Pros
Competitive salary relative to the industry. A lot of freedom in tackling a problem, but you're on your own.
Cons
I would not recommend anyone to go work for KS&T in Switzerland and London because of: - Stress on new employees is extreme and turnover rate is high. - Upper management's very disconnected from what is happening on the ground and is seldom seen. Lower management takes great care in managing up, but not down and there is a serious lack of proper leadership/vision (a great example of Peter's principle). - Political games are very present and backstabbing occurs frequently. - Dysfunctional HR department. HR serves as a way to enforce control of management over lower tier employees rather than a soundboard for employees. - Evaluation is not anonymous leaving little chance for an objective evaluation. - Lower tier employees (e.g. analysts) often carry the blame when things go wrong, I have witnessed this first hand several times. - People generally don't like to share information, instead, often, a vague narrative is shared. Knowledge is not institutionalized and relevant information is often not shared (read very often) because 1 there is no incentive to do so 2. a general distrust between desks and 3. political rivalry. Don't expect to learn a lot from colleagues, unfortunately. - IT infrastructure is dated. - Incentive compensation is very much a function of your manager's preference (and whether he wants to share any of it) and there are no rules. - Projects venturing outside of the "usual" realms of the company are usually met with little support, this makes experimentation very difficult. The company seems to be stuck in ideas which were successful 10-15 years ago, this is why it feels like a sinking ship. Mr. Koch's MBM framework (which I think is a great tool) is used as a corporate backstabbing tool rather than a codex and basis for corporate culture and thinking. It is unfortunately not a surprise that this company is currently hemorrhaging talent, leaving behind dead wood.
