Tough but amazing place to work - Anonymous employee Blue Origin Employee Review

5.0
21 Aug 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

First, I might be biased in my positive experience, I am not sure. But, I've been here a bit over a year and I've had possibly the best experience of my career. I'm new to aerospace/space but had been looking to land in this industry long term. When I joined, I had read all the reviews here, many of which are negative. My previous job (a startup) had absolutely awful leadership, so I was very sensitive to those reviews and on the look out for those type of signals during my interview and first few months after I joined Blue. But I just haven't really seen them - nothing out of the norm, anyway (no company of 3000 employees is going to escape having a few duds in management, unfortunately). My manager in particular has been exceptional and I've gotten a decent amount of exposure to mid to mid-high level management and no real obvious red flags. Is Blue trying to figure out better ways of operating and shifting a decent amount? Yes, absolutely - that's not a bad thing, though. I think some reviews here (complete conjecture on my part) might be conflating the difficulty and complexity of work that is entailed by working at Blue with poor management. It's a really big system engineering challenge (on top of all the other challenges) to do this sort of highly detailed and complex work, needing to make several disparate systems and disciplines all fit together, let alone make everyone apprised to it. There's a reason the saying "it ain't rocket science" is a thing - it's damn hard, but so satisfying to be a part of. Another pro: the work/life balance is really reasonable (for the most part, I hear some departments are struggling a bit due to being understaffed). I have occasional bouts (maybe 2-3 weeks worth total over a year) where I put in 60-70 hour weeks, but by and large I'm working under 50 a week (probably average about 48). Other rocket companies (who are doing awesome work, too) have a bit of a reputation for grinding employees with consistently high hour work weeks. Extra pro: getting to be in a meeting with Jeff B who was reviewing the work your team was involved in was pretty neat :)

Cons

The work is really challenging. I get exposed to a lot of different teams and systems, and everyone has difficult problems to wrangle. It can be really frustrating some times, but that's part of what you're signing up for. I personally like the challenge, but recognize not everyone will. It can sometimes bring morale down temporarily when things hit a wall, but good teams over come that with ease. Being understaffed is felt, too. There's a lot of great ideas and projects floating around that simply don't have the staff to execute fully. That's true of every company, for sure, but there are some critical pieces that need attention and do t have it yet. Again, all part of the challenge that is surmountable. Some of the business strategy doesn't make a ton of logical sense to me, but I'll place my trust in the guy who spun up a trillion dollar company from his garage on that front...

Explore other reviews about Blue Origin

5.0
3 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Good team to work with. No complaints.

Cons

No cons at this point.

2.0
19 June 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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