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 29 reviews)); "The established culture is great and growing with each month." ((in 22 reviews)); "Amazing colleagues and company mission." ((in 10 reviews)); "Casual and friendly work environment" ((in 9 reviews)); "Hires incredibly smart individual contributors, has nice startup perks (free food, unlimited PTO, etc.), transparency and open discourse" ((in 5 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)); "Lots of insecurity with employment such as frequent layoffs." ((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

Skip to content Skip to footer

Notifications

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

4.0

Jun 1, 2024

Leadership

Assay development scientist

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Very ambitious company and culture. Talented colleagues

Cons

Leadership lacks industry experience. Spread too thin. Leadership/Founders also lack humility and accountability.

5.0

Nov 27, 2019

Ginkgo is awesome. Great culture, passionate and driven people building cutting edge technology.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunity to grow, make your contribution and progress your career. Ginkgo is under construction, which allow employees (or Jedis) to be crucial building blocks into its mission to make biology easier to engineer.

Cons

Overworking is very common and tights deadlines can be stressful.

4.0

Apr 13, 2018

Best company I've worked for, but nowhere is perfect

Test engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Independence, Responsibility, Flexibility, Resources, Challenging, Supportive and Encouraging Environment. You get what you put into this company and you’re surrounded by people who always go above and beyond. Ginkgo fosters a very creative, passionate, and driven environment. The people you work with are some of the best in the industry and it is an incredibly collaborative work environment. A self-starting personality will flourish here. The technology—software, automation, etc.—cannot be beat and is key to how this company has excelled.

Cons

Compensation is average and difficult to negotiate, especially once you are in the company. You can’t put a dollar amount on the incredible work and the culture of Ginkgo, but you have stellar, hardworking, innovative, and invested employees and pay should reflect your worth in the company; knowing you are worth more than what the company is valuing you at can feel a bit demoralizing.

Viewing 22 - 24 of 189 Reviews

Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you

Johnson & Johnson

4.1★Compensation & Benefits

Pfizer

3.7★Compensation & Benefits

GSK

4.0★Compensation & Benefits

Merck

4.1★Compensation & Benefits

Jobs at Ginkgo BioWorks

Director, Government Partnership Development

Software Intern, Autonomous Lab

Automation Scientist Intern, RAC Operations