Pros
Interesting work, developing designs from the ground-up. Previous Engineering Director was great. Despite a rather light interview process, manages to hire a competent and considerate workforce that was usually a joy to work with. Pay was good.
Cons
Overall summary: a psychologically unsafe workplace, but you likely won't be kept on for very long. CEO has never worked in an office he didn't run, micromanages departments he has no knowledge of and can be disrespectful: calls people out in front of others if he thinks they're going about their work wrong (in his mind, not in reality), talks over others/interrupts, does not allow conversation in the open office area, expects employees to work overtime when there is no need, asks people last minute to work on projects right away late Friday afternoon/on weekends. The company has frequent turn over, on one occasion due to a short funding gap and did not offer furloughs. Full-time employees were previously expected to clean the 5-bay R&D area every week on Friday afternoons, which made it feel like one was letting coworkers down/would get in trouble if leaving early for a trip. If it's a deal-breaker for you, food is not allowed at desks, breakfast cannot be eaten on-site. PTO is not guaranteed based on company need, sometimes a week off is given for the December holidays but only communicated a week before based on meeting a deadline that is sometimes not realistic. If you need time off for the Dec holidays, you can save up but if the week off is given anyway you will lose the PTO saved (you cannot reallocate it to remaining days for the year since there is not enough time to provide notice). Forklifts were operated without current certification. Company equity was continuously promised, but never given.