Great People, Terrible Management - Software Engineer Aira Employee Review

Hybrid working structure and the regional team before redundancies were made.

The business is severely undermined by poor management and questionable leadership decisions, with individuals being promoted into roles they are clearly not equipped to handle. There is a significant lack of communication between the north and south operations, creating confusion and inefficiency across the company. I was left with minimal support while expected to manage an entire region, taking on responsibilities equivalent to a senior leadership role without any recognition or appropriate remuneration. The culture appears to favour an “inner circle,” with progression often influenced by personal relationships rather than merit, which is both demoralising and unprofessional. Combined with substantial company debt and redundancy decisions that seemed to target the wrong individuals, my experience was ultimately a frustrating misuse of time and effort.

The product is pretty good and the industry and mission and really strong.

I can’t stress these cons enough for anyone interviewing. I would recommend treating the pitch you get from recruiters with extreme caution. I think there are many problems but to summarise my experience: terrible culture and treatment of employees, chaotic leadership and operations. On good days it feels like a quirky episode of Severence; on bad days it feels like psychological manipulation. In my experience, they don’t invest in their employees. I asked for training multiple times, to the multiple managers I’ve had. If your experience is anything like mine, you will be given either a flat “no” or a price list for courses at their academy which they run as another revenue stream. In a sales roll, most of the training will be in the Aira Sales Method which is viewed with an almost religious zeal. You’ll lament the “Expert” title as there will be almost no practical training. I have been encouraged to use sales tactics that are aggressive and unethical. The business is led from Sweden and there is no time given to UK employees or opinions. In one meeting, reasonable operational feedback was raised and a board member replied “if you don’t like it, you should leave”.