GitLab
Large (~2,500)
Synthesia
Mid (~660)
Best For
GitLab
Best for: Engineers who want a fully remote, async-first culture with radical transparency
Synthesia
Best for: Engineers who want to build cutting-edge generative AI video at a fast-scaling London unicorn with a genuinely low-ego culture
Ratings
GitLabSynthesia
3.9
4.4
Overall
3.9
4.2
Work-Life Balance
4.0
4.5
Culture & Values
3.8
4.4
Comp & Benefits
3.5
4.2
Senior Mgmt
3.7
4.2
Career Opps
👍 75% Recommend
👤 70% CEO Approval (Sid Sijbrandij)
👍 88% Recommend
👤 92% CEO Approval (Victor Riparbelli)
Culture Values
GitLab only
🌐 Remote-Friendly📡 Async-First🪟 Transparent🔓 Open Source⚖️ Work-Life Balance
Synthesia only
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate🌱 Learning & Growth🤝 Flat Hierarchy🎯 Direct Product Impact⚙️ Engineering-Driven🧩 Wears Many Hats
Shared
None
Pros & Cons
GitLab
- Best-in-class all-remote culture — truly async-first with genuine flexibility
- Radically transparent company with a public handbook and open processes
- Revenue organization has seen quota chaos and low morale
- Some leadership instability at the C-suite level
Synthesia
- Low-ego supportive culture with genuine trust and ownership
- Fast-paced growth with real opportunity to develop and lead
- R&D and Product teams feel intense pressure and WLB suffers
- Promotions rare internally — new roles favor external hires
Bottom Line
GitLab
Choose GitLab if you want the gold standard of all-remote work with public handbook and async processes — but expect bureaucracy at scale and comp below top-tier.
Synthesia
High-growth AI company with strong culture ratings and real employee trust, though R&D teams feel the pace and promotions skew toward external hires.
Open Roles
GitLab — 195 jobs
💻 Engineering
79
💼 Sales / GTM
67
📋 Product
10
⚖️ Legal
5
📊 Data
4
🎨 Design
4
📣 Marketing
4
👤 HR / People
2
⚙️ Operations
2
Synthesia — 76 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
24
💻 Engineering
11
🎨 Design
6
🧠 ML / AI
6
📣 Marketing
4
📊 Data
3
👤 HR / People
3
📋 Product
2
🎧 Support
2
⚙️ Operations
1
Summary
GitLab scores 3.9/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.9 work-life balance rating. Synthesia scores 4.4/5.0 overall with a 4.2 WLB. That’s a 0.5-point gap on overall satisfaction.
On the hiring front, GitLab has 195 open roles and Synthesia has 76 open roles.