Cognition
Medium (~300)
Cohere
Small (~500)
Best For
Cognition
Best for: Elite engineers who want to build frontier AI coding agents and own a meaningful equity stake
Cohere
Best for: Enterprise AI builders willing to trade stability for cutting-edge NLP research
Ratings
CognitionCohere
3.8
2.9
Overall
3.2
2.5
Work-Life Balance
3.9
3.0
Culture & Values
3.8
3.2
Comp & Benefits
3.6
2.3
Senior Mgmt
3.6
2.5
Career Opps
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Scott Wu)
👍 48% Recommend
👤 55% CEO Approval (Aidan Gomez)
Culture Values
Cognition only
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity🎯 Direct Product Impact
Cohere only
🌱 Learning & Growth
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven
Pros & Cons
Cognition
- Elite engineering team with strong equity
- Cutting-edge AI agent work
- High-intensity startup pace
- In-person SF expectations
Cohere
- Cutting-edge NLP research from Transformer co-author
- Enterprise AI focus gives real customer impact
- Frequent organizational restructuring has led to notable team turnover
- Internal communication from leadership could be more transparent
Bottom Line
Cognition
Choose Cognition if you want world-class AI agent research (makers of Devin) with strong equity upside — but expect top-tier intensity and mandatory in-person in San Francisco.
Cohere
Choose Cohere if you want Transformer co-author pedigree and enterprise AI focus — but expect turbulence and lower ratings.
Open Roles
Cognition — 62 jobs
💻 Engineering
21
💼 Sales / GTM
10
📊 Data
3
⚖️ Legal
2
⚙️ Operations
2
💰 Finance
1
👤 HR / People
1
📣 Marketing
1
🧠 ML / AI
1
Cohere — 116 jobs
💻 Engineering
36
💼 Sales / GTM
12
🧠 ML / AI
9
📋 Product
8
📣 Marketing
7
💰 Finance
4
👤 HR / People
4
📊 Data
3
⚙️ Operations
2
⚖️ Legal
1
🎧 Support
1
Summary
Cognition scores 3.8/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.2 work-life balance rating. Cohere scores 2.9/5.0 overall with a 2.5 WLB. That’s a 0.9-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven. Cognition also emphasizes Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity, Direct Product Impact. Cohere also emphasizes Learning & Growth.
On the hiring front, Cognition has 62 open roles and Cohere has 116 open roles.