Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory part-time for more than a year

Pros – High starting salaries, low stress environment, nice town, excellent coworkers. Fantastic place to work. High level of independence, minimal stupidity.

Cons – Red tape, tons of it, everywhere you go. Getting hired is an ordeal, budget cuts loom constantly. Have to pass a background check, which isn't that hard. High security environment, need a badge to get on campus.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – LLNL still has a college campus like feel and still has some of the best people in their respective fields. It's still a great place for students and post-docs because they are viewed a talent pipeline. The last few years since the transition to private management has been tough because of NNSA and corporate oversight and bureaucracy. Even though, we still get to work on exciting and interesting projects that have longer term payoff (1-5 years down the road). Publications are generally encouraged and matrix system enables you to work on many different types of projects. You can have multiple careers while at LLNL.

Cons – Layoffs, budget cuts, sequestration and forced retirements continue to affect moral. 401k matching is good, but not great. Benefits are better than average, but subpar to when UC was running the place. Salaries are not good compared to the rest of silicon valley for anyone with 5+ years experience and it is difficult to move up through the management ranks because of grey ceiling.

Advice to Senior Management – Share a detailed strategic vision with employees. We need to know why LLNL is the best place in the world to do our work. Where is the lab headed and why should we care?

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than a year

Pros – Awesome people and world class opportunities. A great place to work if you're on a project central to the lab's core mission. You'll learn a lot. Great pay and benefits for a post-doc.

All post-docs are given 'Special Employee' funding amounting to up to 25% of their total equivalent salary for effort and related travel & training that is "institutional" (i.e. lots of wiggle room) rather than related to a specific programmatic project (i.e. very constrained). You'll be encouraged by some managers to charge 25% of your time every week to this fund, but you should consider reserving it for travel to participate in conferences or experiments at other facilities. This wasn't much of an issue in the past, but with budgets contracting everywhere it's becoming more common that conference travel is denied based on slim budgets, so you can ensure that doesn't happen to you by saving up this fund for those occasions. ;-)

Cons – This lab has been 're-organizing' their efforts to centralize on stockpile stewardship and associated science. Younger scientists/post-docs working in areas which are not aligned with these goals risk getting shed along with their group from the lab as it contracts.

Insufficient funding exists on many projects to convert post-docs to full-time positions, so make sure before you accept an offer that you understand if there is funding for a longer term position or if you'll be looking for another job after two years.

Weak vacation time compared to other national labs.

Advice to Senior Management – Stay positive even under the crushing budget, and root out bad attitudes.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than a year

Pros – Very smart people, interesting projects, leading edge science, cooperative atmosphere. Benefits are good, 401K + match is 2-3X commercial companies, ability to switch jobs w/o leaving

Cons – bureaucracy, too much overhead, endless training, too many long=timers, lack of urgency, some projects are surprisingly backwards in technology and methodologies. Discontinuous government funding on some projects make it hard. Alas not the same as the UC managed days.

Advice to Senior Management – recruit from outside more, especially mid-career people who can add their experience and wisdom, do not people get complacent

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – nice environment, good work life balance

Cons – tele commuting is not encouraged. bad commute some times

Advice to Senior Management – none

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – stimulating work, world class scientists and engineers to work with, good pay, good benefits, flexible work hours

Cons – a large amount paper work for simple tasks, uncertainties in funding, Government bureaucracy

Advice to Senior Management – other people work here besides NIF and national security. recognize their efforts more often.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Large employer with good benefits and retirement. Room for growth and advancement.

Cons – Takes too long to get anything done - layers upon layers of bureaucracy

Advice to Senior Management – Reward your employees based on performance not length of time on the job

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Lots of very smart people, grand scientific challenges, world class experimental facilities and computing power, great compensation and benefits. Opportunities to advance quickly and take on responsibility. Flexibility to move to new projects and develop new skills.

Cons – Government bureaucracy, onerous security rules, feels management top-heavy at times (even when you are a manager), getting jerked around by Congress. High-stress working environment in some projects.

Advice to Senior Management – Speak more often, but say less.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Great community. Depending upon the group you are in you can be doing some cutting edge work.

Cons – Lots of red tape. Constrained by government and their budgets

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for more than 10 years

Pros – City of Livermore is a great place to live. There are opportunities to participate in world-class science. Much of the work is satisfying and important to our Nation's security. I am frequently proud of what I accomplish here. Almost everybody is hard-working, conscientious, and intelligent. I use the knowledge I gained in school, I have the tools I need to get my work done.

Cons – The Department of Energy (LLNL's master) is a seriously screwed up organization. Numerous stupid policies and procedures. Wild swings in funding. Salaries are just average, no bonus or stock options. LLNL used to have a pension plan and employees would stay for life, now LLNL just has a 401K. LLNL feels like a government job (low salaries, bureaucracy, slow to change) but without the pension.

Advice to Senior Management – Resist the stupid policies and procedures that are initiated by Washington. We need less strategic planning, more strategic doing. Act like a business.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company