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OSI Maritime Systems

Organizational Feedback:
The company operates with a legacy mindset that resists change, summed up by an “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” approach—even when the current methods are inefficient and outdated. Many processes are unnecessarily complex, requiring excessive steps that could be streamlined with modern tools and practices. While leadership has expressed a desire to grow and innovate, the reluctance to implement new systems or approaches is a major blocker. Without embracing operational evolution, the organization will struggle to meet its growth targets or become competitive on a larger scale. There is significant potential here, but it cannot be realized without a genuine commitment to change.

Departmental Feedback – Marketing:
The Marketing Department suffers from inconsistent leadership that significantly affects morale, productivity, and team development. Management is capable in individual execution but lacks key managerial skills. Decision-making is often inconsistent—team suggestions are initially welcomed, sometimes developed nearly to completion, then abruptly reversed without explanation. This pattern discourages initiative and innovation.

They tend to dominate creative projects without a strong design foundation and often dismisses the contributions of others, offering no clear feedback or standards to guide improvement. There is no structured review or mentoring process, making it difficult for team members to grow or understand expectations. Stress management is another concern; under pressure, management becomes reactive, impatient, and increasingly difficult to work with. 
Micromanagement is common, especially when minor deviations from vague expectations are perceived. This creates an environment where people feel scrutinized rather than supported. Leadership development and formal training in management and communication would be highly beneficial, both for the individual and the overall function of the department.


If you're looking for a company with real direction and healthy culture, this probably isn't the place for you. Meetings are frequent but rarely productive, and there's a general sense that decisions either go nowhere or lack clear purpose.

Leadership often emphasizes that the company is doing “just as well” as others in terms of benefits, turnover, and culture — but rarely anything better. There’s a constant focus on justifying the status quo rather than improving it. Turnover is high, and instead of addressing root causes like toxic culture or poor workload management, the response is usually: “It’s about average for the industry.”

There is also a strong emphasis on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), but it often feels performative and disconnected from the day-to-day employee experience. Instead of fostering genuine inclusion, the initiatives are frequently cited in survey responses and discussions in ways that feel forced or one-dimensional. At one point, leadership openly stated a hiring decision would prioritize gender over qualifications — which many found frustrating and disheartening.

Operationally, the work environment is fragmented. Departments operate in silos, collaboration is poor, and workload is overwhelming. After mandating a full return to office in the name of “better collaboration,” leadership failed to provide any data to support the decision or show improved results. Many employees feel burned out, unsupported, and unsure of the company’s direction.

Bottom line: this company has some serious structural and cultural challenges. Keep looking if you're after a more transparent, balanced, and respectful workplace.

There are challenges with cross-department collaboration, particularly between software and non-software teams. Employees in hardware and other technical departments can sometimes feel disconnected from the company’s core decision-making and culture.

Internal mobility, especially into leadership roles, seems limited unless you're part of a closely connected group. Many management roles are held by individuals with military backgrounds, which appears to be a stronger influence on advancement than professional experience or performance in some cases.

The company’s hiring pace is fast, but employee turnover is noticeably high. For engineering roles in hardware (mechanical, electrical, or systems), job responsibilities may differ from the initial job description or interview discussion. Much of the work involves modifying or reusing existing designs rather than developing entirely new solutions.

Leadership style in some areas can be rigid and top-down, with a strong focus on control and adherence to established practices. Feedback and new ideas can be difficult to voice depending on the team.

For new grads or early-career engineers, it’s worth considering whether the environment aligns with your expectations for mentorship, growth, and innovation. Some find the structure valuable for discipline and consistency, while others may feel it limits creativity and learning.

Before accepting a role, I recommend speaking directly with team members to understand the day-to-day expectations, department culture, and opportunities for development.



Ahoy, mateys! If you've ever wanted to experience what it's like to navigate a ship blindfolded in a storm, OSI Maritime Systems is the place for you! Management charts a course using a treasure map drawn in crayon, while employees are left paddling with teaspoons, hoping to reach the distant shores of "Efficiency" and "Work-Life Balance."

