Pros
Technical team and people are outstanding, as a research centre you will be working on real cutting edge tech with strong people. The development lifecycle is different than in production since this is R&D, timelines are more relaxed. Projects are handled internally as if they are mid-long term applied research projects with 6months/1year objectives/budgets. Teams are extremely autonomous on internal organisation and tools - this is until you need to interact with production/HQ meaning that YMMV considerably. Local managers and tech leads are really excellent, you can learn a great deal from your colleagues and get in touch with both academy and industry experts. WLB depends on the project you are assigned to, its criticality, and deadlines. Nevertheless it is possible to manage a very good WLB - I rarely had to do any overtime. Culture is Chinese focused, which is a great opportunity to learn and engage with a different world (if you are a Westerner). Half of the staff in the centre is Chinese and very friendly - you will learn a lot IF you are willing to engage proactively with your Chinese colleagues. They pay very well. Compensation does not include RSUs. Other compensation for permanent employees in Ireland include health insurance, pension, and bonuses. For contractors the benefits are usually converted to cash.
Cons
Bureaucracy is overwhelming. Getting anything approved, from budgets to simple business trips, can take weeks to months. This is because almost any budget related decision needs to go through HQ in China. Local administration is very responsive but the actual time to get stuff done can become frustratingly long, and that is out of the local team hands. Project-wise sometimes there might be sudden changes of direction from HQ. There is very little visibility on projects direction and business value. Somebody in HQ wants something to be researched/developed and you do it - you are free in the methodology and timelines but you will rarely know why you are doing it. English is the lingua-franca in the centre but expect very long and (in my case) incomprehensible conversations in Chinese during meetings with HQ.