Once great, trying to rebound - Marketing Criteo Employee Review

2.0
Nov 8, 2021
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Best-in-Class Core Product: retargeting performance marketing solution is still the best in the business Global Culture: opportunity to work with, and learn from, smart people representing different regions, countries and cultures Strong Benefits: wide variety of benefits beyond the standard ones, including employee reward program, learning and professional development, volunteering, and more Office Destinations: unique and inviting office spaces throughout the world, particularly in Barcelona, Boston, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Brazil People: most employees are very kind, smart, driven, hard working, and exude an entrepreneurial spirit

Cons

Lack of Leadership Experience: many of the newer leadership members do not have actual industry experience, and in some cases like Marketing, don't even have experience in Marketing. In addition, many do not seem to have the experience or leadership qualities to guide teams through large transformations. As evidenced by Marketing senior leaders’ lack of empathy, poor handling, and dismissal of loyal, high-performing Marketing employees who were impacted by layoffs and other organizational changes. In addition, Marketing senior leaders, particularly CMO, can act unprofessional and immature at times, with a tendency to play favorites. Solution Divide: internal friction between teams focused on core Criteo retargeting and retail media solutions, causing teams (i.e. Sales, Marketing, Product) to essentially compete against each other rather than work together for the greater good. This starts with the leaders of those commercial teams, who, up to this point, have demonstrated that they cannot, and will not, work well together. Ever-changing Priorities: CMO, VP and commercial leaders seem to shift priorities constantly and put more value on lavish customer events and programs rather than strategies that actually impact the business. This causes a lot of stress on the teams who are delivering on plans and are already experiencing burnout. Feedback Backlash: employees are constantly asked for feedback through a number of surveys, but it rarely translates into any action from the company. This is particularly true in Marketing where the CMO and VP request feedback from Marketing only to chastise and dismiss those who shared anything that was less than positive, creating a toxic team environment where most are now reluctant to ever share honest feedback again. Career Growth: inconsistent policies across the organization on job titles, positions, spans, levels and pay. This results in favoritism and roadblocks on career progression.

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Criteo Response
3y
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. We regret hearing that you had such a mixed experience with us. ​ 2021 was the year we announced our plan to become the world-leading Commerce Media Platform, as well as our common vision that is shared between all teams. We are sorry to hear that you have felt pressured moving into this new direction. Over 2021 we created the Transformation Portal and regularly conducted All Hands to make sure all teams were onboard and connected as we are convinced that everyone has a role to play in aiming for the gold medal. ​ We are putting a great emphasis on listening efforts to improve the Criteos experience together. This is one of the reason why we make sure that Manager Feedback is anonymous to favor transparency, as well as making peer feedback mandatory from people outside the team. Our HR team follows up closely on the result, proposing tailored action plan involving the whole team when required. ​ ​Again we are sorry this is not what you experienced. We hope that you have found what you were looking for in your next experience. ​

Explore other reviews about Criteo

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
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Pros

Great environment, great people to work with

Cons

Need to go back to office

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Criteo Response
1w
We're thrilled to receive such positive feedback and to know that you've found a place where you can grow and thrive at Criteo. Thank you for sharing and for your trust all these years. It's great to have you on the team!
2.0
Jan 31, 2026
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart, hardworking people at the individual contributor level (many of whom are now gone). Little micro-managing, but that’s because everyone’s bandwidth is near 0

Cons

Post–new CEO, the company has descended into complete chaos. There is no transparency around decisions that impact teams and roles. There have been consistent strategy, personnel, and supplier changes with no explanation, accountability, or follow-through. Cons, continued: Employee input and performance do not matter. Decisions feel driven by appeasing BoD and optics rather than results, input and reality. The culture has become a corporate hellscape of: Endless reorganizations with no clear rationale, including layoffs with no reasoning Vague all-hands meetings that avoid real issues, even when directly asked A massive disconnect between the C-suite and day-to-day reality Eroded trust and growing position insecurity Middle managers incentivized to prioritize managing up & executive optics over team advocacy “Return to Office” policy put in place when promised a “Work from Anywhere” position, where the RTO policy differs across employees’ location Little to no growth opportunities despite high performance Under-market average compensation that was justified by locale, “Work from Anywhere”, and flexibility — which was recently rolled back A clear favoritism to those that “talk the talk” vs “performance with numbers”

10
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