Virgin Orbit reviews about "manager"

My boss Jim was the ultimate used car sales guy. In meetings with customers and potentials he'd make up stories on the fly about our capabilities, lead times and cost. It was literally impossible to keep a straight face. Johanna the People Boss seemed like the nicest, most employee supportive HR manager I'd ever met. Until I witnessed an engineer pull her aside after a meeting to discuss a confidential issue re the CEO. Soon as he walked away she walked up to CEO and literally told him exactly what was said. The engineer was gone a couple weeks later. Meeting with our CFO was always fun. Brita couldn't read a PandL or figure overhead on a proposal. Never did figure out how she got the job tbh. Now for the big cheese, Dan the man Hart. This dude takes the cake, always getting in the middle of engineering and overcomplicating what should've been simple processes. Changing direction daily sometimes literally within an hour. Sat in meetings where he tells us we've only got a couple months of cash left, then tells us were spending $30K on a party. Was a middle manager at boeing but he'd never really run a business, so we were always playing firefighter as he was trying to burn the company to the ground. On the personal, he's a cool dude to talk to, an have a beer with, but he's got no business being the Chief of anything. There are soooo many other examples of the dumpster fire these people stoked. Just RUN the other way, if you see any of these "leaders" at a company you're thinkin bout joining.

So many meetings and very young managers without experience

This company has a complete lack of organization, honesty, or general know-how. This is another example of a startup where all the managers and directors all bend over backward to a CEO who has no idea what's going on. It's not a 'best idea wins' kind of culture, it's more of a "Well, Dan wants it this way..". There is no schedule, and their launch and test operations are dangerous at best. Personnel safety is barely considered, and they work you 60-75 hour weeks (sometimes workings 7 days a week back to back) with no consideration or compensation. Many of the managers act like toddlers throwing a tantrum if approached, and have no idea how to be mature when it comes to difficult situations. Do yourself a favor and avoid this company like the plague. This is the only company I would get relief from them going under, for the safety of everyone currently working for them and potential future employees. Though Virgin claims to advocate for equal opportunities for men and woman, and they try to uphold a zero-tolerance policy, I saw over 75% of the woman there get talked over during meetings (when they are presenting), passed over for opportunities even when they were excellent at their jobs, and mostly treated like garbage from the CEO, chief engineer, and any senior directors. More than once we had female interns go home crying because they were yelled at, though they had done nothing wrong but ask a reasonable question. When things like this happen, HR is a JOKE. If you're a manager and you yell at the intern or engineer, it's not your fault. It's someone else's fault because you are above them and can be allowed to act out with no repercussions. If you are a manager or director, you can be the biggest scumbag, and HR will do nothing. If you are a female, you have to roll over and go completely submissive if you want to have any power in the company, and even if you do that, you become no more respected then an intern. I thought most of California had progressed to accepting that women do not belong in a kitchen, but the Virgin culture seems to think that they do. Do not go to this company looking to grow professionally or mentally. Go to this company if you want to be completely shut down emotionally or if you enjoy being treated poorly.

leadership management may get chaotic, financial difficulties

It’s unacceptable for a company to be in startup phase to allow lax working situations. Leadership across the board is abysmal. The managers that are capable of making smart business decisions given the limited information that “the program” gave them were few and far between and they all universally prized “being nice” over actually getting things done.