Solid place to work in development - Associate I DAI Employee Review

5.0
21 May 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Professional development is good, company invests in its staff. One of the biggest companies in international development, which means there is a wide variety of technical areas, geographic areas, etc. in which to gain experience. Good reputation externally. Most staff are very friendly and willing to chat with and mentor junior staff, easy to make connections internally.

Cons

Some departments have frustrating, arbitrary rules about promotions and pay raises. But the departments can make their old rules here - which is also frustrating. Junior staff are overworked and underpaid, senior staff make a LOT more. Once you’re in you get set raises (usually 3-5%/year) so it really pays to have previous experience at a higher rate. Women tend to make less money than men and get promoted more slowly. A lot of senior management is old white men who have worked there for decades.

Explore other reviews about DAI

5.0
26 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Highly professional, top notch technical experts in several fields

Cons

Work subject to USG funding

4.0
6 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Strong culture of integrity. Absolutely spectacular colleagues. Super interesting work.

Cons

Basically denuded of staff due to USAID cuts. Upper management had become obsessed with performance against metrics that were poorly fit to the business, and were focused entirely on how they might meet those metrics this week, without looking ahead to how to make structural improvements over the longer term.

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