chemist

biologist

procurement specialist

forensic technician

analytical chemist

Signature Science, LLC

Pros:

1) Salary and Benefits:

Salary and benefits at Signature Science are very decent for mid level staff.

Cons:

1) Company Culture:

The culture at Signature Science is unlike any place I've ever worked. The day-to-day focus at Signature Science is not on completing work for your/their clients; it's making sure that the people who are friends with the managers like you. *These friends are not peer-level within the company. The "friends" are select subordinates within the managers' groups.* So, while you should be working, you're trying to make sure that you're kissing the correct rears so that you have a job the next week. Managers host weekly video game parties at their homes for their group friends.

2) Management:

Executive level folks constantly tell you that everything is fine within the company and jobs are secure. Upper level management constantly claims that money is short and projects need to quickly arrive. Which is it?

Management knows very little about the projects. That's not to say that they don't know what's supposed to be accomplished, they don't know how to go from accepting a contract with a client, to delivering what was promised in the contract. This task is left, as it should be, to the senior level, Ph.D. scientists on the projects. However, if that senior level scientist's view of how the project should proceed differs from the manager, then many feathers will be ruffled. In fact, you may find yourself being yelled at during meetings by the manager because you disagree with him/her. But, you ask, if the manager doesn't know how to proceed, and leaves that up to the more experienced staff member, how can they accurately comment on the project? Exactly. This, coupled with extreme micro-managing are major headaches for senior level staff members and are the main reasons that projects are either unsuccessful, or people beg the clients for more time to complete the project(s).

Managers spend a great deal of time outside of work with their subordinate friends. Most people would call this conflicts of interest, but it's a part of the day-to-day culture at Signature Science.

3) Hiring and Retention:

In my time at Signature Science, I mainly saw friends, and former graduate school lab-mates of the managers being hired. It should be noted that ALL of the friends and former lab-mates of the managers made it through the lay-offs.

The deck gets highly stacked in favor of the "friends of management" in the job application process. Certain positions were created for those friends, while others had laughable "mismatches" competing for the "open" position. In these cases, the friends of management were always hired. This is a micro-chasm of the nepotism seen at Signature Science.

4) Company Peer Reviews:

Peer level reviews within the company are most peoples' favorite opportunity for backstabbing rather than giving honest feedback about coworkers. Again, the managers do not care how well you do your work or how well you know your field, they simply care whether or not their friends like you. If their friends do not like you, prepare to be yelled at during one-on-one meetings about needing to make sure "the friends" like you. Management bases your yearly bonus on these reviews.

5) Scientific Work:

The work done at Signature Science is challenging, simply because management makes goals so difficult to achieve. In some instances, management wanted something scientifically impossible to be done for the project. They were less than thrilled when told that the "science" they wanted to perform went against all known chemical principles. Rather than hear someone tell them this, they switch those people onto different projects just so that they don't have to hear a dissenting voice. Projects "leaders" and project staff are switched from one project to another on an almost daily basis. The word leaders is used in quotes because there really are no project leaders. The managers are the ones running to project. If the project is successful, they take all the credit. If the project fails, which happens frequently, the staff take all of the blame. It's a marvelous system, if you're a manager of course. Illogical shortcuts are taken in projects which means that more money and time are wasted having to backtrack to figure out where, and what things may have went wrong.

Management has a deep affection for instrumentation. Many expensive instruments were purchased/leased in my time at Signature and I very rarely saw these instruments being used. some would never work correctly, and most were not needed on any project(s). Why then was so much money (100's of thousands of dollars) spent on instrumentation? Because management liked saying that they had "X" in house....even though that piece of equipment was a fancy dust collector.

This place will beat you down. The President and VP are completely incapable of making a decision. All decision making is done by a few select senior members of the staff, that are only there based upon them being apart of Radian back in the 80's, not on the fact they bring in any work or DO any work. You have to kiss these people's rear in order to keep your job. The people that actually have work are treated poorly, and go day to day wondering if they will have a job next week. Some very poor financial decision have been made by upper management, resulting in lay-offs. The layoff didn't occur to the top heavy, not working, upper management... but to the select few actually doing work, including one person while on maternity leave. Now the few people left actually affordable enough to do the work (upper management makes too much to actually do work on any projects) are overwhelmed doing all the work.

