Decent, but flawed - Principal Consultant Optiv Employee Review

4.0
3 Apr 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you get in the right team within the better performing practices, life can be good. Autonomy is high. There is some flexibility in work-life balance, if you're careful. It's a good place to build your resume for awhile.

Cons

Consultants are isolated and alienated from "corporate." And "corporate" is a good way to describe the culture post merger. Pre-merger, the culture was more fun, scrappy, and "get it done" than it is now. Consultant bonuses are big carrots, but they can easily suck you in and erode work-life balance. Training, bench time, and time promoting yourself (like conference talks) all count against your bonus, which is a big shame. Consultants are actually invented to stagnate. HR seems to change processes and policies weekly. Then, when you're not expecting it, they'll do things like reneg on the PTO buyout, or push annual pay raises out an entire quarter. If you're actually in a consulting practice, your competitors will view your team as "just a VAR" since most revenue comes from pushing security products.

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Optiv Response
10y
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on working at Optiv! We appreciate you feeling positive about working autonomously within talented high-performing teams, the opportunity to gain valuable experience, and we are happy to hear you feel empowered to enjoy a great work-life balance. As you know, Optiv went through a tremendous transformation in 2015, and since then we have been working hard to ensure our company is positioned for success — both near term and in the future. As part of this, our leadership team is working hard to make sure the right people are in the right roles that will not only allow our company to succeed long-term but that give our employees opportunity to do what they enjoy and grow their careers at Optiv. We’re glad to have you on the team and thank you for continuing to place you confidence in us. Keep up the great work and always feel free to reach out and discuss any concerns that pop up along the way, we are here for you!

Explore other reviews about Optiv

5.0
27 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great work-life balance in the company

Cons

There have been many layoffs over the years

2.0
9 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Unlimited PTO Supportive Management Depending on who you get Good work life balance as long as you don't take the job with you after hours Work from Home Hands on Training - could still use improvement Annual pay increase

Cons

2 layoffs in a year when they keps saying everything was fine.... Laying off core contributors so now everyone who is left is doing the work of 2-3 people and not being compensated accordingly Only way to get a worth while pay increase is to move up in the company the annual increases are not inline with inflation or cost of living

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