A frustrating place for designers, weak leadership, and poor culture - Senior Product Designer Scotiabank Employee Review

1.0
Dec 31, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You can work with smart individual contributors. Some teams genuinely try to build good products, but they are held back by leadership issues and lack of clear direction.

Cons

The environment feels highly political, where decisions are driven more by internal positioning than by what is best for customers or the product. Leadership often feels disconnected from modern technology and design fundamentals, with limited understanding of basics like responsive design, quality craft, and what good execution looks like. Communication can feel dismissive and dehumanizing, and there is resistance to meaningful inclusion and diversity in practice. Collaboration suffers because cross functional teams lack aligned processes, and design to development handoffs are poorly defined, which leads to friction, rework, and frustration.

Explore other reviews about Scotiabank

5.0
Mar 15, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

good culture while growing US business lines

Cons

growing US business lines while undergoing multiple changes

2.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A couple of smart people who are kind and open to mentoring. Hours not bad given no deal flow in US.

Cons

Top heavy management. Culture values heavy politicking. Low bonuses.

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