G-Research Reviews

Pros

Everyone I have worked with has been highly skilled and knowledgeable. Has a remote-first work environment (only in the Dallas office one week a month). Technologies are cutting edge with K8s, Docker, etc. used daily. Compensation and benefits are very competitive with other top employers in the state.

Cons

Most employees are in London, so sometimes things can be delayed if finished after noon in Texas. The drive to Dallas from other Texas cities can be long if not paying to ride a bus or fly to Dallas.

Pros

- The technology-focused folks here are very, very bright. Everyone I've talked with at GR has been incredibly approachable and kind, regardless of their level in the company. The people all around are great, and there are some very impressive backgrounds that you'll come across. You will learn abundantly here. - It depends on your team, but you will likely get to work with some of the latest and greatest technologies in the industry. Many of the popular CNCF projects are in use, and GR even sponsors its own CNCF sandbox project (Armada), which is pretty neat! - You will have the opportunity to solve large-scale, complex technical problems that you won't find at many places. - GR has been very supportive of any external trainings/certifications that I've wanted to pursue. I feel that this is a great place for someone who is constantly wanting to learn / develop their technical expertise. - There are some very wonderful managers here, who genuinely care about your career growth and life outside of work. - 5 summer Fridays off for Dallas employees, which is a very nice benefit. - GR Dallas is very new (with many growing pains), but it is an exciting time to be here! To me at least, GR seems to be trending in the right direction with its international expansion. Most concerns that I've had since joining have been quickly addressed, and GR is starting to build a decent foundation here. - Compensation is on the higher end of the spectrum.

Cons

- Some teams have less than optimal out-of-hours support rotas. If you are interviewing here, pursue very clear comms from GR on the support/weekend/evening expectations for your role. - If you do not live in Dallas, please be aware that GR does not reimburse any of your required monthly travel to the Dallas office. You are on your own, and it will cost you a few hundred dollars a month out-of-pocket to work here if you are not in DFW. Count the costs in your decision making! - Decision-making is fairly top-down at GR. There is a particularly high rate of change in certain parts of engineering, and communication is sometimes lacking from leadership. Be aware of this before joining - you need to be able to navigate change well, and not get easily overwhelmed. - The physical Dallas office lacks the cool/attractive qualities of the GR London offices. Just be aware, if you join in Dallas, you will not be working in the flashy London-style offices that you see online. This will likely improve over time, though.

Pros

Free coffee and soft drinks. Some of the technology used is the latest. Desks that go up and down.

Cons

Security overload without a consistent policy across the company, this leaves some teams scrutinised to an extreme degree and other teams left to create direct connections to the internet. This is both weird and slack. Far too many middle management creating pointless meetings and adding no value. Never worked for a company before with managers who only have two direct reports. This seems to be considered normal at G-Research. Having bizarre targets, the current target is that G-Research is number 1 in the world at doing something, but nobody in the company knows what that something is, just that it is to be number 1.

Pros

Smart people Fun projects One team one dream Company listens to employee feedback Great work life balance Open communication Cutting edge technology Great security Opportunities to always learn something new

Cons

Because of the large infrastructure onboarding and spin up time can be quite long. More neutral but expect super busy mornings and quiet afternoons. Most colleagues are in UTC time.

Pros

I was affected by the February layoffs as many others were too, so I will neither be shilling or act disgruntled in this review. I honestly didn't have a problem working at GR. Sure, some of the internal processes were slow and there was a lot of red tape at times, but day-to-day it was a friendly and chill place to work. People who were working there (some may still do) liked to complain a lot, but it wasn't really that bad. I was just there to do my 9-5, earn some dosh, and go home. People just need to chill out. Getting made redundant obviously sucks, but I got a pretty sweet payoff and I've already got another job lined up (I actually had three offers within a month all with pretty substantial packages, so I was certainly underpaid but it's whatever). The WFH flexibility could be better, but they did at least let you juggle the days around. "Free" (subsidised up to £15) lunches, and a large selection, via Just Eat was cool. I can't imagine many companies could rival that.

Cons

Change WFH policy to 3 days per week instead of 10 days per month. I understand that the current policy gives an impression of flexibility at face value, but it really falls apart when there are train strikes or other disruptions (which there seem to be a lot of in recent months). That's pretty much it to be honest. I'm sure I'm meant to have a moan about management or something judging by other recent reviews, but I didn't really encounter any direct issues. My line manager and team were cool and I liked the work I was doing.

Pros

The barristas are good if you're in the main office. The hybrid days are pretty good, with 10 days per month WFH.

Cons

Well the layoffs (3rd February 2023) were pretty bad. Didn't affect me directly but plenty of friends/colleagues were. They were all asked to resign and given a small payoff and NDA. There are *far* too many managers. The company has grown massively in the last 5 years but it has disproportionately been middle management, many of whom are pretty awful and totally disconnected from the people they see as interchangeable cogs who they treat like idiots. Re: Diversity. It's pretty exclusively white men. They do sponsor some women in tech events but that hasn't changed the hiring mix. Tech. It's all Windows except some of the very new stuff which has just started moving to Linux/k8s, but everything desktop/laptop is 100% locked down Windows. I guess you decide if that's a con.

Pros

- Lots of intelligent and knowledgeable people - Good, modern technology - Plenty of time to deliver projects - Good Career Opportunities - Good work/life balance

Cons

- Lots of company wide cut backs i.e. spending - Lots of employee cut backs (2 rounds of redundancies) - Security can be a hindrance - Not offering quite as much money as competitors

Pros

G-Research has the most brilliant engineers I have worked with.

Cons

Too much management, the organisation would be more effective without the middle management and with a more flat hierarchy. Security requirements are sinking GR productivity and management fails to really acknowledge that.

Pros

Super smart colleagues, interesting work, great comp. Company is very ambitious and doesn't want to rest on its laurels which is pretty rare at this size. Tech stack is a mix of cutting edge and legacy systems so not really a pro or con, you get to use some very cool tech but also need to be willing to get your hands dirty. Also I don't doubt other recent reviews as teams vary massively, but personally my team is very diverse, my code has been running on Linux for years and I've never had the pleasure of meeting anyone from Deutsche Bank.

Cons

There's a big split in the company between research facing roles and everyone else, and there shouldn't be. Poorly managed replatforming project has wasted a lot of time over the past few years. Communication could be better sometimes.

Pros

Good benefits, (some) good colleagues, good office building

Cons

Believe all the bad reviews on here. Very bad blame culture, lots of finger pointing and 'who to pin this on' floating around. Lack of training opportunities. Lack of documentation/obtuse security systems/tech stack. Fair amount of playing favourites/bias/subtle bullying.