Databricks
Large (~7,000)
Lambda
Mid (~500)
Best For
Databricks
Best for: Data engineers who want strong comp and deep technical pedigree at scale
Lambda
Best for: Professionals interested in Lambda
Ratings
DatabricksLambda
4.1
3.6
Overall
3.9
3.7
Work-Life Balance
4.0
3.7
Culture & Values
4.3
3.6
Comp & Benefits
3.8
3.4
Senior Mgmt
3.9
3.4
Career Opps
👍 82% Recommend
👤 88% CEO Approval (Ali Ghodsi)
👍 72% Recommend
👤 76% CEO Approval (CEO)
Culture Values
Databricks only
🌱 Learning & Growth🌈 Diverse & Inclusive
Lambda only
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven💎 Strong Comp & Equity🎯 Direct Product Impact
Pros & Cons
Databricks
- Engineers who built Spark, Delta Lake, MLflow — deep technical pedigree
- Strong compensation and equity packages consistently above market
- Hypergrowth means org changes are constant — teams restructure frequently
- Some legacy Spark-era tech debt that can slow down new features
Lambda
- Building the GPU cloud that powers the world’s top AI labs — genuinely impactful infrastructure
- Smart engineering team with strong technical culture and good WLB on most teams
- Management style described as top-down; strategy clarity could be better
- Internal politics and coordination overhead slow things down for some teams
Bottom Line
Databricks
Choose Databricks if you want elite data infrastructure work with strong equity — but brace for constant org changes.
Lambda
Lambda — check Glassdoor for detailed reviews.
Open Roles
Databricks — 842 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
353
💻 Engineering
284
📋 Product
39
📣 Marketing
34
📊 Data
22
👤 HR / People
12
🧠 ML / AI
12
⚙️ Operations
11
🎨 Design
6
💰 Finance
5
⚖️ Legal
5
Lambda — 32 jobs
💻 Engineering
14
💰 Finance
6
📋 Product
4
👤 HR / People
2
⚖️ Legal
1
Summary
Databricks scores 4.1/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.9 work-life balance rating. Lambda scores 3.6/5.0 overall with a 3.7 WLB. That’s a 0.5-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Strong Comp & Equity, Direct Product Impact. Databricks also emphasizes Learning & Growth, Diverse & Inclusive. Lambda also emphasizes Ship Fast & Iterate.
On the hiring front, Databricks has 842 open roles and Lambda has 32 open roles.