Does CERN pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, CERN employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.3 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at CERN. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at CERN?

91% of CERN employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated CERN 4.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.5 for culture and values and 3.7 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at CERN?

Technical Student (125) , Software Engineer (112) , Fellow (61) , PhD Student (35) , Senior Fellow (24) , Doctoral Student (23) , Research Fellow (23) , Internship (22) , Mechanical Engineer (20) , Junior Fellow (19) , Postdoctoral Fellow (19) , Engineer (18) , Project Associate (18) , Intern (16) , Administrative Student (15)

What are the pros of working at CERN according to real employee reviews?

"Good salary and tons of benefits." ((in 125 reviews)); "Best experience ever Great people" ((in 82 reviews)); "Amazing environment and great colleagues." ((in 54 reviews)); "good benefits and health insurance" ((in 47 reviews)); "Good work life balance and vast interesting domains of activity." ((in 34 reviews))

What are the cons of working at CERN according to real employee reviews?

"Bad management, nothing else fdgdfgdf" ((in 40 reviews)); "Slow career progression" ((in 16 reviews)); "Few career opportunities in certain departments." ((in 12 reviews)); "Had 5 supervisors, overall)" ((in 12 reviews)); "Incredible nepotism everywhere." ((in 8 reviews))

CERN reviews

4.4

91% would recommend to a friend

(856 total reviews)

Fabiola Gianotti

91% approve of CEO

59% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.5

Culture & values

4.5

Diversity & inclusion

4.5

Work/Life balance

4.3

Compensation and benefits

3.9

Senior management

3.7

Career opportunities

CERN has an employee rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars, based on 856 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The CERN employee rating is 21% above average for employers within the Regierung & öffentliche Verwaltung industry (3.6 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

856 reviews

4.0

Jul 10, 2021

Good for a research career

Phd student

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Good salary for a PhD student

Cons

PhD programmes are hit or miss

5.0

Jul 1, 2021

Nice job

Postdoctoral research associate

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

International environment, best place for working on particle physics

Cons

Maybe too much work load (depending on the person)

4.0

Jun 28, 2021

Great location, pay and perks

Technical student

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Nice place to work and meet loads of people from diverse backgrounds. Salary is really good for an engineering placement internship. Location is great if you like hiking/travelling/mountain sports. Also get to see some really cool stuff in the organisation.

Cons

Getting things done can be cumbersome, because many of the staff have been there for a long time but do not have any incentive for change. So it can be difficult to be satisfied in the work that you do. This is especially true being an NGO rather than a company where the goal isn't growth or fast innovation.

Viewing 532 - 534 of 856 Reviews

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Jobs at CERN

Junior Marketing Communications Officer (IPT-KT-MC-2026-148-GRAE)

Short Term Internship 2026

Schweiz

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Assistant Departmental Safety Officer (EN-RMS-2026-147-GRAE)

Graphic Designer (SR-ECO-VIE-2026-168-GRAE)

HSE Communications Support Officer (HSE-TS-2026-153-GRAE)

CERN

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Good for a research career

Nice job

Great location, pay and perks

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