Pros
Coworkers, FTO (including "volunteer time-off"), company-sponsored events like the holiday parties and picnics.
Great mission at face value.
Cons
As someone has been with NSF for a decade, it is truly baffling to witness how disorganized and dysfunctional this company is on a daily basis. The mission unfortunately gets overshadowed by the corporate politics. It's not an exaggeration to say that there is not a single day that goes by without some "dumpsterfire" that needs to be put out, whether its equipment or programs not working, some sort of miscommunication between management and labs involving client work, or just the general dysfunction that comes from an overbearing workload and having inadequate resources to do your job.
It's truly astounding how little they put into making sure that labs are run well despite reporting higher revenue every year and being a non-profit. Labs have equipment that constantly breaks down or takes years to be replaced, if at all. They tell us that they don't have money to replace it, but in some cases they have literally spent double the amount of money on "temporary fixes" then it would have taken to just fix the equipment upfront.
Over the years, they have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on things like repaving the parking lots and redoing office furniture that nobody asked for, instead of investing in technology that would not only improve employees lives but help the business as a whole to be more competitive.
Not to mention the unfair treatment by management at every level. Don't ever complain about something or bring up a concern, or it will truly follow your entire career here and be used against you. That is not an exaggeration. HR is not your friend, either. They will literally forward your complaints about your managers to your managers and tell you to work it out. That is not a joke.
Managers exist to push emails and compile metrics for higher-ups. They dont actually help employees advance in their careers here despite saying they will. They will also gladly add on job responsibilities without the title or pay adjustment. Your daily responsibilities can be completely different from the time you start to a couple years down the road but your title and salary remain the same. Unless of course, you happen to be a manager "favorite".
There are a lot of great people that work at NSF and truly want to make a difference, but the corporate politics and the constant budget restraints make the job insufferable. Countless highly-talented individuals have left NSF over the years, and it has left an impact. There are so many good employees still here who have mental health issues ironically from this "public health and safety" company.
Senior leaders are very disconnected from the majority of the company and it shows. All they do is give a politician's response any time they give you an opportunity to ask a question.