system engineer

engineer

student intern

staff member

intern

The-Aerospace-Corporation

I worked as an engineer under the Facilities Engineering and Design Director, and while I initially looked forward to the role, it quickly became one of the more difficult professional experiences I’ve had.

The department is led with a highly centralized management approach. While some may interpret this as “hands-on leadership,” others may experience it as micromanagement. There’s a noticeable lack of constructive feedback, and communication can sometimes feel dismissive rather than supportive. Over time, this creates a tense work atmosphere where team members may feel undervalued or closely scrutinized.

It’s important to note that employee turnover has been a recurring theme in this group. Several capable and talented individuals left during my time there, and morale was often low. Conversations with peers indicated that similar concerns had been raised with HR and upper leadership, but visible improvements were minimal.

More recently, I’ve heard from former coworkers that the team now works in a shared open office space—with direct leadership seated in close proximity to all team members throughout the workday. Depending on your working style, this could feel collaborative—or it could feel like constant observation.

This role may work for individuals who are comfortable working in highly structured environments with limited autonomy. However, for those who value psychological safety, constructive mentorship, and room for independent thinking, I would strongly not recommend this dated leadership environment. 

Beautiful place to start off career or semi-retire.  
Many PhDs who were once professors or wanted to be, from Ivy Leagues, MIT, CalTech, and are mostly willing to take time to teach anything they know if you are willing.  Excellent and flexible education programs to help pay, along with internal Aerospace University classes for free learning.

Aerospace Focuses heavily on Simulation and Analysis, along with overseeing government contracts.  Anything for more hands-on or field-work must usually be searched and sought-out for under research programs thought up by coworkers.  

The flip side of having so many semi-professor PhDs working here is there aren’t many people in 20s and early 30s who stay longer than a few years.

Non-profit and FFRDC means slight below-average base-pay for first 2-5 years of career, similar to working for the city, but more than working for NAVSEA. Guaranteed pay raise every year, though may only be 1-3% for most.  Two or more years with ~5% raise usually means an additional promotion along with a compounding salary increase within a few months. At least for the driven, Aerospace seems to cluster bonuses in the form of Awards.

If you work here with descent proficiency, there is excellent job security and friendly coworkers. Management is flat, so I often interact with boss’s boss, and even their boss. Can easily become self-reliant, set own milestones and plans. 

Happy to have worked here, and will certainly recommend this place.

This used to be a great company but recent changes in leadership (at several levels) have completely changed it.  It has been going downhill since the previous CEO implemented return to office (RTO) and the new CEO took away everyone's offices to create some Facebook-style "open collaborative workspace" nonsense.  They also have people walking around checking desks to make sure people are onsite. 

There is no privacy anymore, constant noise and distractions, new mandates about being in the office 4-5 days a week.  Even though the salary is very low compared to other technology or aerospace contractors, they force people to be onsite everyday, and then wonder why employees are frustrated.  The work-life balance and remote flexibility was one of the ONLY reasons people stayed here, now they took that away.

It seems very difficult with the new leadership team to get any promotions or raises at all.  They always spout lies about "our team is the most important part of our company" but then give the absolute smallest raises and salaries they can get away with.

This is not the same Aerospace Corp that I joined years ago, and a lot of good people are already leaving the company everyday with more to follow.

I worked under the leadership of  the Facilities Engineering and Design Director as an Engineer , and unfortunately, my experience was extremely negative. His management style was often condescending, unprofessional, and lacked clear communication. Many of my colleagues, including myself, found it challenging to thrive in this environment, and turnover within the department was incredibly high, with most employees leaving within a few months. He can’t keep any engineers on his team. They quit when his true toxic colors  come out. 

While the team members themselves were generally helpful and collaborative, the toxic leadership overshadowed the positive aspects of the workplace. Despite multiple reports to HR, no substantial actions were taken to address these concerns. 

I strongly advise caution when considering working under this department until meaningful changes are made, including the replacement of current leadership to prevent further turnover and create a healthier work environment.

