High Quality People, Decent Infrastructure, in a Time of Uncertainty and Transition - Project Manager Leidos Employee Review

3.0
30 Sept 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I had a long career at SAIC-Leidos and overall, was appreciated, given challenges, and always felt my salary was good (in market range). They have a lot of top talent and solid processes, good diversity of work and client base. You can learn a lot from your colleagues here. Amazing people, lots of talent, "thought leaders" although that is a hackneyed phrase, they really have them here. For a self motivated, driven young professional this can be a good place to learn the skills that will last you a career.

Cons

The company is in a transition time now; Leidos is a new company spun off from the former SAIC. Splitting SAIC into two companies -- Leidos and SAIC -- extended transition years that began in 2006 when the former SAIC went public, initiating a huge culture shift. This was a hard transition for many long time SAIC'ers who were used to being client-focused and felt the focus shift to numbers and making upper management happy and worrying about reporting numbers to "the street." The split which came years later (splitting SAIC into Leidos and SAIC) left a lot of the juicier, more expensive vertical work with Leidos and the lower-cost plug and play IT work with SAIC. At the time I left, I was seeing people being let go who had given their lives to the firm, and some others leaving either because they were unhappy with changes, or were being squeezed down and out and saw writing on the wall. If you work here, never forget that at any publicly traded company, they care about numbers. Don't be lulled into thinking someone will have your back, because even if your boss adores you and would go to the mat for you and your clients are happy, senior management can always come in and move the pawns around to meet some new top down edict or cost cutting initiative. Use your time here to your own benefit, you will definitely have smart people to learn from, but there is still some tumult there and probably will be for a while yet.

Explore other reviews about Leidos

5.0
22 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Ability to work from home

Cons

There is few opportunities to promote

3.0
27 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Leidos provides opportunities to work on complex government programs with meaningful technical challenges. Depending on the contract and team, there can be exposure to cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, systems engineering, networking, and mission-focused work that is difficult to find elsewhere. The company also has a large footprint, so there may be internal opportunities for people who are able to navigate the organization.

Cons

My experience was that the quality of management varied significantly by program. Communication around expectations, roles, and priorities was often inconsistent, and decisions that affected employees were not always explained clearly or handled in a transparent way. Work-life balance also depended heavily on local management. Flexibility that existed in practice could be changed quickly, and employees were sometimes left trying to reconcile changing expectations with existing workloads and personal obligations. In my view, the company would benefit from stronger oversight of program-level management decisions, especially where employee responsibilities, workplace flexibility, and performance feedback are concerned. I also found that technical decision-making was sometimes driven more by schedule pressure than by sound engineering judgment. On complex government programs, that can create unnecessary risk and frustration for employees who are trying to do things correctly.

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