It's very top down here. If the group of designated leaders (meaning CTO and his close friends) don't approve of changes to the Way of Working and base repository template, it shall not be applied.

I've pointed out problems before and wanted to improve things but was told to "stay in my lane" basically. That killed all motivation to go through the proper channels. If you aren't in the in-group, well, that's it, you have no say.

Unfortunately, they pay well.