Pros
DAI has corporate staff and project staff. As project staff, your working environment is created wholly by your chief of party and the staff on your project team, and you receive little to no oversight from "home office" unless things go terribly wrong. Examples: - Corporate does not prioritize racial equity, rather pursuing a disingenuous "DEEI" program. Your project may make it a real priority. - Project staff govern the relationship with their client, and retain the ability to push back against them when expectations are unreasonable. - Corporate staff generally must participate helping write new business proposals; project staff are generally exempt, allowing you to focus on technical work. - Each project is the custodian of its own data, with free rein to manage it as they see fit; corporate staff are beholden to clunky, outdated systems. - The COVID policies have, by now, completely melted away. It's up to your chief of party if they still want to mask or telework to protect each other, or require indoor maskless meetings every day. Regardless, the work is always interesting and, as project staff, you will always be working on the hot issues of the day with powerful and technically skilled US Government counterparts.
Cons
- The same lack of oversight cuts both ways. Project staff are ineligible for many benefits, including company stock and professional development funds - Benefits in general are wholly inadequate; be prepared to fend for yourself. The high-deductible health insurance plan might as well be nonexistent for all the good it does, and the high-premium plan only makes budget sense if you regularly fall ill. Employer contribution to retirement is also paltry.