Know what you are signing up for - Software Engineer Blue Origin Employee Review

1.0
3 Nov 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Amazing coworkers. Some of the brightest and nicest engineers anywhere. - The tech is interesting and innovative compared to how NASA does things. - Literally working on spaceships. - Pay is competitive for aerospace.

Cons

- Attrition is the worst I have seen anywhere. I was in the senior half of my team within a few months of joining which is insane. I saw several key individuals leave that were huge loses to the program. So much knowledge and context to previous engineering decisions vanishes when this happens. - In the past year majority of weeks were 60+ hours. Management does not always explicitly ask you to do this, but to actually do your job well a 40hr week is not enough. - To make the previous point worse there are no bonuses for your extra effort - annual/performance based/otherwise. - You better negotiate your job offer heavily because you are rarely promoted or given a raise after that. - A lot of your job will be a fine balancing act between burning down technical debt, some new development, and meeting absurd schedule goals you have no input on and are made at a high level without any consultation. Often with all these things at odds with another.

Explore other reviews about Blue Origin

5.0
3 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good team to work with. No complaints.

Cons

No cons at this point.

2.0
19 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

4 weeks of PTO, good benefits, free drinks and snacks available at all locations.

Cons

Leadership is inconsistent and often incompetent, company is very segmentalized and each group operates to different goals and schedules, poor communication with other parts of the company and with leadership. There is an overarching Yes-men mentality amongst leadership, and they often are just aiming to not be the group to be to blame for delays or failures. Personal growth is limited and widely ranges between different groups, there are areas where people see regular raises and promotions, while the majority seems to be told there are freezes or that they will be put in for next cycle. Pay has fallen behind, in the past they used to pay well and above the industry standard, but have not kept pace. Hours can be very long, again dependent on your group, some people may enjoy things like work from home or flexible schedules, but the majority are asked to work long hours and even support roles that could be remote are forced to be on site, despite a lack of space for the number of employees. I moved desks locations and buildings 6 times in 3 years. Re-orgs happen every 6 months, and create significant instability within the company, but rarely bring positive improvements. Good talent is not rewarded, and leaving quickly.

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