Toxic environment, not just a few bad apples - Engineer Tempus AI Employee Review

2.0
18 July 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

* Helping improve cancer treatment by selling anonymized data to big pharma * Coolest mission of any company in the city * Massive valuation with a product to back it up * Free barista, smoothie Fridays

Cons

* Experience varies widely by job role at Tempus. If you're in the lower class, it will be awful every day and you'll absolutely regret accepting the offer. If you're in management or a more senior engineer, it will be tolerable or even good. Everyone is under massive time pressure with impossible expectations of your time with no exception. * Toxic people who meet deadlines are kept around. If you want to be outright rude but are a good engineer, this is the place for you. * Culture is speed over quality. This is alarming when dealing with the world's largest cancer genomic dataset. * Clueless managers / directors / c-level people are tolerated and more management are hired to "neutralize" them rather than letting go the cruft. There is a glut of middle management without enough actual workers. * Toxic environment for women and people of color. They never seem to stick around yet no one in leadership sees this as a massive red flag. * Actively discouraged by engineering managers from writing tests or any security features that would mean slower delivery of a feature

Explore other reviews about Tempus AI

5.0
4 July 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good place to work at, very impactful work.

Cons

No cons i can think of tbh.

2.0
12 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

As mentioned work is great since it is cancer research and my coworkers are amazing. Immediate leadership managers and Sr. managers are good as well but somewhat unorganised. Work life balance is good also and health insurance as long as you get BCBS PPO with copay otherwise you're screwed paying off deductible.

Cons

Pay is below industry average, and there is essentially no room to negotiate a better raise. Employees are actively discouraged from discussing compensation, and whatever leadership decides is final, there are no exceptions. If you try to escalate concerns or request a conversation with senior leadership, such as a senior director or VP, you’ll quickly find yourself getting the runaround. Leadership prefers to hide behind layers of management rather than engage directly. There is also no clear or transparent path for career advancement. Opportunities technically exist, but they are extremely limited. You can do everything right, receive a top rating of 5 on your annual performance review, and still not be promoted to manager or see any meaningful improvement in compensation. To make matters worse, the billionaire CEO and founder has said things like, “Don’t worry about pay because we’re curing cancer.” Statements like that feel incredibly out of touch when employees are earning $50k–$60k a year and receiving annual raises of only about $2,000. On top of that, equity is almost impossible to obtain. You have to fight for even the possibility of it, because stock or equity compensation is reserved almost exclusively for the C-suite and directors, with virtually nothing available for employees below that level.

2
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All