Good benefits but lack of project direction - Software Engineer Acubed Employee Review

Super intellectual team working on meaningful problems

Slower moving than a startup

There used to be some incredibly bright engineers and forward-thinking projects that reflected Acubed’s original mission of innovation. Unfortunately, most of that talent and culture have been lost due to poor leadership decisions.

The company is being run into the ground by an unqualified executive now calling herself the Chief Development Officer—a title that doesn’t even exist in Silicon Valley. She was transferred from Airbus as a Communications Director, a role still heavily supported by an external PR firm, and has no technical or operational background. Her decisions consistently reveal how little she understands about technology or innovation. The so-called “transformation” she led was catastrophic—resulting in layoffs that gutted engineering teams just to protect her own C-suite position. The outcome has been devastating: top engineers and key contributors, the backbone of the company, have either been laid off or left voluntarily due to her toxic, self-serving leadership style. She operates with zero accountability, protected by Airbus leadership thousands of miles away. Having spent over a decade in Airbus corporate politics, she knows exactly how to play the system and shield herself from scrutiny. The result is a culture of fear, confusion, and exhaustion, where remaining employees are demoralized and overextended. If rumors of another layoff are true, there may be no company left to save—most of the technical expertise is already gone. What was once a promising innovation hub is now little more than a shell of political maneuvering and mismanagement.