Mercor
Small (~200)
Poolside
Small (~150)
Best For
Mercor
Best for: Engineers who want to build AI hiring infrastructure at a $10B rocketship with extreme ownership and MIT-founder energy
Poolside
Best for: AI researchers who want frontier code generation work with genuine remote flexibility and Paris offsites
Ratings
MercorPoolside
3.9
3.8
Overall
3.9
3.5
Work-Life Balance
3.6
3.9
Culture & Values
4.0
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.5
3.6
Senior Mgmt
3.7
3.6
Career Opps
👍 74% Recommend
👤 82% CEO Approval (Brendan Foody)
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Jason Warner)
Culture Values
Mercor only
🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Poolside only
🌐 Remote-Friendly🧩 Wears Many Hats🌱 Learning & Growth
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🤝 Flat Hierarchy
Pros & Cons
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
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
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.
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
Mercor — 49 jobs
💻 Engineering
20
🧠 ML / AI
6
💼 Sales / GTM
5
👤 HR / People
3
📊 Data
2
📣 Marketing
2
📋 Product
2
🎨 Design
1
⚙️ Operations
1
Poolside — 12 jobs
💻 Engineering
9
📊 Data
2
🧠 ML / AI
1
Summary
Mercor scores 3.9/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.9 work-life balance rating. Poolside scores 3.8/5.0 overall with a 3.5 WLB. That’s a 0.1-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Flat Hierarchy. Mercor also emphasizes Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity. Poolside also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Wears Many Hats, Learning & Growth.
On the hiring front, Mercor has 49 open roles and Poolside has 12 open roles.