CAREERS / CULTURE
What It’s Like Working at Mercator
We’re building the decision layer to orchestrate global supply chains, eliminating trillions of dollars in waste with better decisions. We’re a small team in San Francisco looking for great builders to join us.
WHAT THIS IS
This is a living document about what it’s like to work at Mercator. It’s not an instruction manual. Things will change as we grow, and you’ll help shape the culture.
If you’re interviewing, we hope this gives you a sense of what it’s like to work with us. If you’re not interviewing, consider it.
When to work
Work days
We work together in the office Monday through Friday, generally in by 9/9:30. Days during the week can be long, but we try to protect weekends for recovery.
Vacation
You get 3 weeks of PTO and we want you to actually take it. Unlimited PTO is a scam. No one ever takes vacation and everyone burns out. Our 3 weeks are real. Book it, enjoy it, come back recharged.
Where we work
Office
We work out of Founders Garage in the Dogpatch, a shared office with a few other early startups. Lunch is catered for the whole building on Wednesdays, which is a great way to meet people. One of our investors, Jeff Lawson (founder of Twilio), is even building his new fusion company out of the office, so there’s never a shortage of interesting conversation.
Food
We take health seriously. Bodies power brains. We order Locale meals for the week, delivered to the office every Monday. Order what you like!
We try to eat lunch together every day, but Mondays and Wednesdays are non-negotiables.
Offsites
We do most of our work in person together in SF. A couple times a year we work from new destinations (Santa Cruz, Tahoe, Hawaii) for a change of scenery. We’ll occasionally do weekend trips together: skiing, camping, surfing, sundance. If it involves fresh air and an adventure, we’re in.
Dog friendly
We love dogs in the office. Meet Nala & Calli, our ambassadors - they take their jobs very seriously. If you have a dog, bring them. If you don’t, you can borrow ours 🙂
Benefits
- Vacation: 3 weeks of real PTO.
- Lunch: Daily meals from Locale, plus Wednesday catered lunch with the Founders Garage community.
- Health Care: Top-of-the-line health, dental, and vision.
…and, most importantly, Real Health Care: sleep, nutrition, exercise, social support. We try to make Mercator a strongly positive influence on all those fronts.
Engineering
We ship fast and refactor later when it matters. Not every line of code needs to be a masterpiece, but the ones that hold up the building better be. Knowing the difference is the skill.
You are responsible for your output. AI is a tool, not a replacement for understanding. The quickest way to fail here is by letting AI take the wheel. Use it aggressively, but never stop understanding what it’s doing and why.
We’re software people obsessed with atoms over bits. If that sounds like you, come build with us.