Does Zymergen pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Zymergen employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.7 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Zymergen. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Zymergen?

41% of Zymergen employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Zymergen 3.6 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.6 for culture and values and 3.1 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Zymergen?

Research Associate (29) , Scientist (19) , Research Associate II (13) , Scientist II (8) , Research Scientist (7) , Research Associate III (6) , Director (5) , Research Associate I (5) , Software Engineer (5) , Senior Software Engineer (4) , Business Associate (3) , Senior Research Associate (3) , Business Development (2) , Chemist (2) , Engineer (2)

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

"The free food is a great benefit." ((in 22 reviews)); "Free food (I have breakfast and lunch there)" ((in 15 reviews)); "Competitive pay" ((in 6 reviews)); "Great work/life balance" ((in 6 reviews)); "Company culture was awesome for the most part." ((in 5 reviews))

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

"Bad managers ." ((in 14 reviews)); "No leadership at the President and VP level." ((in 14 reviews)); "Upper management is always busy putting out fires so no time to pursue employee growth, promotion or useful ideas." ((in 10 reviews)); "The staff have been completely demoralized by layoffs." ((in 5 reviews)); "Aggressive timeline, Huge workload, Problems with business decisions" ((in 3 reviews))

What are employees saying about Zymergen layoffs in 2026?

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

What are the top reviewed Zymergen locations?

Emeryville , San Francisco , New York , Oakland , Boston , Cambridge

Zymergen reviews

3.0

41% would recommend to a friend

(241 total reviews)

Joshua Hoffman

24% approve of CEO

16% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.0

Diversity & inclusion

3.7

Compensation and benefits

3.6

Culture & values

3.6

Work/Life balance

3.1

Career opportunities

2.5

Senior management

Zymergen has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 241 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Zymergen 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

241 reviews

3.0

Apr 15, 2018

Come for the promise, leave for the deceit

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

One star for great coworkers, especially if you're young. Another for the free food (though supply hasn't kept up with growth). Final star 'cuz, I dunno, it didn't seem THAT bad. I was just bored out of my mind. Maybe it's good if you're not an ambitious individual.

Cons

No transparency. Blatant lying to employees about their scope of work to get them to do the dull labor. Always a carrot on a stick for any kind of growth. Managers with the social skills of a high schooler and confidence of a scrawny kid in a locker room. Meetings to discuss meetings. Odd level of micromanaging (ie. set hours for office workers, "permission" to come in late from a dr appt), the likes of which I haven't seen since my high school retail job.

1.0

Sep 11, 2019

Sick culture. Stay away!

Engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Good research opportunities in the novel molecules area. Opportunity to work with a variety of microorganisms.

Cons

Most teams have a toxic work culture. The mid-management has very little idea about the business and most of them don't care about their staff or work hard enough to raise the standard of the company. Very few people stay in the company for more than 3 years and there is a lot of frustration among current employees. Many are actively looking for opportunity outside and waiting to quit!

2.0

Apr 27, 2018

They say are the best!! But try working here and you shall get to know.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Free Frozen Food & Some good folks

Cons

Concept of Second Class Citizen is actually real . We as people working in production never get a chance to grab a real meal as we are expected to be working in the Lab always. Long weekends are for higher management and not for us, we have to be working then and the concept unlimited is just a trap. They only trust zymergen veterans. At the end of the day you are overloaded with work and none understands the pain of people working in the lab and the management simply doesn’t want to hire more people and rather make us feel like wage workers.

Viewing 13 - 15 of 241 Reviews

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Zymergen

Zymergen reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Come for the promise, leave for the deceit

Sick culture. Stay away!

They say are the best!! But try working here and you shall get to know.

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