Compensation is a big downside. Pay is subpar/average at best for the industry and doesn’t feel aligned with how large and successful the company is. There is also discrepancy in salary between people that hold the same role and within the same part of the business and even same team. Bonuses and merit increases are consistently underwhelming and tied to overall company performance, so even when your team is doing well, it doesn’t always translate. The organization also feels very siloed, with limited natural collaboration outside your immediate team and not a ton of visibility into or access to other parts of the business. At the same time, client expectations are high and there’s constant pressure to do more or create new offerings, but support (like sales materials or clear executional guidance) doesn’t always keep up.
The size of the company also brings a lot of complexity. Getting things done often involves many teams, which can slow things down and make it hard to navigate or implement bigger changes, so most people end up just focusing on their own lane.
On top of that, the company is frequently going through reorganizations, and just when things start to feel stable, something shifts again, making it tough to build long-term momentum.
Upward mobility after the Senior Account Manager and/or Director role is very limited - more senior roles come up very infrequently and when they do there are a ton of people that are fighting for the promotion, so likelihood to get promoted beyond Director is very low unless you somehow strike gold with a client / account that blows up and there is overwhelming circumstances that would justify a promotion. No dedicated maternity leave coverage system in place - so teams are required to spread out project work across the immediate team, and selectively choose when to reach out to other teams for assistance/coverage. So in practice, in periods of high project volume, it becomes overwhelming to have to also take on additional clients from maternity leave. There needs to be a dedicated group of contractors that the team can leverage and provide relief when a team member goes on leave.