My job responsibilities were; upon request, word processing assistant, technical support, data entry, and layout/design support to all military personnel, military scientists, military doctors, and senior military officers. Troubleshooting department’s main PC computers, software installation, and software upgrades. Prioritizing, file management, scanning, data entry, burning and recording CDs for file back-up. Communicate effectively as to day-to-day activities. Monitoring all materials going out of department, insuring that all standards are met, all colors are correct, all pages are included, and insuring that company standards have met all of outgoing materials.

My most enjoyable part of the job is that I enjoy providing computer support to everyone, my co-workers were wonderful and fun to work with. I've learned that while providing support to others, I have grown intellectually, and have build a tremendous amout of character, and have learned that patience, kindness and a positive attitude will go a long way.

The hours were pretty reasonable, if you have young children having coverage in the mornings would work best to make the early shift. Overnight is a possibility depending on which position you go for.
A typical day was alright, the position I was in was with one other person. Who was basically in charge of showing me the ropes. Which i found to be completely unorganized. Not only wasn't the position "stamping'. But involved other duties that i wasn't aware of. I feel the whole training process was ridiculous. I made it work as much as i could. I learned a few new skills. But I ultimately  hated it. It wasn't a "shipping" job as i have worked in the past, nor was it soley stamping. The way the expect things with someone to train who them themselves was just getting the hang of learning EVERYTHING i felt was alot. You literally do everything in that position. Which I am all for because I absolutely hate standing around. But because of certain moments and not knowing everything as I should or being stopped to wait, held moments I felt I was standing around.

In a typical day, I am given the space and freedom to complete my daily tasks with minimal interruptions.  I get in at 6:30 am, check and answer email, outline my daily tasks, and set dates and times with co-workers to complete said tasks.  Through working here I have learned self discipline and to be self sufficient in the work place, and to be productive without the need to be micro-managed.  Our managers are top notch, accessible, and always available to provide guidance and help.  It can be a very laid back environment to work in, but can also be extremely hectic depending on the time of year.  The most difficult parts of the job are complying with government and corporate property audits and tagging and tracking equipment using the guidelines set by the Federal Acquisitions Regulation manual (FAR).  The most enjoyable part of the job is the freedom I am granted to complete my tasks at the pace I choose within set deadlines.

I started working at The Aerospace Corp in 2007 and at that time it felt as if they valued its employees. In just 10 short years, that feeling is gone. Everyone walks around on eggshells as the company is going through major changes. The feeling of job security no longer exists as they are constantly making changes and letting people go. The company is taking away more than it is giving to employees (benefits, time-off). Management is clueless and it's more important for them to come up with ridiculous work terms like "velocity" than to take care of the people who bring value to the company. They also make horrible videos with the executive leadership trying to bring morale to the company but to most it is considered a waste of company money that could be used better. I DEFINATELY would NOT recommend working here, even to my worst enemy.

Driven senior systems engineering professional with comprehensive accomplishments leading aerospace design, telecommunications, systems integration and cross-functional teams to ensure success and achieve goals. Known as an innovative thinker with strong aviation, satellite, telecommunications, military and vehicle design acumen. Demonstrated success developing and seamlessly executing plans in complex, secure organizational structures. Recognized for maximizing performance by implementing appropriate project management strategies through analysis of details to gain understanding of the system architectures, emerging issues and best practices. Highly organized, creative problem solver who excels at guiding teams through challenging projects by identifying goals. Expertise includes developing and managing multimillion dollar projects and advising C-level executives.

Management is not supportive and sabotages your work. Management protects management and hires incompetent people to run the “show.” Quantity over quality is preferred here. Benefits are great but raises are not guaranteed despite performance. PDP formerly “APIP” appraisal is at best subjective as grading is based on unobtainable goals: you need to create novel software to get noticed. 
Leadership there (who once called themselves the Avengers, who now call themselves the executive board) are not focused on the mission and instead put on this show that is all around dull and pandering to younger crowds. SETAs are taking over, basically. 
Only perks 9/80 schedule, some 401k matching (who knows how long that will last) and benefits. Everything else is simply uninspiring. You should work somewhere else. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
System engineer 70 salaries reported	$160,256 per year
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Staff member 12 salaries reported	$116,250 per year
Intern 19 salaries reported	$29.50 per hour

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