Pros
TLDR: I enjoyed my time at Solute and there is a lot of growth and opportunities for engineers there right now. Solute has solid leadership at the helm and has been expanding their engineering division lately. That means there are currently a lot of opportunities to advance and expand your role. Solute provides a lot of freedom and flexibility to do your job as long as you're successful at it which is great for smart, motivated people who want to make the most of your role without someone breathing down your neck. They are very forward-leaning with respect to technology choices whenever possible which is always nice for advancing your skill set. Not a pro or con but a general note on BD (business development), which lines up with my experience with other defense contractors as well. As with most businesses, additional compensation (e.g. bonuses) is geared towards those participating in business growth. In the defense industry this primarily means contributing to proposal efforts and generating new business interest with customers. The downside is that junior persons may not be involved in such efforts unless they are very proactive about getting involved. The upside is that if you have the ability and interest in participating in BD that will open more doors for you at Solute.
Cons
Time off is below what I would consider industry standard. Engineer rates are a bit below average generally but within the reasonable range. Solute has both contracts that are located at their offices and contracts where personnel are located on-site, such as a government lab or contract teammate site. The potential downside here is that positions on-site sometimes have less flexibility since the customer has more influence over core working hours and such. Sometimes this can be just as flexible though, so it depends on the contract. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just something to be aware of.
