Key Takeaways
- Databricks is a Certified Most Loved Workplace® 2025 and a Top 100 Most Loved Workplace®, recognized for outstanding employee experience.
- Employees enjoy direct access to the CEO and co-founders through weekly all-hands and open Q&A sessions — a rare level of transparency at this scale.
- The company offers a hybrid, collaboration-first model with generous benefits including $250/month wellness reimbursement and comprehensive health coverage.
- Databricks was founded by the original creators of Apache Spark and Delta Lake, meaning you are joining a team that literally built the tools the industry runs on.
What Is It Like to Work at Databricks?
Working at Databricks means being part of a company that is building something historically significant. Databricks is on a mission to simplify and democratize data and AI for organizations of all sizes. Employees — known internally as Bricksters — describe the culture as one where innovation, rigor, and collaboration are not just words on a wall. They are the actual operating system of the company.
Databricks scored an overall 85 out of 100 across all five culture pillars measured by the Most Loved Workplace® methodology, reflecting a deeply consistent employee experience across collaboration, respect, values alignment, and outcomes. This is not a company coasting on its reputation — it is actively investing in the people behind the platform.
What Do Employees Love About Working at Databricks?
One of the most cited reasons people love Databricks is the unusual level of access to leadership. CEO and Co-founder Ali Ghodsi hosts a company-wide all-hands every week, with an open "ask me anytime" session at the top of every agenda. Co-founders remain hands-on with research, development, and business reviews. This kind of radical transparency is rare in a fast-growing enterprise software company — and Bricksters feel it every week.
An outstanding 88% of employees say they love working at Databricks — a remarkable figure that speaks to a culture built on genuine care and purpose. According to the Databricks Blog, the company was recognized as one of Glassdoor's Best Places to Work in 2025 among U.S. companies with more than 1,000 employees — a distinction driven entirely by employee reviews.
What Are Databricks' Core Values?
Databricks' culture is built on five values that came from an internal study of what actually drives high-impact work at the company. These are not aspirational — they are behavioral:
- Bias for Action: Debate thoughtfully, then move fast. Speed and execution are non-negotiable.
- First Principles Thinking: Challenge assumptions. Ask "why" before jumping to solutions.
- Truth-Seeking Rigor: Use data and evidence. Honest conversations about challenges are valued, not avoided.
- Collaborative Excellence: Engineering, product, sales, and customers work together — not in silos.
- Generational Mission Focus: Every Brickster feels the weight and excitement of building something that matters at a pivotal moment in AI history.
These values trace directly back to Databricks' origins in academia and the open source community. Founded by the creators of Apache Spark and Delta Lake, the company has always championed open-source values and continuous innovation. That intellectual DNA is still very much alive today.
Does Databricks Offer Remote Work and Flexible Benefits?
Yes. Databricks operates a collaboration-first hybrid model that offers real flexibility. Many roles are fully remote-eligible. For those who come into the office, Databricks invests heavily in making it worthwhile — free lunch five days a week, modern offices in San Francisco and globally, and monthly team-building budgets.
On the benefits side, Bricksters receive:
- Comprehensive health, dental, and mental health coverage
- $250/month gym and wellness reimbursement
- Paid maternity and paternity leave
- Equity participation and performance bonuses
- Continuous learning, technical training, and leadership development programs
How Does Databricks Support Career Growth?
Databricks is intentional about developing talent at every stage. The company actively involves interns and new college graduates in building its core platform — this is not a coffee-and-copies internship program. Early-career professionals work on real problems that ship to real customers. For experienced professionals, there are structured career development programs, mentorship, and a clear path to leadership.
If you are curious about the kind of work engineers and technical leaders do at Databricks, read more about how Databricks supports technical career growth for roles like Staff Technical Producer.
Ready to explore open roles? Apply for Head of Corporate Engineering at Databricks or browse all current openings on the Databricks Most Loved Workplace® jobs page.