Cognition
Medium (~300)
Vanta
Large (~1,400)
Best For
Cognition
Best for: Elite engineers who want to build frontier AI coding agents and own a meaningful equity stake
Vanta
Best for: Engineers and salespeople who want top-of-market comp at the category leader in security compliance and can handle a meeting-heavy, high-intensity pace
Ratings
CognitionVanta
3.8
3.8
Overall
3.2
3.3
Work-Life Balance
3.9
3.9
Culture & Values
3.8
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.6
3.6
Senior Mgmt
3.6
3.6
Career Opps
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Scott Wu)
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Christina Cacioppo)
Culture Values
Cognition only
⚙️ Engineering-Driven
Vanta only
No unique values
Shared
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity🎯 Direct Product Impact
Pros & Cons
Cognition
- Elite engineering team with strong equity
- Cutting-edge AI agent work
- High-intensity startup pace
- In-person SF expectations
Vanta
- Strong compensation rated 4.3/5 — best category score
- Market-defining product in security compliance automation
- Brutal meeting culture pushing work into nights and weekends
- Virtually no AEs hit quota — targets unrealistically high
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.
Vanta
Pays extremely well and owns its market niche, but the meeting-heavy culture and low WLB score (3.3/5) signal this is not for anyone seeking balance.
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
Vanta — 166 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
78
💻 Engineering
50
📋 Product
8
🎨 Design
6
📣 Marketing
6
📊 Data
2
⚙️ Operations
2
💰 Finance
1
⚖️ Legal
1
Summary
Cognition scores 3.8/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.2 work-life balance rating. Vanta scores 3.8/5.0 overall with a 3.3 WLB. They’re tied on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity, Direct Product Impact. Cognition also emphasizes Engineering-Driven.
On the hiring front, Cognition has 62 open roles and Vanta has 166 open roles.