Cognition
Medium (~300)
GitLab
Large (~2,500)
Best For
Cognition
Best for: Elite engineers who want to build frontier AI coding agents and own a meaningful equity stake
GitLab
Best for: Engineers who want a fully remote, async-first culture with radical transparency
Ratings
CognitionGitLab
3.8
3.9
Overall
3.2
3.9
Work-Life Balance
3.9
4.0
Culture & Values
3.8
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.6
3.5
Senior Mgmt
3.6
3.7
Career Opps
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Scott Wu)
👍 75% Recommend
👤 70% CEO Approval (Sid Sijbrandij)
Culture Values
Cognition only
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity🎯 Direct Product Impact
GitLab only
🌐 Remote-Friendly📡 Async-First🪟 Transparent🔓 Open Source⚖️ Work-Life Balance
Shared
None
Pros & Cons
Cognition
- Elite engineering team with strong equity
- Cutting-edge AI agent work
- High-intensity startup pace
- In-person SF expectations
GitLab
- Best-in-class all-remote culture — truly async-first with genuine flexibility
- Radically transparent company with a public handbook and open processes
- Revenue organization has seen quota chaos and low morale
- Some leadership instability at the C-suite level
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.
GitLab
Choose GitLab if you want the gold standard of all-remote work with public handbook and async processes — but expect bureaucracy at scale and comp below top-tier.
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
GitLab — 195 jobs
💻 Engineering
79
💼 Sales / GTM
67
📋 Product
10
⚖️ Legal
5
📊 Data
4
🎨 Design
4
📣 Marketing
4
👤 HR / People
2
⚙️ Operations
2
Summary
Cognition scores 3.8/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.2 work-life balance rating. GitLab scores 3.9/5.0 overall with a 3.9 WLB. That’s a 0.1-point gap on overall satisfaction.
On the hiring front, Cognition has 62 open roles and GitLab has 195 open roles.