Chainguard
Mid (~350)
Mercury
Large (~1,300)
Best For
Chainguard
Best for: Security-minded engineers who want remote-first open-source work with strong comp
Mercury
Best for: Engineers who want product ownership and fast growth building startup banking infrastructure
Ratings
ChainguardMercury
4.5
4.3
Overall
4.2
3.8
Work-Life Balance
4.3
3.9
Culture & Values
4.2
4.0
Comp & Benefits
4.1
3.8
Senior Mgmt
4.0
3.9
Career Opps
👍 88% Recommend
👤 90% CEO Approval (Dan Lorenc)
👍 79% Recommend
👤 85% CEO Approval (Immad Akhund)
Culture Values
Chainguard only
🌐 Remote-Friendly🔓 Open Source⚖️ Work-Life Balance
Mercury only
🎯 Direct Product Impact🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate🌱 Learning & Growth🧩 Wears Many Hats
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Pros & Cons
Chainguard
- Fully remote with outstanding benefits — 100% employer-paid insurance for employees and families
- Founders are practitioners who understand what engineers and security teams need
- Growing so fast that some inefficiencies exist, though improving
- Fully remote means you miss in-person interactions with teammates
Mercury
- Strong talent density with smart, motivated teammates and genuine autonomy and ownership
- Great Place to Work certified — product-first mindset with meaningful scope for every engineer
- Still figuring out how to scale processes — expect some ambiguity and shifting priorities
- Work-life balance rated 3.8/5 — periods of higher intensity during rapid growth phases
Bottom Line
Chainguard
Choose Chainguard if you want to build supply chain security tools in a remote, open-source-first culture with strong equity — but expect a fast-moving startup pace.
Mercury
Choose Mercury if you want product ownership, fast growth, and to build banking infrastructure for startups — but expect growing pains and occasionally intense workloads.
Open Roles
Chainguard — 63 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
27
💻 Engineering
24
📣 Marketing
3
📋 Product
2
🎨 Design
1
Mercury — 70 jobs
💻 Engineering
15
💼 Sales / GTM
13
👤 HR / People
4
📋 Product
4
🎨 Design
3
⚖️ Legal
3
⚙️ Operations
3
📊 Data
2
💰 Finance
2
📣 Marketing
2
🧠 ML / AI
1
🎧 Support
1
Summary
Chainguard scores 4.5/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 4.2 work-life balance rating. Mercury scores 4.3/5.0 overall with a 3.8 WLB. That’s a 0.2-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Strong Comp & Equity. Chainguard also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Open Source, Work-Life Balance. Mercury also emphasizes Direct Product Impact, Ship Fast & Iterate, Learning & Growth, Wears Many Hats.
On the hiring front, Chainguard has 63 open roles and Mercury has 70 open roles.