Adyen
Large (~4,770)
Pinecone
Small (~130)
Best For
Adyen
Best for: Payments and backend engineers who value a no-nonsense engineering-first culture with above-average WLB and the challenge of processing global financial transactions at massive scale
Pinecone
Best for: Infrastructure engineers who want to build the vector database powering the AI revolution
Ratings
AdyenPinecone
3.8
4.2
Overall
4.1
4.3
Work-Life Balance
3.9
4.5
Culture & Values
3.8
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.6
4.0
Senior Mgmt
3.6
3.8
Career Opps
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Ingo Uytdehaage)
👍 80% Recommend
👤 85% CEO Approval (Edo Liberty)
Culture Values
Adyen only
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate⚖️ Work-Life Balance
Pinecone only
🌐 Remote-Friendly🕐 Flexible Hours
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🎯 Direct Product Impact🌱 Learning & Growth
Pros & Cons
Adyen
- Smart, humble colleagues with high standards and a market-leading payments product
- Good work-life balance with trust-based culture, free lunch, and international team trips
- Below-market compensation (~20% less than peers) with poor stock options
- Middle management quality issues as company scaled — inexperienced managers and internal politics
Pinecone
- Exceptional colleagues — warm, welcoming, and technically among the best in the industry
- Fully remote with strong company culture, autonomy, and genuine growth opportunities
- Significant layoffs in 2024 (30% of staff) eroded trust and reduced headcount
- Below-market base salary even with equity compensation
Bottom Line
Adyen
Adyen's engineering culture is well-regarded in fintech — principled, WLB-conscious (4.1/5), and technically rigorous — but expect a methodical Amsterdam-centric culture rather than a high-growth startup vibe.
Pinecone
Choose Pinecone if you want fully remote work on critical AI infrastructure — but recent layoffs have created uncertainty.
Open Roles
Adyen — 302 jobs
💻 Engineering
82
💼 Sales / GTM
67
👤 HR / People
16
⚖️ Legal
15
📋 Product
14
💰 Finance
12
📊 Data
11
⚙️ Operations
11
📣 Marketing
5
🎨 Design
4
🧠 ML / AI
2
🎧 Support
1
Pinecone — 8 jobs
💻 Engineering
5
📋 Product
2
💼 Sales / GTM
1
Summary
Adyen scores 3.8/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 4.1 work-life balance rating. Pinecone scores 4.2/5.0 overall with a 4.3 WLB. That’s a 0.4-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Direct Product Impact, Learning & Growth. Adyen also emphasizes Ship Fast & Iterate, Work-Life Balance. Pinecone also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Flexible Hours.
On the hiring front, Adyen has 302 open roles and Pinecone has 8 open roles.