Does Synthetic Genomics pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Synthetic Genomics employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.1 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Synthetic Genomics. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Synthetic Genomics?

38% of Synthetic Genomics employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Synthetic Genomics 3.1 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.5 for culture and values and 2.7 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Synthetic Genomics?

Scientist (7) , Research Associate (4) , Senior Research Associate (2)

What are the pros of working at Synthetic Genomics according to real employee reviews?

"People are friendly and helpful in the lab." ((in 8 reviews)); "Decent benefits, gym, working with people that have a lot of great ideas and are very passionate about their work." ((in 4 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Synthetic Genomics according to real employee reviews?

"Management is awful, they don’t no how to run a business." ((in 6 reviews)); "If you're looking for a blueprint on how to milk 100s of millions of dollars from investors and collaboative partners without a solid technical foundation or capable leadership, Theranos might be the first company to cross your mind." ((in 3 reviews))

What are employees saying about Synthetic Genomics redundancies in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Synthetic Genomics redundancy and their outlook for job security at Synthetic Genomics in 2026.

Synthetic Genomics Reviews

3.1

38% would recommend to a friend

(49 total reviews)

Oliver Fetzer, Ph.D

55% approve of CEO

34% positive business outlook

Company ratings over time

Ratings trend for the last 6 months (49 reviews)

Synthetic Genomics has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 49 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Synthetic Genomics employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

49 reviews

2.0

13 Aug 2021

Terrible Senior Management

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

It's located in San Diego and some very bright people work there working on very diverse projects.

Cons

From the old chairman Venter and the old CFO to the current CEO, this company is poorly led. Remind me never to work for a company that has at the helm an ex consultant. The old adage that consultants are consultants for a reason and shouldn't run companies was never more true than at Synthetic Genomics. In addition in my time there, Venter would breeze in for a monthly meeting in which he had to be spoon fed information.

4.0

18 June 2021

None

Business development director

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

great company to work for

Cons

Sometime the company can be academic

5.0

13 June 2021

Full of smart people

Scientist ii

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

Great team working on exciting projects.

Cons

Changing targets depending on funding.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 49 Reviews