engineer

intern

scientist

process technician

software engineer

HRL Laboratories, LLC

The company is growing very fast and job stability is excellent (for better or worse, they do not really fire people). People are generally very friendly and the workforce is diverse. Benefits and the view are good and there is a cafe on-site at the Malibu location. There is plenty to learn, so this can be a good stepping stone for future ventures. There have been 2 - 3 reorgs/ company restructures in the past 5 years. Interpret that as you will.

You will work with an array of brilliant people, but the management is basically the antithesis. The thought was that if you were tech savvy, you could be a manager. Any sort of EQ was not factored in. Communication leaves much to be desired, flow up and down is VERY disorganized, and the general feeling is that managerial support is non-existent, which does not seem to impact their stability in that position, at all.

Company does have its attempts at acknowledging staff, but basically the same people win, every year. The customer focus culture, internally, is pretty toxic. There is no team oriented collaboration. If you are not the customer, you are the servant, and the servant does not get to say 'no'. 

If you are a PhD and/or looking to do research, this is a great place for you. Regard for engineers seems to vary per lab, but the promotional structure is, well, not structured. Adherence to w/e structure does exist often differs based on your project/program lead(s), not your immediate supervisor (or the immediate supervisor is subservient to the lead). Engineers generally feel they are undervalued. If you are part of administrative staff, you can learn a lot (it is GREAT for entry level especially), but unless you have a relevant STEM degree, there is absolutely NO growth structure (a matrix literally does not exist) for admins. While individual people and bosses may value their admin, the company itself does not. Most people have no idea what admins do, aside from travel and expenses.

I love working here. My manager is very supportive, and the last culture survey showed about 85% of staff like their managers. My colleagues are collaborative, brilliant, and motivated, so I'm grateful for the chance to tackle challenging problems as part of the team. Work-life balance is great, as staff with children can generally work flexible hours, 9/80 schedules are available, and there's no stigma for working 40 hrs sharp. Also, the Malibu location is an incredible setting to work at. The company is growing because we've been very successful at executing on important programs.

Growth is good overall, but it comes with downsides. Not everything is growing fast enough, like available lab/office space, and we've had some breakdowns in infrastructure (parking, IT, etc).

Like many engineering companies, diversity is lacking. Management knows it's an issue and wants to change it, but they aren't moving very quickly. This is partly compounded by few opportunities to move into management, so there are very few female managers.

There is such a wide variety of management styles here, finding the one that fits your needs will be very difficult.  Some managers are amazing and supportive of you and your career path.  Some are egotistical and over bearing.  Do what you are told and nothing else.  The environment is mostly academic and R&D focused.  
The biggest issue, without an advanced degree (MS or PhD) your knowledge does not matter.  Your experience does not matter.  And the problem is, these are the people in management.  Academics with little to no industry knowledge or experience directing the workforce down random paths, ignoring the input from those that have the experience.  
Unfortunately, any positing with 'Engineer' in the title is little more than an experienced technician.  You will not have engineering type responsibilities, but operations and technical processing activities to keep you busy day in and day out.

HRL had their ups & downs but what kept me there for so long was because of the employees. Some were good eggs, some were bad eggs & some eggs were allowed to rot for far too long before being dealt with.  Make sure to do your own research, check reviews from multiple sites to get the full picture. Ask questions during the interview process, ensure that you understand what you are getting into and clear understanding of what resources you will be provided. Anything verbally promised should be documented and any special incentive targets should be clearly laid out as a supplemental document with your offer. If it isn't written down, it isn't going to happen. 



HRL is an awesome place to work. From what I understand the process to be interviewed and hired used to be fairly slow. My experience was entirely different as the process was quite thorough and quick. As for my department, I have personally seen people hired in a matter of days in some cases. The average time is still several weeks and has been very smooth for my new colleagues. 

As a member of the team, I am continually amazed by how the culture can be so diverse yet similar at the same time. There is a serious emphasis on work life balance and being perched overlooking the Pacific certainly helps recharge the batteries mid-day.

I am excited to come here everyday and cannot wait to see what the future will bring at HRL!

The company overall is great. But due to the nature of contracting, there is always political unrest in the office. There are too many managers and they are all having a biggest stick competition. Biggest bank account wins. This does not support company teamwork and divides it into factions.

They are also in the process of changing the culture to more militant style, taking away all the benefits. It is too flat and there are no promotions.

No longer a career, just another terrible job.

Higher level management there are absolutely miserable and it shows. They only stay because they want their pensions and dont care how miserable they make their employees lives. Incredibly boring work, not challenging at all, and definitely play favorites. I cant count the number of HR violations that happen there daily, but there is literally only 1 HR person on staff and shes only concerned with upper management because shes married to one!  The building is old and many of the areas are just depressing relics from the 70s. The power goes out fairly often, no cell phone signal in the buildings, it's just not a positive work environment on any level.

From my experience, the Operations Director and the Deputy Director of Operations are clueless.  It is a bully approach and the Duty Director is clueless about her responsibilities.  She cannot tell you anything, because she does not know anything.  The Operations Director is over her head and should not have been put in a position of this magnitude.  She id hostile and not pleasant to come to work for and she is a person that will try to set you up to get terminated.  If you like a two face individual , the Operations Deputy Director will definitely get perfect evaluations for doing this.  They are both horrible managers and should be terminated.

Stagnant environment, lots of horrible managers that have no idea what they are doing. People get promoted mostly for just being there the longest which only fosters the stagnation. Hard working employees eventually leave and the ones that remain continue the train of bad upper management.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Locations are all located in sunny s ca.  Lots of great people.  Interesting work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management is pretty bad.  Lots of scapegoating and questionable project accounting

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Over-ambitious, impossible schedules, poor planning, much unrealistic project management.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
10-12 thankless hours.  Clueless management.  Weak engineering leadership.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Engineer 10 salaries reported	$138,755 per year
Intern 7 salaries reported	$42.93 per hour
Scientist 15 salaries reported	$155,161 per year
Process technician 3 salaries reported	$40.83 per hour
Software engineer 4 salaries reported	$147,545 per year

Working at HRL Laboratories, LLC: Company Overview and Reviews

HRL Laboratories, LLC

HRL Laboratories, LLC Ratings

Popular jobs at HRL Laboratories, LLC

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected