Mercury
Large (~1,300)
Vast AI
Small (~30)
Best For
Mercury
Best for: Engineers who want product ownership and fast growth building startup banking infrastructure
Vast AI
Best for: Scrappy generalists who want a front-row seat to the AI compute revolution
Ratings
MercuryVast AI
4.3
5.0
Overall
3.8
3.8
Work-Life Balance
3.9
5.0
Culture & Values
4.0
5.0
Comp & Benefits
3.8
5.0
Senior Mgmt
3.9
5.0
Career Opps
👍 79% Recommend
👤 85% CEO Approval (Immad Akhund)
👍 100% Recommend
👤 100% CEO Approval (Jake Cannell)
Culture Values
Mercury only
🎯 Direct Product Impact🌱 Learning & Growth
Vast AI only
🤝 Flat Hierarchy
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity🧩 Wears Many Hats
Pros & Cons
Mercury
- Strong talent density with smart, motivated teammates and genuine autonomy and ownership
- Great Place to Work certified — product-first mindset with meaningful scope for every engineer
- Still figuring out how to scale processes — expect some ambiguity and shifting priorities
- Work-life balance rated 3.8/5 — periods of higher intensity during rapid growth phases
Vast AI
- Front-row seat to the AI compute revolution — demand for GPU cloud is surging
- Strong compensation and generous equity stakes for a bootstrapped startup
- Processes are still being defined — expect ad hoc workflows
- Intense workload — the team explicitly values high output
Bottom Line
Mercury
Choose Mercury if you want product ownership, fast growth, and to build banking infrastructure for startups — but expect growing pains and occasionally intense workloads.
Vast AI
Choose Vast AI if you want perfect Glassdoor scores and generous equity at a tiny GPU marketplace — but expect startup chaos.
Open Roles
Mercury — 70 jobs
💻 Engineering
15
💼 Sales / GTM
13
👤 HR / People
4
📋 Product
4
🎨 Design
3
⚖️ Legal
3
⚙️ Operations
3
📊 Data
2
💰 Finance
2
📣 Marketing
2
🧠 ML / AI
1
🎧 Support
1
Vast AI — 9 jobs
💻 Engineering
6
🧠 ML / AI
2
Summary
Mercury scores 4.3/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.8 work-life balance rating. Vast AI scores 5.0/5.0 overall with a 3.8 WLB. That’s a 0.7-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity, Wears Many Hats. Mercury also emphasizes Direct Product Impact, Learning & Growth. Vast AI also emphasizes Flat Hierarchy.
On the hiring front, Mercury has 70 open roles and Vast AI has 9 open roles.