EPAM’s management structure is incredibly dysfunctional. Although their engineers are generally solid, their technical acumen takes a massive nosedive as you get into management, despite claiming that all their leaders are engineers. Management at EPAM is also capable of some of the most cruel and deceitful activities you can see in the industry.
Leadership can be very hostile and sometimes abusive toward employees, and then to play the victim when called on it, which fits into the company's overall leadership culture of managerial ruthlessness.
The company is run by rigid, inflexible rules. Most decisions, no matter how minor, are forced to the very top of the company, while mid and upper-level managers are given almost no authority. This creates a critical bottleneck in which one executive in the company makes every decision and approval. Even another CxO will task one of their senior managers to make something happen, and that manager will spend the next 6-12 months trying to get 5 minutes with the true decision-maker, while navigating a mountain of bureaucracy with zero authority.
Your working hours as a leader below the VP level will be split into three separate, full-time roles. One will be a fully billable member of the client staff, one will be a sales manager, and a final role will be managing the projects you have sold as a delivery manager, "free" of utilization. Generally, you will be expected to work 12+ hours per day, including some weekends. Some days you will be expected to be up at 5 am, work until 9 pm to complete your daily tasks, and then wake up at 2 am to support staff in other parts of the world. The management will also flat-out lie about your bonus and promotion goals to get you to do work unrelated to your continued employment at the company.
If you take a management-level job at EPAM, I suggest you focus 100% on client billables and avoid client relationship management or sales unless you are in a dedicated client management role. Account managers can and will force you to do all of their work, including managing the full sales cycle, client negotiations, staffing, delivery, SOW content, and legal work. You will not receive any leeway for your sales, team management, or business development work if your billables are not met.
Bait-and-switch hiring is common practice: you may be brought in with guarantees of 50% utilization and 50% business development, only to find your utilization requirements are raised to 85%, which is effectively 100%, factoring in vacation/training/sick days. Get that in writing, but expect not to do well at EPAM if you raise questions about it.
Finally, the company operates on a foundation of fear to drive its employees to excellence. Years ago, business school taught me that this autocratic and coercive style is a valid and accepted form of management, but coupling it with an overall culture of dishonesty and betrayal may be a recipe for disaster for anyone considering a career at EPAM.
