senior research associate

assistant director

intern

associate director

executive director

Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Management was ill prepared for many meetings, reviews, and general interactions.Every person in a senior position or with direct reports, with the exception of a very VERY small handful of employees, did not belong in that position because of lack of qualifications and inability to communicate to direct reports. Most of the people in higher positions were put there due to advanced degrees and have absolutely no training or knowledge of how to be a manager, work with direct reports, or run a group. 

Promotions into "director/associate director" were not uncommon for someone with less than 5 years of industrial experience due to their ability to help the softball team do well. Favoritism was a very common occurrence in meetings, if your manager or director did not like you they did their best to make you out to be a scapegoat in weekly meetings. Any disagreement with your direct manager automatically assumed you were in the wrong. Logic and data to back up factual points were overlooked due to "buddy buddy" of directors and managers.  

The environment was vicious at the research associate/scientist level as well. Due to the hostile feeling at the higher levels the junior staff was more than willing to push someone else under the bus if it had the slightest change of making them look good. 

The hardest part of this job was walking in the door every morning, with the dread of what was to come. The routine testings that were performed were repetitive and required only a basic understanding so the actual lab work was easy enough. It was the politics and the very negative environment that made this job absolutely toxic.

If offered a position I would suggest turning and walking away, no amount of stock options/RSU's/health benefits are worth the stress and unhappiness that this company instills in its employees.

This company always seems to like it's turnover percentages. When I started working there every new employee seemed to be so excited that less than 3% turnover meant that this company was a great company and would treat you like family and you'd have a career forever. Currently it's around 6.6% turnover, the average in biotech is actually lower than 8.5% (which is the average in life sciences) so congratulations, our company is bragging about how we are at the industry standard for employee turnover. If that's not a huge red flag as to how this company is run nothing is. The only reason this number isn't much higher is because the people that are still around and not leaving is because of the "golden handcuffs" Due to the stock options being worth so much money, if you were to leave you would lose a lot of money in stocks that haven't yet vested. If I didn't have several mouths to feed that were depending on my salary, I would have left years ago

At Isis, we are committed to creating and developing important new medicines.  We believe in striving for excellence in this endeavor and that the future will be defined by outstanding people.  We are committed to recruiting, developing, motivating and rewarding these outstanding employees.  Our culture is designed to foster innovation and scientific excellence.   We pride ourselves on our scientific rigor and maintain an intense, fast-paced, dynamic work environment.   Our core principles include "commit to science and the scientific process"; "have a bias to act" and "have fun".  We believe our low turnover, which averages 6% per year for both voluntary and involuntary compares favorably to the industry average of 16.6% and speaks to the positive environment we provide our employees.  You are invited to visit our website, learn more, and decide if Isis may be for you:  www.isispharm.com

Isis' policy was to teach/train/promote each employee to her/his highest capability. My position was created from the need to claim the next corporate step of submitting an NDA for Isis' first drug. We all were on a steep learning curve learning exactly what the FDA required to permit a drug to go market. I was generally updating SOPs, managing required elements for the CMC (Chapter 7 - Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls. To follow the USA FDA submission I was also instrumental in a Canadian and British government submissions for the same compound.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I worked as a contractor, the "boss" was very difficult to work with.  He had no understanding or the appreciation for anything I did for him. I bent over backward and did an excellent job for him.  Working with this person, was the worst experience in my 20 years as a Senior SAS Programmer/Analyst.  After the contract was over, he complimented my work and said I was a very good programmer/analyst.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The "boss" was very stressful to work with.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
 I did not get the opportunity to experience the culture or environment, because I was working from home. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Very, very stressful each and everyday!

Poor & under qualified management, not helpful in helping you succeed. Poor culture: members of the group do not get along, vicious and unproductive work environment, HR and management do not handle it in an effective way. 
Work long hours every week, not good work-life balance, not worth the money.
Management expects you to know how to solve every problem dependently with little mentor-ship, will fire you if you do not meet there expectations.

Ionis employees wear multiple hats.  I was hired for one job, but then more work responsibilities were assigned.  The workloads are not sustainable to do a good job.  This place is fast paced and lack efficient processes.  Don't come to this organization if your not ready to work hard.  This company is behind with respects to industry standards and lack robust systems.

Working for Ionis was one of the best experiences of my career. I was fortunate to work with a great team of people and my supervisor always took the time to teach and lead her people. I learned a lot about the field of biotech and what it took to bring a drug to market, taking as long as 20 years from development, through testing and FDA approval. While challenging it was also exciting to see the end result.

My time spent at Ionis Pharmaceuticals was an overall quality time with the people and coworkers around me, the main problem was the work I was given; the branch of patient advocacy was a nice fit but the supervisor was not really there for guidance which ultimately left more to be desired from my time at Ionis.

Main criticisms are that management tends to overthink things and the future seems cloudy. Company wants to be a fully integrated drug company but management doesn’t seem fully committed. Too much of the old guard holding onto the business model of the past. There is potential and I suppose time will tell.

Working at Ionis, was a great experience. This is a very high demanding work environment, that is very rewarding. The most enjoyable part of my job was feeling like I was part of a team and company that was passionate about helping patients.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior research associate 7 salaries reported	$95,166 per year
Assistant director 4 salaries reported	$144,159 per year
Intern 14 salaries reported	$21.50 per hour
Associate director 14 salaries reported	$181,855 per year
Executive director 8 salaries reported	$269,568 per year

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