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 30 reviews)); "The established culture is great and growing with each month." ((in 23 reviews)); "Amazing colleagues and company mission." ((in 10 reviews)); "Casual and friendly work environment" ((in 9 reviews)); "Amazing culture, friendly people, awesome managers!" ((in 4 reviews))

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

"Almost no real management and no leadership." ((in 11 reviews)); "Poor management is everywhere and this is not an exception." ((in 10 reviews)); "Lots of insecurity with employment such as frequent layoffs." ((in 8 reviews)); "Work/life balance is challenging." ((in 6 reviews)); "Disorganized, no vision, upper management is terrible" ((in 6 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

5.0

Aug 15, 2022

Great career opportunity, great environment, exciting research.

Senior organism engineer i

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great career opportunity, great environment, exciting research.

Cons

Going up the career ladder seems a bit saturated now.

4.0

Dec 11, 2021

Lots of potential

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Growing fast. There are lots of opportunities to make an impact. Very flexible in terms of work/life balance. Friendly and brilliant people.

Cons

The company is dealing with growing pains. There are many siloed efforts.

5.0

Aug 25, 2021

Fantastic work environment, impactful mission, great leadership

Senior foundry engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- Focus on employee experience is placed high in priority by all levels of management. - Where significant problems are identified, leadership responds quickly to correct with realistic solutions - The mission tag line "Make biology easier to engineer" is taken to heart by those on the ground. People who work here strive to make this mission reality - Compensation is competitive - High throughput automated bench scale science is not just a lofty ambition here, it is reality

Cons

- Rapid growth leads to new bottlenecks in the system. While bottlenecks are addressed as quickly as possible, those individuals in the bottleneck can experience strain while new solutions are found - Leadership acutely focuses on a mission of improving diversity and inclusion but struggles with the implementation. It is hard to attract diverse talent despite those efforts

Viewing 181 - 183 of 189 Reviews

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