Leonardo reviews

3.8

75% would recommend to a friend

(1,331 total reviews)

Roberto Cingolani

89% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

Leonardo has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 1,331 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Leonardo employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Aeroespacial y defensa industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
May 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Flexi-time working is good. - Technical research can be novel and interesting. - Most people are supportive and kind.

Cons

- Low salaries for teams consisting of many highly qualified individuals (PhD graduates). - Career progression is not made clear when first joining. - Career progression is gated behind a “Systems Engineering” competency framework. - Career progression is not based on merit but on how long an individual has been at the company. - Lack of roadmapping leading to poorly planned work. - Technical-leadership not communicating properly to people-leadership. - Research Scientists are not trusted to complete their work by people-leaders. - Work is micro-managed and still not finished. - No accountability for constant right-shifting of deadlines. - Novel techniques and approaches are met with resistance - “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” mentality. - Work carried out is closer to Software Engineering, but under System Engineering title, Research Scientists are given poor resourcing. - E.g. Office terminals and laptops do not have enough compute (lag when using a standard IDE). - Lack of on-site facilities planning - E.g. expedited hiring leading to lack of parking. Inappropriate security-safe floor plating.

avatar
Leonardo Response
1w
Thank you for taking the time to provide such detailed feedback and for sharing your experiences as part of our Research Science community at Leonardo. We are pleased to hear that you have valued the flexibility offered through flexi-time working, found elements of the technical research interesting and innovative, and experienced support from colleagues across the business. We also appreciate your candid feedback regarding career progression, communication, resourcing and ways of working within the research environment. We recognise how important clear development pathways, effective leadership communication and access to the right tools and infrastructure are to enabling our people to succeed and feel supported in their roles. As a business operating in complex engineering and defence programmes, balancing technical delivery, governance and long-term capability development can present challenges. However, we recognise the importance of continually evolving how we support specialist technical communities, particularly in highly skilled research and engineering disciplines. Your feedback around progression visibility, technical empowerment, planning and resourcing is valuable and contributes to the ongoing discussions around how we continue improving the employee experience across our teams. Thank you again for taking the time to share your perspective and for the contribution you continue to make at Leonardo.
4.0
May 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good work and life balance

Cons

Tons of blockers while working

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Leonardo Response
1w
We are pleased to hear that you valued the work-life balance we strive to provide for our employees. Supporting flexibility and employee wellbeing remains an important focus across the business. We also appreciate your honest feedback regarding blockers experienced while working. As a large and highly regulated organisation operating in complex engineering and defence environments, there can sometimes be challenges relating to processes, systems and programme dependencies. That said, we recognise the importance of enabling our teams to work as efficiently and effectively as possible, and we continue to review and improve the tools, processes and support available to our employees. Thank you again for sharing your feedback, and we wish you all the best for the future.
1.0
May 19, 2026

Toxic culture with favoritism and poor management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There is not one pro I can think of.

Cons

The culture is extremely toxic and divisive. There is a clear preference shown toward Italian employees over U.S. employees, which creates an unfair and frustrating work environment. Communication is often unprofessional, with frequent yelling, finger-pointing, and disrespectful comments. Management has failed to establish clear roles and responsibilities, leading to constant confusion and conflict between employees. Engineering leadership appears heavily driven by favoritism and routinely treats employees with a lack of professionalism and respect.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 1,331 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,500 Leonardo reviews submitted anonymously by Leonardo employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Leonardo is right for you.