It's not worth it - Anonymous employee Astranis Employee Review

1.0
Oct 4, 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Ping pong table in office - Killer Queen arcade game in office

Cons

- Electrical engineers incredibly overworked, and any issues that arise no matter how big or small are treated like life or death. Have heard similar sentiment from other teams both technical and nontechnical. - Minimum 55 hours a week is the written company policy. Yet you won't find the senior leaders themselves in the office as much as they expect everyone else to be here. Very hypocritical. - Leadership brushes the suffering of employees under the rug- both in recent review of company culture survey and evident in the responses to any of the Glassdoor reviews here - Company uses "crunch time" and "it's a startup" as excuses, but this company has literally been around for more than 5 years.

avatar
Astranis Response
3y
We're sorry to hear you are having a bad experience at Astranis. We believe 55 hours is a reasonable, and industry standard, expectation at a startup. Some people are looking for more of a 9-5 job, and that's ok. But those people are not a good fit for Astranis. We set this as an explicit expectation when we realized that there was a fundamentally unfair situation at Astranis. With some members of the team putting in heroic efforts far in excess of 55 hours a week, while some other members of the team were working significantly less than 55 hours. By setting this expectation across the company we have been able to provide relief to some of our hardest working team members. We do think it is important to correct the record here on one point — there is no expectation that all working hours must be done in the office, as the above post implies. There are exceptions but the requirement at Astranis for most positions is 3 days per week in the office, and many members of the team work a hybrid work schedule. We are doing incredibly important things at Astranis that will have a huge and immediate impact. If we are successful then by the end of next year millions of people in some of the most underserved parts of the globe will have broadband internet thanks to Astranis satellites. Unfortunately, space is an incredibly unforgiving environment. If we don't work extremely hard then we will not succeed, letting down our customers and the people around the world who are relying on Astranis to bring them internet access. So we all make the decision every day to work extremely hard, and we are very proud of our team for being so dedicated and willing to step up. We believe they will be incredibly rewarded for it — financially through their equity in Astranis, for their career through the experiences and skills they gain in a once in a lifetime opportunity, and in terms of satisfaction knowing that they're making a real meaningful difference in people's lives. Again, that tradeoff isn't for everyone, and we encourage anyone who feels that they are more well-suited for a 9-5 environment to seek employment elsewhere. We care deeply about employee satisfaction and team morale, which is why we are investing heavily in supporting our team and preventing burnout. We are always open to suggestions on how to best do that. If you would like to meet up 1:1 to offer ideas in this regard or discuss, I'm happy to do that.

Explore other reviews about Astranis

5.0
Jun 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good culture, pay transparency, mission

Cons

There weren't any cons, very small startup-ey environment

1.0
Apr 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You work with a lot of smart people and a general growing company. The work life balance is manageable

Cons

In my experience, decision-making is highly centralized with the CEO, and the Finance team operates more in a reactive/support capacity rather than driving strategic insights. As a result, there is limited opportunity for Finance to influence key business decisions. The CFO’s role appeared limited, with a focus on alignment with the executive team rather than independently driving business decisions. This dynamic can make it difficult for Finance to operate as a strategic partner to the business. Leadership dynamics within the team can feel unclear at times, particularly around ownership of processes and decision rights, which can create confusion and reduce effectiveness. I also observed that career progression may not feel equally accessible to all employees, with advancement often influenced by informal networks and visibility rather than clearly defined criteria. This may impact retention and overall morale. While the company operates in person, much of the communication from the CEO occurs through Slack, including urgent or high-pressure messages. In my experience, feedback and expectations were sometimes communicated in a way that felt abrupt or escalatory, including situations where job security was threatened. This contributed to a more tense working environment than expected for an in-office culture.

2
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All