Decagon
Small (~210)
Helsing
Mid (~660)
Best For
Decagon
Best for: Builders who want to ship AI customer support agents directly to F500 customers with technical founders deeply involved
Helsing
Best for: AI/ML engineers motivated by national security and defense who want to apply frontier AI to high-stakes real-world problems in a mission-driven team
Ratings
DecagonHelsing
3.9
4.0
Overall
3.7
3.6
Work-Life Balance
3.8
4.1
Culture & Values
3.2
4.0
Comp & Benefits
3.7
3.8
Senior Mgmt
3.7
3.8
Career Opps
👍 75% Recommend
👤 85% CEO Approval (Jesse Zhang)
👍 80% Recommend
👤 84% CEO Approval (Gundbert Scherf)
Culture Values
Decagon only
No unique values
Helsing only
🌱 Learning & Growth
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity🎯 Direct Product Impact
Pros & Cons
Decagon
- Strong engineering-driven culture with technical founders still deeply involved
- Ship meaningful AI features to enterprise customers every week
- Intense workload and high expectations — not a typical 40-hour week
- SF-centric; most roles expect in-office presence
Helsing
- Highest talent density of any tech company — world-class AI and engineering leadership
- Extremely important mission with rewarding impact and competitive salary
- Ridiculous expectations of work hours — high salaries do not mean constant overtime
- Some management not experienced enough to lead; lacking in performance feedback
Bottom Line
Decagon
Choose Decagon if you want intense builder energy at a $4.5B Series D AI agents startup with real enterprise revenue — but expect SF office-centric culture and cash comp that trails top AI labs.
Helsing
Strong engineering culture with a clear mission — but that mission (AI for defense) is not for everyone. Research the ethics carefully before applying; those aligned will find unusually meaningful work.
Open Roles
Decagon — 95 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
32
💻 Engineering
25
📋 Product
7
🧠 ML / AI
6
⚙️ Operations
3
⚖️ Legal
2
📣 Marketing
2
📊 Data
1
🎨 Design
1
👤 HR / People
1
Helsing — 103 jobs
💻 Engineering
53
🧠 ML / AI
8
💰 Finance
3
⚙️ Operations
3
📋 Product
3
👤 HR / People
2
📣 Marketing
2
🎨 Design
1
⚖️ Legal
1
💼 Sales / GTM
1
🎧 Support
1
Summary
Decagon scores 3.9/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.7 work-life balance rating. Helsing scores 4.0/5.0 overall with a 3.6 WLB. That’s a 0.1-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity, Direct Product Impact. Helsing also emphasizes Learning & Growth.
On the hiring front, Decagon has 95 open roles and Helsing has 103 open roles.