Massive impact, great autonomy - Anonymous employee DuckDuckGo Employee Review

5.0
Aug 31, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company is structured around empowering people and giving them autonomy to fully own their work end-to-end. With it comes a rejection of traditional hierarchical models. There's a massive push to work on high impact things based on the objectives and your personal skillset. Your work here will really matter.

Cons

It's easy to get very invested in the work, so you need to watch your work-life balance (but note that the company will not expect, nor push you to work more than standard hours on a flexible schedule)

Explore other reviews about DuckDuckGo

5.0
Jun 25, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great culture and team members. Fully remote and supportive company with flexibility and work life balance. Given the trust and ability to work independently and contribute to projects.

Cons

None, i’ve been here 3+ years and have no complaints.

2
3.0
Aug 29, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great culture across the team members. Smart people, fun to work with, balanced and supportive. Remote working environment is really flexible, and issues you work on are very interesting.

Cons

Company has grown, and in material ways it does not work as described in "How we work at DuckDuckGo." There is a hierarchy in decision making, there are people who function as managers, and many decisions are made by a few people, often without the participation of people who are responsible for the work. There are systemic issues with compensation and how promotions (which is the only avenue for career growth/professional level increases) are made, so for most people, where they enter is where they will be forever, or for a very, very long time. Expertise and experience outside of product work is not deemed of much value. Leadership refuses to acknowledge change is needed in several areas due to belief that doing things differently would "destroy the culture." The result is certain topics are off limits for questioning assumptions, even when problems are evident, and overall there is very rigid thinking which leads to very little or very slow change for a company that needs to be innovative.

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