I once tried to count how many levels there were between me and our CEO and I came up with 11. I've never met our CEO. Keep in mind what I wrote in "best reasons" which is when you work for LMT you're really working for one of the hundreds of companies that LMT M&A'd in the last 20 years, with easy mobility between companies and a uniform set of pay/benefits and schedule. This creates to put it mildly a political and beauracratic challenge. Want to get good a negotiating a beauracracy... this is the place for you. I suspect many jobs have this challenge but I'm guessing it's more acute at LMCO.
The other chief downside is the cyclical nature of our work. To survive here you have to realize that you are a contractor, and you are selling your services to a project. When the contract goes away (and it will, and it may go away at a senator's whim) you need to quickly find the next contract. Lockheed is supportive, but it's still nerve-racking knowing that you have an expiration date at the end of a project.