Brex
Large (~1,600)
Poolside
Small (~150)
Best For
Brex
Best for: Engineers who want to build AI-powered fintech at massive scale with smart colleagues
Poolside
Best for: AI researchers who want frontier code generation work with genuine remote flexibility and Paris offsites
Ratings
BrexPoolside
4.0
3.8
Overall
3.9
3.5
Work-Life Balance
3.8
3.9
Culture & Values
4.0
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.5
3.6
Senior Mgmt
3.6
3.6
Career Opps
👍 77% Recommend
👤 71% CEO Approval (Pedro Franceschi)
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Jason Warner)
Culture Values
Brex only
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate🎯 Direct Product Impact🪟 Transparent
Poolside only
🌐 Remote-Friendly🤝 Flat Hierarchy🧩 Wears Many Hats
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🌱 Learning & Growth
Pros & Cons
Brex
- Innovation-driven culture with incredibly smart, passionate, and supportive colleagues
- Strong benefits and time off actively encouraged with flexible scheduling
- Culture of overworking — many departments understaffed relative to workload expectations
- Multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years have created uncertainty and morale challenges
Poolside
- Remote-first with monthly Paris gatherings
- Cutting-edge code generation research
- Early-stage with limited structure
- Comp may trail larger AI labs
Bottom Line
Brex
Choose Brex if you want to build AI-powered fintech at massive scale with smart colleagues — but expect intense workloads and some organizational instability from recent layoffs.
Poolside
Choose Poolside if you want cutting-edge code AI research on a remote-first flat team (ex-GitHub CTO leadership) — but expect early-stage ambiguity and comp that trails the larger AI labs.
Open Roles
Brex — 235 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
72
💻 Engineering
49
📋 Product
18
🎨 Design
15
📣 Marketing
14
👤 HR / People
13
📊 Data
10
⚖️ Legal
6
💰 Finance
3
⚙️ Operations
3
🎧 Support
2
Poolside — 12 jobs
💻 Engineering
9
📊 Data
2
🧠 ML / AI
1
Summary
Brex scores 4.0/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.9 work-life balance rating. Poolside scores 3.8/5.0 overall with a 3.5 WLB. That’s a 0.2-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Learning & Growth. Brex also emphasizes Ship Fast & Iterate, Direct Product Impact, Transparent. Poolside also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Flat Hierarchy, Wears Many Hats.
On the hiring front, Brex has 235 open roles and Poolside has 12 open roles.