Management cannot be trusted and doesn't care about the opinions of the employees. A week after the layoffs, an email went out from the President stating the how well the company was doing and listed the promotions of upper staff members. A new hire was greatly disliked by the group they were being hired into, but management didn't care about the ability of a person becoming a cohesive, happy member of the group and hired them anyways, even after complaints from the group members. Management is just riding the ship down. Layoff the workers and give themselves 40K bonuses at christmas time. It's ridiculous. Save yourself from the grief of this place.

I worked there for more than 10 yrs. There is a clique of people there that make all the decisions and if they dislike you for any reason, you are toast.  Some of the work is very interesting and important.  They have some good instrumentation that can be good for whatever you do in the future; if they allow you to learn how to operate it. The management changed back in 2011.  They brought in a former government bureaucrat and it all went to bad fast.  This guy was not a scientist or engineer and is a pompous a hole.  Most of the work now is training government employees.  Most of the people who knew what they were doing were let go in a 3 yr period.  If you somehow survived that, you either had your head far up someone's butt or you did not make enough money to be important.  Save yourself some headaches and don't even apply if you have a good work ethic and want to contribute and learn.  There are plenty of other jobs in Austin for smart people.

A typical work day is filled with interesting and meaningful work. A job in which you see the fruits of your labor paid forward to the greater community. Management is flexible and focused on providing a true work/life balance. Family (plus pets) friendly company, with the compassion to put "your" life first yet demand excellence in the workplace. Couldn't ask for more professional and competent leaders and managers. Workplace culture is fun to say the least. Encouraged to pursue and receive compensation for continued education and/or training. Overtime opportunities for certain positions and during specific company needs. Enjoying my time working for such a stellar company.

I have been here over 9 years and it is by far the most interesting job I have ever had.  We have access to a very decent array of lab instrumentation and it is generally not a high throughput lab environment. That is not to say there are not weeks where we are cranking through a lot of samples, but since it is project work we are always doing something new. In some ways, it is an extension of my grad school life, since the focus is mostly R&D.  

I often have to laugh to myself when I hear what my friends who work for other companies and in other fields do each day at work. It is like, "Really? That is what you do each day??"  I certainly have a much more interesting job and work on much more interesting problems and topics than most people I know. 

         

Working in the government contracting world, where one gets used to being treated like a commodity, SigSci treats its employees like valued assets. The work is challenging and fast-paced, and the company expects you to take initiative, but the management teams help you grow through the process. 

The staff at Signature Science are highly qualified in their respective disciplines, making it a great place to start or further your career and gain valuable experience within a high-caliber team environment.

I worked at SigSci for a while and was stunned at the lack of diversity! There were a couple of folks from different cultural backgrounds, but absolutely no African Americans!  Although its location (Austin) may be a factor, but a company this size with no blacks?? Hmmm

Also, there is a definite leadership problem on the "administrative" side. Some of these folks couldn't lead ants to sugar, but are in these positions. They don't know their jobs or yours, but they're in charge of you, will screw up showing you how to do something, then will counsel you on why you screwed it up.

I had the opportunity to grow from a young scientist with a B.S. degree to a fully capable researcher. I no longer work at SigSci, but I wish I did. The group I worked in was always encouraging, and my peers and group managers always did their best to help me grow. The company went through a lot of changes while I was there, including new lab spaces, new instrumentation, and new organization. I think it was for the best. Things really improved, and my friends there, whom I still keep up with, tell me that it is getting even better as the company continues to grow into new fields and areas of the country.

The company operates on very strong principles, no mistakes are allowed.
The culture of matrix principle of work is detrimental for scientists who spent entire life on conducting right experiments and the boss enforce them to train a junior in a few hours, and the experienced's scientist is than replaced.

The leadership at Signature Science gives thinking professionals autonomy to do thier job.
As an associate in this firm, I can say that I value the confidence the executive team places in the staff to execute the tasks they were hired to perform.
This has been a great place to invest my life and time, given the meaningful work and the brilliant people that I get to achieve with.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Chemist 2 salaries reported	$75,000 per year
Biologist 1 salary reported	$67,500 per year
Procurement specialist 1 salary reported	$22.00 per hour
Forensic technician 3 salaries reported	$54,000 per year
Analytical chemist 3 salaries reported	$70,000 per year

Working at Signature Science, LLC: Company Overview and Reviews

Signature Science, LLC

Signature Science, LLC Ratings

Popular jobs at Signature Science, LLC

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected