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Moon Express Reviews
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    Moon Express Reviews

    Updated 30 December, 2016
    11 reviews

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    2.1
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    Bob Richards
    7 Ratings

    Employee Reviews

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    1. "Exciting Mission, Great Team, Lots of Miscommunication"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at Moon Express full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Amazing mission, what is more exciting than launching a lander to the Moon? And that mission attracts brilliant people.

      Cons

      It is always a struggle to fund moonshots, and this one is no exception, that led to a good bit of conflict and mismanagement which was frustrating with such an exciting mission.

    2. "Space Dreams: Working in a vacation destination."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Cape Canaveral, FL (US)
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Cape Canaveral, FL (US)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Moon Express full-time

      Pros

      For anyone interested in space exploration, working at Moon Express is a breath of fresh air. The company is small, which gives you the opportunity to blaze your own trail, and explore areas of interest. Living and working on the Space Coast of Florida, is amazing. Rockets launch monthly from Cape Canaveral, occasionally having three (3) or more launches each month. The night launches and flyback of the Falcon 9 is breathtakingly beautiful. All this while living in a vacation destination. The local area has all the amenities anyone could want (mall, movie theater, and many family owned & chain restaurants.) You can surf and fish all year round, and Orlando International Airport is a mere 40 minutes away. Take a cruise to the Bahamas, or spend an evening on the casino boat.
      Being part of Moon Express is being part of space history, and I am grateful I get to be a part of it. Their ambitious goal to be the first commercial lander on the Moon is within reach, and it takes a lot of effort to achieve. As a member of the team working to make that happen, your role directly impacts the mission. Since it is a small team it quickly feels like family.

      Cons

      Not everyone who wants to can be a part of this:
      As a small team everyone needs a high level of dedication, commitment, and ability to go with the flow, and work together. As a small company, policies and best practices are still emerging.
      Direction may be limited; you will be expected to learn what you don't know to get the job done.

      Advice to Management

      Remain flexible, tacking and jibing to maintain the course you've charted. You have laid the ground work, now as a team we will execute.

    3. Helpful (3)

      "Do not Recommend"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Moon Express full-time

      Pros

      You can put cool stuff on your resume.

      Cons

      Terrible leadership, constantly changing directions and pushing good leaders away

      Advice to Management

      Stop pushing away good managers that actually want to get stuff done!

      4. Is this helpful? The community relies on everyone sharing – Add Anonymous Review

    4. Helpful (2)

      "Moon Express is like an early SpaceX - the company is on a mission to change the world."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Senior Manager in Mountain View, CA (US)
      Current Employee - Senior Manager in Mountain View, CA (US)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Moon Express full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Moon Express is on a mission to open up lunar resources by first building a disruptive low cost series of spacecraft able to reach the Moon from Earth orbit. The company is the ONLY company on the planet with a commercial lunar lander at the stage of flight testing. NASA selected Moon Express as one of three U.S. partners to help (re)build U.S. capability to land on the Moon.

      The company is well financed these days, with backing from several billionaires. Even in the early fundraising days when cashflow was often tight, the company never missed a payroll, which is pretty remarkable for a start up with a huge fundraising challenge.

      The company is closely tied to Singularity University, with founders and board members in common. With a "Silicon Valley" style culture, the company has a generous employee stock option plan.

      The company is headquartered at the NASA Research but has relationships with a number of NASA centers, including the Kennedy Space Center where the company conducted its first vehicle flight tests, starting in Dec 2014. The company recently announced its tenancy at Cape Canaveral at Space Launch Complex 36, becoming the 2nd "newspace" company to set up operations at the Cape next to SpaceX.

      The company is currently staffing up in Florida and is restructuring its engineering and technical operations for the move to Cape Canaveral, and recently let a number of employees go in its Mountain View and Huntsville operations. This has led to a number of recent negative reviews on this site by disaffected and disillusioned former staff, mostly inexperienced young engineers who had not worked anywhere else and had been negatively influenced by some former middle managers who were often at odds with the company's executive team.

      Moon Express is a company with a big vision, immense conviction and strong personalities in its executive management.. where people of similar mindset and conviction can thrive and change the world. The CEO is a visionary with a track record of building radical new institutions like International Space University and Singularity University that have created channels for young people all over the world to pursue their dreams and make a difference. The company's board and backers are experienced entrepreneurs and billionaires who have built whole new industries. There is no shortage of potential for Moon Express to fulfill its vision of becoming the first private enterprise to build a "railway" to the Moon and tap into the vast resources waiting there to improve life on Earth.

      Cons

      If you are just looking for a job or are not passionate about space exploration, this is not the place for you. The CEO and executive management expect complete dedication and if you desire a 9-5 lifestyle in a predictable, secure environment, you should go work for a large aerospace company.

      Being a 1st mover in a new industry with no history of VC backing, and like all start-ups, financing was a struggle in the company's first few years, leading to some employee churn and frustration.

