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

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Zymergen

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

5.0

Mar 5, 2018

Best company I've ever worked for

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Ideas are listened to from every level, challenging and fun work, respect for personal time, great gender balance.

Cons

Research associates are overworked. Software engineers are not.

1.0

Mar 4, 2018

Unsunstainable Work Culture

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

founders seem competent and are likely clueless to the toxic work place

Cons

toxic work environment "Do whatever you can at whatever cost" attitude Bloated middle-management is causing a slowdown in work pace. Management is untrained in actually... you know... managing. They are focused are delivering results, despite not knowing HOW to deliver results. I was hired as a senior associate but am doing entry-level work. I can't contribute to bigger projects because there is nobody else to actually execute on the things that HAVE to get done. The people that were hired a year or more ago have a revered position/opinions merely because they've actually managed to survive here. This attitude is detrimental to the company, though. Maybe the veterans were good at there job when we were smaller, but they don't know how to scale, manage, or keep their egos in check. Honestly, I want to love it here, but the egos and middle management make it impossible to work here. This place is hemorrhaging good talent.

5.0

Mar 2, 2018

I love this company!

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

I experience the openness, creativity, fun, joy, precision, and striving of my colleagues every single day.

Cons

Rapid growth makes it challenging to retain the positive values that have existed since the start-up days

Viewing 223 - 225 of 241 Reviews

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