Samsara
Large (~5,200)
Tailscale
Small (~290)
Best For
Samsara
Best for: Sales and ops professionals who thrive in a high-growth public company selling real IoT hardware+software to physical industries
Tailscale
Best for: Systems engineers who value location-equal pay, generous parental leave, and working on deeply technical networking problems
Ratings
SamsaraTailscale
4.0
4.4
Overall
3.9
4.5
Work-Life Balance
4.1
4.5
Culture & Values
4.0
4.4
Comp & Benefits
3.8
4.2
Senior Mgmt
3.8
4.2
Career Opps
👍 80% Recommend
👤 84% CEO Approval (Sanjit Biswas)
👍 88% Recommend
👤 92% CEO Approval (Avery Pennarun)
Culture Values
Samsara only
🎯 Direct Product Impact🌱 Learning & Growth🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate
Tailscale only
🌐 Remote-Friendly⚖️ Work-Life Balance⚙️ Engineering-Driven🌈 Diverse & Inclusive🪟 Transparent
Shared
💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Pros & Cons
Samsara
- Clear career trajectory with frequent promotions in sales
- Real-world product impact building IoT for physical operations
- Engineers rate WLB at only 2.9/5 despite company average of 3.9
- Remote work used to justify overwork including weekends
Tailscale
- Same pay worldwide with 26 weeks parental leave and genuine work-life balance
- Brilliant, nerdy CEO who deeply understands the tech — culture is intellectual and respectful
- Career progression limited — only 3.0/5 on career opportunities
- Middle management still developing — some growing pains as the org scales
Bottom Line
Samsara
Strong sales culture and real-world product impact at massive scale, but engineers report significantly worse WLB than the company average suggests.
Tailscale
Intellectual, engineer-led culture with same pay worldwide and 26 weeks parental leave — but career progression is limited and middle management is still maturing.
Open Roles
Samsara — 403 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
190
💻 Engineering
54
📋 Product
38
🧠 ML / AI
12
📣 Marketing
10
📊 Data
8
🎧 Support
7
⚙️ Operations
5
👤 HR / People
3
🎨 Design
2
⚖️ Legal
2
Tailscale — 44 jobs
💻 Engineering
25
📋 Product
6
💼 Sales / GTM
5
📊 Data
2
📣 Marketing
2
⚙️ Operations
2
Summary
Samsara scores 4.0/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.9 work-life balance rating. Tailscale scores 4.4/5.0 overall with a 4.5 WLB. That’s a 0.4-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Strong Comp & Equity. Samsara also emphasizes Direct Product Impact, Learning & Growth, Ship Fast & Iterate. Tailscale also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Work-Life Balance, Engineering-Driven, Diverse & Inclusive, Transparent.
On the hiring front, Samsara has 403 open roles and Tailscale has 44 open roles.