Bad management and Toxic culture - Senior Software Engineer Zillow Employee Review

1.0
16 Jul 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay and benefits, modern tech stack in some teams ( still a lot of legacy code ), free snacks and used to be free lunch on Friday only

Cons

- Politics and nepotism, nothing is based on performance and what you deliver, It’s based on perception. lies and backstabbing, everyone stepping over each other. - Chaotic, always doing unuseful reorgs - Respect for differences and Diversity are non-existent except on the surface. - No clear roadmap or direction from management or product managers, especially with the Zillow Offer business. If you are looking to build and support a great product, then this is not the right place for you. - Biased, incompetent, and insecure middle management who lack integrity they work to protect themselves and not those under them and don't care about their career, and HR knows about that. - Turnover is high, a lot of tech people leaving - Lack of innovation in the tech side - Discretionary time off is not really used, your manager tells you to have limited days that you can take every year (2- 4) weeks so it's more of PTO - Cost-cutting everywhere even before covid19

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Zillow Response
5y
Hi there, this is David Beitel, CTO at Zillow. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts about working in Zillow Group's Engineering org. As a leader, it can be hard to hear that not everything is going smoothly but I am here to listen and improve. You've listed a handful of topics that have caught my attention. If you're willing, I'd like to take this conversation offline with you to get some more details on your experience and discuss potential improvements to our team. Please reach out to me at davebei@zillowgroup.com if you'd like to connect. - David Beitel, CTO

Explore other reviews about Zillow

5.0
8 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The posts about AWS culture infiltrating Zillow must be pretty team or person specific, as I've seen nothing but leaders who really care about their teams and the business. Middle managers can often drag down morale and culture - and working remote makes that hard to see/fix. But generally, the culture and support at Zillow is WAY better than any other tech company I've worked at (or heard about from friends). Fully remote with decent benefits and people who generally care about each other is fantastic (and hard to find in today's market). For those complaining about bad culture - I'd suggest you look at another role in another org, you might be pleasantly surprised the ZG people first culture is still strong.

Cons

Fully remote makes it hard to get the right visibility and promotions and ratings are unfortunately tied to whether senior leaders see your work and know who you are. You have to make an effort to be "seen" and that's hard to do remote. The news cycle is noisy with lawsuits, but I think a lot of that is because we're a big name with a big target on our back. A judge just ruled in Zillow's favor, against Compass.

2
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Zillow Response
3mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your review. It’s great to hear that leadership support, flexibility, and a people-first culture have stood out in your experience. We also recognize that visibility and growth can feel different in a remote environment, and feedback like this helps highlight where continued focus and clarity matter. We appreciate you sharing your perspective.
3.0
8 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You can make good money here.

Cons

In sales, job can change often. For example: I was making good money and excelling because I am a relationship Sales person. Then they changed it to where you get the sale, and instead of being able to grow that account via that relationship you just broke into, you have to pass it to an account manager and go back to cold/robo calling. You "book" of business you recive to prospect from is a lottery. I received a book of prospects/accounts that most of the were low income, or senior living properties. They don't have a budget and have a line of renter on a waitlist. No way to convince them to spend money on advertising but you still have the same quota.

2
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Zillow Response
2w
Thank you for sharing such a detailed perspective. We understand that frequent changes to roles, account ownership and business priorities can have a real impact on relationship-building and the day-to-day experience in sales. We’re glad to hear compensation was a positive part of your time at Zillow, and we appreciate you being candid about where the model and structure felt frustrating. Feedback like yours helps us better understand how these changes are experienced across teams as the business evolves.
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