Pros
- The coworkers are genuinely amazing: smart, kind, and deeply supportive. Many people truly care about doing the right thing and helping each other succeed. - The mission is meaningful. Supporting the global community of ethical hackers is powerful, and the work has real impact on improving security across the internet.
Kontras
- Since the arrival of the new CEO, nearly the entire C-suite has been replaced in under a year. This has created an environment of fear, risk aversion, and excessive CYA behavior. - HackerOne used to value transparency and open dialogue. “An honest question gets an honest answer” was more than a motto—it was lived. Today, people are afraid to ask honest questions, and answers are often vague corporate speak rather than real explanations. - A new AI engineer role was created with a pay band roughly 40% higher than existing software engineers. In practice, some software engineers are doing the same work for significantly less pay, which has caused frustration and morale issues. - The company once had a strong, people-first culture. That culture has eroded to the point where layoffs have occurred while employees were on maternity leave. - A newly hired VP in engineering focused on AI appears more interested in empire-building and optics with the C-suite than in empowering teams. Accountability is demanded without corresponding agency, and blame is often pushed downward when decisions don’t work out.