Self Motivation Required - Senior Principal Systems Engineer BAE Systems USA Employee Review

1.0
24 Oct 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The pay is good for the first few years, but quickly deteriorates due to not matching with inflation well. There was also no equity balance over COVID, they provided crappy sandwiches and cookies so we can all have health issues later on. The people who 'worked from home' during COVID were idle all day and didn't get charged with time card fraud and abuse.

Cons

Worked at BAE for ~8 years, and while this company is great for your resume, upper management is top heavy. I noticed all females who come in as engineers quickly get promoted to management roles, and I also find that the company lacks integrity and ethics. Another issue: They don't promote internally enough, and if you're in any of the leadership programs (ie. ELDP, OLDP, etc), you'll get preferential treatment getting promoted much much faster. It's not uncommon to see someone who is in their late 20s at the same pay grade as someone who is 40+ years old. (Apparently 10+ years of experience just isn't enough). You will often get siphoned from one program to another until you become a key indispensable player for a program. They also have an Annual Incentive Program that is basically a secret society and INVITE-ONLY, which is essentially a profit sharing program. It took me 8 years to figure that one out!! I also went on a leave of absence for medical reasons, and they terminated me as soon as my leave period was past the 12 weeks. Ethical? Supportive? More like easily replaceable. They will throw around Impact Awards around to everyone, yet couldn't compete when it came to Annual Reviews. When I finally did get promoted, they verbally said 10%, and ended up giving me 8% at my review. My recommendation? Get them on your resume for 1-3 years, and rotate to a new company. They also don't pay for 100% health, dental, vision, which a lot of companies do. More deductions means less take home pay for you!

Explore other reviews about BAE Systems USA

5.0
22 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Can choose what to do

Cons

May be a bit slow

4.0
25 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

My pros are my manager and team coworkers. Outside of that not really a fan. I do well at what I do.

Cons

Honestly, ever since new management has come for the upper VPs and directors, a lot has shifted for the negative. Feels very micromanaging when we were told we were doing fine at home and there was no reason to have us come back in the office. Now suddenly we’re being forced back to the office. Other departments and I don’t really get along because there’s a bunch of petty people just trying to get others in trouble and all I’m doing is trying to do my job. Where I am at, everyone just talks all day and then complains about how much work they have.

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