Great place to work that keeps getting better - Software Engineer Merus Employee Review

I wanted to write this review because when the company had a different CEO, I've heard stories about how toxic the work environment was. Therefore I think some of the older reviews of this company are misleading and no longer true to how it really is currently working here. When I was hired, the company was already acquired by ASG Legal Tech/Paradigm. The CEO is now Soumya Nettimi and she is wonderful - very smart and super personable, you don't feel like you're in a stuffy corporate meeting at all when talking to her or any of the higher-ups. Overall every manager I've met at this company is super respectful and personable. I've worked for more corporate companies before in this industry and I haven't seen a company culture that is this good. The vibe here is definitely more of an informal start-up vibe, but they've ironed out their processes a bit more since being acquired by the parent company, so it's more organized than it used to be. They put a ton of emphasis on company culture and received the Great Place to Work certification. They regularly do anonymous surveys to get honest feedback and actually implement changes when applicable. I know a lot of companies say they listen to employees, but seeing actual change happen right after your feedback is given, is really really nice. Definitely apply here if you want an inclusive work environment - the culture seems very LGBT friendly, there are also employees practicing many different religions and people from all over the US with diverse backgrounds work for the company. Everyone is really friendly. Currently we are all remote, with the option of going into the office if you want to. It's nice that we can work from home indefinitely if we choose. The 401(k) matching is great.

Because it still has somewhat of a start-up vibe, although it's not as disorganized as it used to be, I do think there should be more communication sometimes at a high level. I've had situations where I was told to do something a certain way by a higher-up, and then a different manager told me to do it a different way right afterward. There should be agreement on how processes should work, before implementing them. More time should also be given to teams when being asked to roll out a new feature, and more communication should exist across departments when this happens, so that there aren't surprises.

The company is small so you'll have the opportunity to learn a lot. If management believes in you, they'll spend the time to mentor you. Many that have worked here as entry or mid-level positions have gone on to lead teams at larger companies because his/her experience exposed them to a lot of different challenges. The CEO isn't perfect and he isn't a great manager, but in my time at Merus it was apparent that he always wanted to provide the best product possible and cared about his employees. There's lots of opportunity to have face time with leadership, lots of happy hours, 3 weeks PTO, pretty great health care considering they're not required to provide it, office snacks, convenient location to BART and cool places to grab lunch at.

Other reviews have merit - it is a tough place to work. There aren't any processes in place since it's a really laid back start-up mentality, there's no HR or People Team, management doesn't really manage and if you're not a self-starter you'll have a really hard time at Merus because management wants you to research and find the answer before approaching them. Since the company is relatively small, there's also more responsibility given to people that aren't ready for it. So yeah, you'll learn a lot, but you also may be on the hook to stay later one day or defend a choice you made that affected a client. Because of this a lot of entry positions experience attrition.