Stepping Stone to Bigger Companies - Product Manager HackerOne Employee Review

4.0
Aug 22, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fantastic laid back culture. Flexible working hours and locations. Personally have worked across multiple timezones across the world, and you can do it too if your manager approves. Great health-dental-vision and generous $130/mo remote work stipend.

Cons

Treat salary negotiations with this in mind: Private company, so the value of your equity is $0. Current FMV would make the cost of option exercise unaffordable. No point in taking such a risky play, and I would expect you to negotiate base salary and treat any equity as $0. Poor salary for VHCOL locations. I have noticed that the workforce has dwindled from San Francisco HQ, and has shifted to people living in low cost of living areas. Compensation is split into three bands: 100% for SF (benchmark) 90% for NYC, Seattle 85% for LCOL areas - Georgia, Colorado, Oregon - most employees are in this bucket. The only thing unsatisfactory about my job was unfavorable compensation, but experience here was a solid stepping stone into negotiation other job offers in the industry.

Explore other reviews about HackerOne

5.0
May 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Very clear interview process and onboarding steps. -Great benefits.

Cons

None that I can think of.

2.0
Jan 8, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- The coworkers are genuinely amazing: smart, kind, and deeply supportive. Many people truly care about doing the right thing and helping each other succeed. - The mission is meaningful. Supporting the global community of ethical hackers is powerful, and the work has real impact on improving security across the internet.

Cons

- Since the arrival of the new CEO, nearly the entire C-suite has been replaced in under a year. This has created an environment of fear, risk aversion, and excessive CYA behavior. - HackerOne used to value transparency and open dialogue. “An honest question gets an honest answer” was more than a motto—it was lived. Today, people are afraid to ask honest questions, and answers are often vague corporate speak rather than real explanations. - A new AI engineer role was created with a pay band roughly 40% higher than existing software engineers. In practice, some software engineers are doing the same work for significantly less pay, which has caused frustration and morale issues. - The company once had a strong, people-first culture. That culture has eroded to the point where layoffs have occurred while employees were on maternity leave. - A newly hired VP in engineering focused on AI appears more interested in empire-building and optics with the C-suite than in empowering teams. Accountability is demanded without corresponding agency, and blame is often pushed downward when decisions don’t work out.

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