The office atmosphere? Imagine a submarine with a leaky hull—pressure builds, nobody quite knows what’s going on, and at any moment, you feel like you might sink. Leadership changes direction more often than a lost sailor with a broken compass, and decision-making meetings often feel like an episode of Survivor—except instead of voting someone off, they just leave them stranded.

If you're a fan of corporate jargon, mystery objectives, and software that may or may not work when it matters most, this is the perfect place to drop anchor. Just remember: at OSI, every day is "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" because no one really knows who’s steering the ship!

Would I recommend working here? Only if you enjoy adventure, confusion, and the occasional existential crisis. Bon voyage!

While the type of work sounds interesting, it is not enough to offset the actual experience at the company. 

There is an us-versus-them culture with senior leadership that appears to be mitigating the culture shift that needs to occur to increase employee satisfaction. The impression from leadership is that employees are lucky to have a job instead of how can we help each other reach the common goals.

Turnover is high, there are numerous openings, and those that remain are burnt out. Systems are disjointed, and it is a matrix organization, so be aware corporate policies are not the same as PM requirements.

For those interested in joining the organization, please thoroughly question what your experience will look like because it will likely be different (i.e. job description, compensation package, hours, projects).


Days are full and fast paced with multiple priorities,
Some breathing room exists between deliverables to socialize with colleagues,
Learned about End to End System delivery and the undertakings / activities of all teams,
Management relies on the people they hired and communicates openly at Quarterly Town Hall Meetings,
Recent advances in Benefits, matching RRSP and Salary equalization within Band is very positive,
In general all Management is approachable and easy to have discussions with,
Hardest part is extra-long day at fiscal year end (Oct to Nov) and many Friday rushes,
The most enjoyable part is executing to a plan with team work,

OSI Maritime (then OSI Geospatial) was easily the worst company I have ever worked for. On my second day there, the director of engineering told me (paraphrased), "You know, when I was an engineer, I was second on the team in lines of code written and in defects resolved." You read that right: at this company, they actually think counting lines of code generated is a good way to measure software engineering productivity. Working at OSI, I encountered a lot of "information games", hostility, and quite simply the most insane coding practices I have ever seen. Furthermore, the corporate governance is not good: the company somewhat recently bought back all of its shares after dropping from over $1 to $.06, costing a lot of people their savings. The company does appear to be doing better as of late but it is highly doubtful that such can be projected indefinitely into the future.

Systems Test Engineer at OSI Maritime Systems was my first job out of university. The Software Development team had a great environment and I really enjoyed working there. Team leads and team members were always available to answer questions, and due to the nature of the work, there were a lot of questions to be asked. The Software Developers in the team were always available for questions as well. The friendly comradery between the developers and testers made the job a lot easier.

After working there for some time, more responsibilities piled up. This made the job interesting and constantly evolving. I felt like my work was being recognized and my pay increased consistently every year. I would definitely recommend the Software Development Team at OSI Maritime Systems to anyone. 

I have been working at OSI for about 4 years.  It's is a privately owned company located in Burnaby so it's really neat to be working for a company whose R&D headquarter is local.  
The company strive to celebrate and promote diversity.  In addition, upper management consistently display honesty, openness/transparency, and open-door policy.  
Change may be slow (and sometimes frustratingly so) but all decks on hands are working to bridge gaps and often enjoy and celebrate success due to teamwork.   
Note that their growth and process improvements driven by that growth means a lot of opportunity for advancement.  

This role is not what it claims to be. It’s a deceptive job title used to lure unsuspecting professionals into a position that feels more like a step back in time than a forward move in their careers. No self-respecting professional should accept this role if they value long-term growth and integrity.

Leadership lacks accountability and won’t hesitate to sacrifice individuals to protect its image, showing little regard for the value or dignity of its employees. Even more troubling is that this dysfunction is funded by public tax dollars.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
System engineer 10 salaries reported	$114,550 per year
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Service engineer 5 salaries reported	$105,500 per year

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