Aspires for what's right; even better days ahead. - Senior Software Engineer Remitly Employee Review

5.0
Aug 24, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I've been in the industry for decades, and this is by far the best place I have ever worked. * Serving the financial needs of immigrants is not just a tagline, it's at the core of everything Remitly does, and all employees are constantly challenged to understand their customers better. * Remitly strives to balance doing what's best for customers with taking care of their employees. If you're an inconsistent performer or seem checked out in any way, people will come looking for you. No, not to put you on a PIP, but to see what they can do to help you get unjammed. * The phrase "work/life balance" has become a sick joke in our industry, but let me tell you what that means at Remitly: Grinding out long hours, working weekends, and forgetting to take vacation are called out as setting harmful examples. If we ever have to do any of these things out of necessity, it's always with an eye towards making these compromises unnecessary in the future, and management intervenes to make sure the employees involved get time and space to recover. * Continuous improvement of existing systems is valued over broad, sweeping innovations, leading to improved long-term morale. Too often in our profession, people develop clever but ultimately useless technical solutions in order to drive their career growth. Remitly discourages such nonsense. * People here aren't nice--they're KIND, which is far better. People who aren't don't last long here. And being kind doesn't always mean being "nice"--so if you're a sociopath, predator, or any other kind of creep--fuhgeddaboudit, you will be caught sooner or later and shown the door. On the other hand, if you're looking for a refuge from that kind of crap, please give us a look.

Cons

These aren’t really “cons” so much as “things to keep in mind” if you want to work here. * It would be hypocritical for Remitly to claim to serve immigrants yet remain insensitive to issues of diversity and equity. This is a challenging problem, and there aren't many role models in our sector. Remitly has a lot of work to do here and is really just getting started on it despite years of work, but I believe management takes the problem seriously and will continue to improve here. * Remitly has struggled at times making the transition from a startup mindset to that of a company with millions of people depending on them for an important part of their lives. This is not a problem unique to Remitly--all successful companies go through this sort of chaos sooner or later. If you're looking for a stable, well-defined organizational structure, this isn't the place for you. If you thrive at jumping into such situations and making them better, then please get over here, because we need your help. * Similarly, while the company is making rapid improvements here, there's way too much oral knowledge and history around how to get stuff done in an organized way. If you enjoy bringing a little bit of order to this kind of chaos, apply today and make that clear up front. Refer your recruiter to this review if they display concern about your attitude. * Performance management and the promotion process has been...well...kind of a mess. Management is aware of the problem and has made large strides towards improvement. I wouldn't let this scare you away, but if you join here, please make clear your concerns as soon as possible. Management is receptive to those concerns, and most managers will give you a "launch plan" making first-year expectations clear. Be sure you get one. * This is almost a pro in disguise, but there are hazards: Remitly has a list of Values, which are more prosocial versions of the Amazon Leadership Principles and are used in much the same way. While I firmly believe they are offered in good faith, they are numerous, contradictory, and sometimes bewildering in their application. Don't be intimidated by them--play the game and come ready to talk about them in interviews. If you take a job here, learn what they mean and how to use them in giving feedback to peers. But do express any confusion to your management early and often, because there will be a quiz come performance review time (no, not LITERALLY, but you had better be up to speed).

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Remitly Response
4y
First off -- I just want to say a huge thanks for your thoughtful and in-depth thoughts on Remitly. There is so much depth here and I appreciate you writing it out so thoughtfully. I can tell that you care deeply about our culture and our customers -- and I'm so glad that you're part of the team. I also saw that you're a senior SDE that's been with the company for 3-4 years -- more than a third of the company's life (!)-- so *thank you* for all that you've done to help build our culture. I also want to say thanks for your thoughts on areas we can Continuously Improve. I won't do justice in this post by trying to outline my thoughts on each of them -- so I will just say that they are well received and appreciated. If you ever want to talk about any of them specifically, please send me an email or slack -- and/or continue to share your thoughts via the ways that it sounds like you already are. I'm so glad you're part of the team. Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts and for all that you do for our customers and team.

Explore other reviews about Remitly

5.0
Jun 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

AI Native from first principles. Colleagues are strong and collaborative; this is the most consistent positive across teams. The mission is concrete: moving cross-border money for people supporting families. It informs prioritization and trade-offs. Scope and responsibility are available early to people who take them. Compensation and benefits are great. The company has a defined strategic direction under new CEO Sebastian Gunningham and is executing against it. Exciting time to be here.

Cons

Big org changes as the company reinvent, not for everyone.

3.0
Jun 18, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company started off to be great when I joined a few years back. Lots of hands on opportunities, some great people to work with. Benefits are good, people are valued and contributions are seen.

Cons

The company really started to go downhills in 2024 when there are constant leadership changes, mission changes, priorities changes and team orgs. Business Managers are starting to act like the "decision-maker" over pretty much all product and marketing decisions. We start to question if the direction we are focusing on is even right. Is it customer-centric still or is it more business-oriented. work life balance is bad stress is high people are no longer valued, heard or seen you know a company is going in a negative direction when you start to see tenured employees to leave, smart people to leave as well.

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