Senior managers that like to look after each other. Don't challenge the status quo, it will shorten your tenure. Make sure you manage and communicate up at all times, failure to do so ensures career suicide. Be prepared to answer an email from anyone within 10 minutes otherwise they will escalate to the moon and back. Also be prepared for unpublished internal policies, especially HR ones that no-one has ever seen, but you are held accountable by. Also be prepared for chameleons masquerading as HR people who frequently slaughter your productivity with mindless meetings, phonecalls and emails. Also, be prepared for countless reams of senior managers from a certain country in Europe (where HQ also is) who are parachuted in on incredibly expensive assignments so that they can keep an eye on what is happening and report back to Area 51, aka HQ. Despite how effective, productive and efficient you may be, save it, Thales won't like it or use it, instead keeping to a culture, practice and style that was last seen during prohibition. There are many other high tech innovative companies out there, best advice is to look at one of them instead. Salaries can be better, if you're a technologist, you will not be paid anywhere near market rate.
