Decagon
Small (~210)
OpenAI
Large (~3,500)
Best For
Decagon
Best for: Builders who want to ship AI customer support agents directly to F500 customers with technical founders deeply involved
OpenAI
Best for: Engineers who want to build frontier AI models at the company defining the industry, with elite compensation
Ratings
DecagonOpenAI
3.9
4.5
Overall
3.7
3.6
Work-Life Balance
3.8
4.6
Culture & Values
3.2
4.5
Comp & Benefits
3.7
4.3
Senior Mgmt
3.7
4.3
Career Opps
👍 75% Recommend
👤 85% CEO Approval (Jesse Zhang)
👍 90% Recommend
👤 95% CEO Approval (Sam Altman)
Culture Values
Decagon only
No unique values
OpenAI 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
OpenAI
- Cutting-edge frontier AI research with world-class colleagues
- Elite compensation — top-tier TC and equity packages
- High-intensity environment — long hours and intense pace are the norm
- Internal politics and rapid org changes as the company scales
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.
OpenAI
High-intensity, mission-driven culture with world-class colleagues and top-tier comp — but expect long hours, rapid org changes, and internal politics as the company scales.
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
OpenAI — 655 jobs
💻 Engineering
317
💼 Sales / GTM
57
📋 Product
30
📊 Data
28
🧠 ML / AI
28
📣 Marketing
24
⚙️ Operations
17
⚖️ Legal
13
🎨 Design
10
👤 HR / People
9
💰 Finance
7
🎧 Support
4
Summary
Decagon scores 3.9/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.7 work-life balance rating. OpenAI scores 4.5/5.0 overall with a 3.6 WLB. That’s a 0.6-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity, Direct Product Impact. OpenAI also emphasizes Learning & Growth.
On the hiring front, Decagon has 95 open roles and OpenAI has 655 open roles.