DAI - A great place to work - Anonymous employee DAI Employee Review

5.0
23 Dec 2009
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

DAI is a leader in USAID-funded international development, has strong technical expertise, and increasingly good project management. As an employee-owned company, there is a sense of shared ownership and responsibility--and a sense that employees do have some influence over the direction of the company and the work environment. In comparison with it's largest competitor, Chemonics, DAI has a great benefits package and a good work-life balance (partly because DAI bids more selectively). I have worked at several companies and organizations in international development and DAI is where I want to stay.

Cons

The downsides are minor, but occasionally I do find that--in the name of ongoing improvement--DAI actually makes a step backward by discarding things that work. As part of DAI's performance-based evaluation approach, there needs to be consequences when people do not perform--particularly when someone puts the company at risk.

Explore other reviews about DAI

5.0
26 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Highly professional, top notch technical experts in several fields

Cons

Work subject to USG funding

4.0
6 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Strong culture of integrity. Absolutely spectacular colleagues. Super interesting work.

Cons

Basically denuded of staff due to USAID cuts. Upper management had become obsessed with performance against metrics that were poorly fit to the business, and were focused entirely on how they might meet those metrics this week, without looking ahead to how to make structural improvements over the longer term.

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