      Additionally, the company's middle management often had conflicts with executive management that caused strife and confusion among a number of its junior staff, some who left and some who were let go.

      Things can change day to day. Completely new directions can be announced. It can feel like a roller-coaster. This is not the place for someone who finds comfort in routine, well defined rules and processes or a predictable future.

      Advice to Management

      Take more time hiring good managers who understand the ups and downs of a start-up culture.

    5. Helpful (11)

      "Dishonest & incompetent CEO ruin the experience"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Engineer in Mountain View, CA (US)
      Former Employee - Engineer in Mountain View, CA (US)
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Moon Express (Less than a year)

      Pros

      At the beginning of 2015, MoonEx had an excellent engineering team, led by Andy Aldrin (son of Buzz Aldrin). The best part of working at MoonEx was learning from this amazing team of smart people. The team was a great balance of experienced and inexperienced engineers. All were smart and new ideas were welcomed. Unfortunately, that's where the Pros stop.

      Cons

      The CEO, Bob Richards, is dishonest to shareholders and employees alike and is a very poor communicator to the rest of the company. He has failed to provide a vision or roadmap to the engineering staff other than paying lip service to the GLXP goals without a real intent to meet them (the CEO does not consider the acquisition of a launch vehicle as a priority). The consensus among the engineering team was that he just wants to live the life of a CEO without furthering the companies stated goals. In January of 2015, Bob fired Andy for reasons that made no sense to the rest of the company. A month later, he fired the majority of the engineering team because they had the gall to disagree with his decision. A month after that, Bob closed the MoonEx offices at NASA Ames Research Park, did significant damage to the relationship between MoonEx and NASA, and moved what remained of the company to Florida. All of these decisions were made without consultation with the engineering team and without warning.

      Employees at MoonEx are paid very poorly, especially the younger ones, and are expected to work 60 hour weeks even though they are not given clear direction on what they should be working on.

      Advice to Management

      In my opinion, the only way MoonEx will survive as a company is if Bob Richards is removed as CEO. The CEO should be accountable to the board of directors, the shareholders, and the employees, which he is currently not. His MO is to do no long-term strategic planning of his own while rejecting all long-term plans from anyone on the engineering team without providing an alternative. This approach led to a very frustrated and unhappy company.

    6. Helpful (8)

      "A screaming train to the Moon which has fallen off its tracks."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Moon Express full-time

      Pros

      In the beginning there was great hardware and software experience for young engineers. Working to land on the moon is an awesome idea and the people who worked there formed a fun and positive community.

      Cons

      No direction for the company. The compensation and benefits for the industry are well below the average. Lead engineers have no authority and no chance of working peacefully with the CEO. No performance reviews from managers leads to burnout.

      Advice to Management

      Need a 180 degree change in how the company is run.

    7. Helpful (6)

      "Roller coasters are only fun for a while"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Moon Express full-time

      Pros

      Designing hardware/software systems from scratch is great engineering experience. Frequent press and positive PR. Free pizza on Wednesdays. Work at a NASA center.

      Cons

      Work at a NASA center. Constant ups and downs make for an interesting but mostly disappointing experience. Salaries are well below market average and performance reviews don't occur. Disagreement with the CEO's poor judgment are grounds for poor treatment or termination. Ineffective middle/executive management. Constantly changing direction to satisfy a confusing company agenda. Launching a flight mission doesn't appear to be the priority.

      Advice to Management

      Develop an executive checks and balances system. Keep the board/investors updated and involved.

    8. Helpful (9)

      "Like a pirate ship. Well a pirate inner tube anyway."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook

      I worked at Moon Express full-time

      Pros

      Space. And rockets. Plenty of learning opportunities for interns. Free drinks. A revolving door of interesting people.

      Cons

      It's like a pirate ship. Sometimes pirate ships are fun. Sometimes pirates mutiny. And most eventually walk the plank.

      Advice to Management

      need some

    9. Helpful (7)

      "Seemed like a dream job but..."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Mountain View, CA (US)
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Mountain View, CA (US)
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I have been working at Moon Express full-time

      Pros

      Exciting mission, talented co-workers, innovation encouraged. CEO is good at getting press and is decent at recruiting and raising money.

      Cons

      CEO's poor judgement and refusal to delegate. The many top-notch engineers and managers who have already left because of disagreements with the CEO, would have made a great team if we could have retained them. In fact, at least 3 people who left in the last 2 years are running their own companies now, and all 3 of those companies are already more successful than Moon Express.

      Advice to Management

      Too late for any productive advice now, I think.

    10. Helpful (6)

      "Great concept, no common sense of purpose or vision among employees"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Intern - Engineering Intern in Huntsville, AL (US)
      Former Intern - Engineering Intern in Huntsville, AL (US)
      Recommends
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at Moon Express as an intern (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Ground-breaking opportunity in New Space. Lot's of hands on experience.

      Cons

      Lot's of complaints with management. Poor communication among offices, and infrastructure, especially internet services, needs enhancement.