Decagon
Small (~210)
Mercor
Small (~200)
Best For
Decagon
Best for: Builders who want to ship AI customer support agents directly to F500 customers with technical founders deeply involved
Mercor
Best for: Engineers who want to build AI hiring infrastructure at a $10B rocketship with extreme ownership and MIT-founder energy
Ratings
DecagonMercor
3.9
3.9
Overall
3.7
3.9
Work-Life Balance
3.8
3.6
Culture & Values
3.2
4.0
Comp & Benefits
3.7
3.5
Senior Mgmt
3.7
3.7
Career Opps
👍 75% Recommend
👤 85% CEO Approval (Jesse Zhang)
👍 74% Recommend
👤 82% CEO Approval (Brendan Foody)
Culture Values
Decagon only
🎯 Direct Product Impact
Mercor only
🤝 Flat Hierarchy
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity
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
Mercor
- Massive impact at an AI company growing at breakneck speed
- Top-tier compensation with strong equity at $10B valuation
- Intense 9/9/6 work schedule — long hours are the norm
- Work-life balance is a real sacrifice at this stage
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.
Mercor
Choose Mercor if you want outsized impact on AI-era hiring at a tiny, fast-moving team — but the 9/9/6 schedule is real, and work-life balance is genuinely sacrificed for speed.
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
Mercor — 49 jobs
💻 Engineering
20
🧠 ML / AI
6
💼 Sales / GTM
5
👤 HR / People
3
📊 Data
2
📣 Marketing
2
📋 Product
2
🎨 Design
1
⚙️ Operations
1
Summary
Decagon scores 3.9/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.7 work-life balance rating. Mercor scores 3.9/5.0 overall with a 3.9 WLB. They’re tied on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity. Decagon also emphasizes Direct Product Impact. Mercor also emphasizes Flat Hierarchy.
On the hiring front, Decagon has 95 open roles and Mercor has 49 open roles.