges. Depending on the contract and team, there can be exposure to cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, systems engineering, networking, and mission-focused work that is difficult to find elsewhere. The company also has a large footprint, so there may be internal opportunities for people who are able to navigate the organization.

Cons

My experience was that the quality of management varied significantly by program. Communication around expectations, roles, and priorities was often inconsistent, and decisions that affected employees were not always explained clearly or handled in a transparent way. Work-life balance also depended heavily on local management. Flexibility that existed in practice could be changed quickly, and employees were sometimes left trying to reconcile changing expectations with existing workloads and personal obligations. In my view, the company would benefit from stronger oversight of program-level management decisions, especially where employee responsibilities, workplace flexibility, and performance feedback are concerned. I also found that technical decision-making was sometimes driven more by schedule pressure than by sound engineering judgment. On complex government programs, that can create unnecessary risk and frustration for employees who are trying to do things correctly.

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