Does Ginkgo BioWorks pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Ginkgo BioWorks employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.4 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Ginkgo BioWorks. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Ginkgo BioWorks?

28% of Ginkgo BioWorks employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Ginkgo BioWorks 3.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.1 for culture and values and 2.6 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Ginkgo BioWorks?

Test Engineer (10) , Director (9) , Engineer (7) , Organism Engineer (7) , Software Engineer (6) , Associate Director (5) , Medical Technologist (5) , Scientist (5) , Senior Engineer (5) , Automation Engineer (4) , Operations Engineer (4) , Fermentation Engineer (3) , Operations (3) , Organism Engineer III (3) , Program Coordinator (3)

What are the pros of working at Ginkgo BioWorks according to real employee reviews?

"great people to work with" ((in 33 reviews)); "The established culture is great and growing with each month." ((in 26 reviews)); "Amazing colleagues and company mission." ((in 10 reviews)); "They really care about their clients and work hard for a good work environment" ((in 6 reviews)); "Hires incredibly smart individual contributors, has nice startup perks (free food, unlimited PTO, etc.), transparency and open discourse" ((in 4 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Ginkgo BioWorks according to real employee reviews?

"Poor management is everywhere and this is not an exception." ((in 10 reviews)); "The company's existing business model is not sustainable, which is currently resulting in layoffs and additional stress for remaining employees." ((in 8 reviews)); "Work/life balance is challenging." ((in 7 reviews)); "a lot of people have left finding better pay elsewhere." ((in 5 reviews)); "Disorganized, no vision, upper management is terrible" ((in 5 reviews))

What are employees saying about Ginkgo BioWorks layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Ginkgo BioWorks layoffs and their outlook for job security at Ginkgo BioWorks in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Ginkgo BioWorks locations?

Boston , West Sacramento , Cambridge , Boise , New York , Tucson , Washington , Sacramento , Emeryville , San Francisco , Seattle , Philadelphia , Worcester

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Ginkgo BioWorks

Ginkgo BioWorks reviews

3.0

28% would recommend to a friend

(189 total reviews)

Jason Kelly

30% approve of CEO

12% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.7

Diversity & inclusion

3.5

Work/Life balance

3.4

Compensation and benefits

3.1

Culture & values

2.6

Career opportunities

2.2

Senior management

Ginkgo BioWorks has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 189 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Ginkgo BioWorks employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

189 reviews

3.0

Jan 15, 2026

Stressful but good when it’s good

Creative

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Everyone really cares about the culture and each other

Cons

Sometimes caring so much that decisions were made by committee and led to delays and frustration

3.0

Jan 15, 2026

Went downhill

Director

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Flexibility and freedom — my immediate team is good

Cons

Company leadership makes mistake after mistake — cash runway is running out

3.0

Jan 13, 2026

Always changing but not for the better

Fermentation engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great smart colleagues and cool interesting projects

Cons

Spread thinner and thinner and difficult to fix issues that arise from that thinning. Everyone seems burnt out and we had a long row to hoe financially. I hope they figure it out.

Viewing 10 - 12 of 189 Reviews

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