Elastic
Large (~4,000)
Poolside
Small (~150)
Best For
Elastic
Best for: Professionals interested in Elastic
Poolside
Best for: AI researchers who want frontier code generation work with genuine remote flexibility and Paris offsites
Ratings
ElasticPoolside
4.0
3.8
Overall
4.1
3.5
Work-Life Balance
4.1
3.9
Culture & Values
4.0
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.8
3.6
Senior Mgmt
3.8
3.6
Career Opps
👍 80% Recommend
👤 84% CEO Approval (CEO)
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Jason Warner)
Culture Values
Elastic only
🔓 Open Source⚖️ Work-Life Balance📡 Async-First💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Poolside only
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🤝 Flat Hierarchy🧩 Wears Many Hats🌱 Learning & Growth
Shared
🌐 Remote-Friendly
Pros & Cons
Elastic
- Fully distributed from day one — genuine remote-first culture across 40+ countries
- Open-source DNA means engineers contribute to community, not just internal products
- Cross-timezone coordination means occasional early/late meetings
- Recent leadership shifts have introduced more process and oversight
Poolside
- Remote-first with monthly Paris gatherings
- Cutting-edge code generation research
- Early-stage with limited structure
- Comp may trail larger AI labs
Bottom Line
Elastic
Elastic — check Glassdoor for detailed reviews.
Poolside
Choose Poolside if you want cutting-edge code AI research on a remote-first flat team (ex-GitHub CTO leadership) — but expect early-stage ambiguity and comp that trails the larger AI labs.
Open Roles
Elastic — 198 jobs
💻 Engineering
87
💼 Sales / GTM
67
📣 Marketing
8
📋 Product
7
👤 HR / People
4
🎨 Design
3
🧠 ML / AI
3
📊 Data
2
Poolside — 12 jobs
💻 Engineering
9
📊 Data
2
🧠 ML / AI
1
Summary
Elastic scores 4.0/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 4.1 work-life balance rating. Poolside scores 3.8/5.0 overall with a 3.5 WLB. That’s a 0.2-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Remote-Friendly. Elastic also emphasizes Open Source, Work-Life Balance, Async-First, Strong Comp & Equity. Poolside also emphasizes Engineering-Driven, Flat Hierarchy, Wears Many Hats, Learning & Growth.
On the hiring front, Elastic has 198 open roles and Poolside has 12 open roles.