Hugging Face
Small (~400)
Perplexity AI
Mid (~500)
Best For
Hugging Face
Best for: Open-source enthusiasts who value remote flexibility over top comp
Perplexity AI
Best for: Builders who thrive on speed and want massive user-facing impact at a rocketship
Ratings
Hugging FacePerplexity AI
3.8
4.7
Overall
4.1
3.3
Work-Life Balance
4.2
4.8
Culture & Values
3.4
4.5
Comp & Benefits
3.6
4.5
Senior Mgmt
3.5
4.2
Career Opps
👍 78% Recommend
👤 85% CEO Approval (Clement Delangue)
👍 92% Recommend
👤 95% CEO Approval (Aravind Srinivas)
Culture Values
Hugging Face only
🔓 Open Source🤝 Flat Hierarchy🌐 Remote-Friendly🕐 Flexible Hours🪟 Transparent🧩 Wears Many Hats📡 Async-First
Perplexity AI only
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate⚙️ Engineering-Driven🎯 Direct Product Impact💎 Strong Comp & Equity🌱 Learning & Growth
Shared
None
Pros & Cons
Hugging Face
- True open-source DNA — you work on things millions of developers actually use
- Remote-first and async culture that actually works across time zones
- Below-market comp compared to FAANG
- Career progression is unclear — no well-defined ladder
Perplexity AI
- Fastest-growing AI product — real users, real revenue, genuine product-market fit
- Small team, massive impact per engineer — your work ships to millions quickly
- Startup intensity — expect long hours and high expectations
- Growing pains as the team scales — roles and responsibilities shift frequently
Bottom Line
Hugging Face
Choose Hugging Face if you want to build tools millions of ML devs use with true remote freedom — but comp lags FAANG.
Perplexity AI
Choose Perplexity if you want the fastest-growing AI product and huge per-engineer impact — but expect startup intensity.
Open Roles
Hugging Face — 9 jobs
🧠 ML / AI
6
💻 Engineering
2
Perplexity AI — 74 jobs
💻 Engineering
37
🧠 ML / AI
8
📊 Data
5
⚖️ Legal
4
📣 Marketing
3
⚙️ Operations
3
💼 Sales / GTM
2
🎧 Support
2
👤 HR / People
1
📋 Product
1
Summary
Hugging Face scores 3.8/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 4.1 work-life balance rating. Perplexity AI scores 4.7/5.0 overall with a 3.3 WLB. That’s a 0.9-point gap on overall satisfaction.
On the hiring front, Hugging Face has 9 open roles and Perplexity AI has 74 open roles.