What's the Company Culture Like at Adyen?

Adyen’s culture is shaped by a strong sense of ownership and community, where employees are empowered to actively influence the workplace experience. Rather than relying solely on top-down initiatives, the company encourages organic, employee-driven efforts that strengthen connection, inclusion and engagement across teams.

“Our ERGs are employee-founded and employee-led, which drives the success and impact of the program. It’s not a top-down mandate; they’re really an organic movement that’s key to our culture and our broader people strategy.”

Adyen offers a fintech platform to help businesses control their finances, protect revenue and enable in-person and online payments. The company works across time zones, and its Adyen Formula, which serves as its cultural framework, prioritizes phone over email, talking straight and seeking different perspectives. 

Adyen’s culture is deeply shaped by values that are actively lived out in everyday work, creating an environment built on trust, ownership and global collaboration. Employees are encouraged to make decisions, take initiative and shape their own paths, reinforcing a culture where the company’s principles are reflected in real experiences rather than just statements.

“At Adyen, the company values are just not on paper: we are global, we build trust, we’re empowered to make good choices, and we create our own path — and you feel it in the day-to-day business.”

What makes your team dynamic work? 

The Adyen AI Research Team dynamic thrives on intentional diversity of skill, rigorous ownership and a low-ego culture. We deliberately assemble a multidisciplinary team with complementary skill sets, allowing us to proactively cover blind spots and elevate our collective technical problem-solving.

We cultivate an owner mentality that treats engineering as a specialized craft. Every team member strives to take end-to-end accountability, designing and building products with an uncompromising bar for quality, motivated by a shared drive to produce work we are genuinely proud of.

Underpinning this approach is a deeply collaborative culture. We prioritize low-ego team players who go out of their way to support one another. By fostering a high-trust atmosphere where continuous peer-to-peer learning is paramount, we consistently up-level individual capabilities, the team and cross-functional partners alike.

How do you balance speed and cohesion?

We balance speed and cohesion by pairing individual autonomy with pragmatic alignment around shared goals.

Velocity relies on hiring self-motivated, autonomous talent committed to continuous learning. 

Given that AI/ML development relies heavily on experimentation, we empower team members to be bold, propose ingenious solutions and iterate through failure without bureaucratic friction. We remain strictly metrics-driven, using data to validate hypotheses quickly and keep high-velocity experimentation tied to core outcomes.

Cohesion is built on psychological safety, mutual trust and respect. Everyone is encouraged to propose new ideas or challenge the status quo, regardless of title or tenure. This egalitarian approach keeps communication honest, ensures alignment on primary objectives and maintains high cohesion across projects.

What keeps your team grounded?

Our team stays grounded through a commitment to Adyen’s global mission and the real-world impact of our technology. Amid the fast-moving AI landscape, it is easy to get engrossed in the technical details of optimizing models or scaling systems, but one has to periodically zoom out to see the bigger picture and remember why. We maintain perspective by remembering who we serve — merchants and consumers reliant on secure financial systems at scale.

We operate on the belief that rigorous execution and an enjoyable work environment are mutually reinforcing. Creating exceptional work requires a culture that balances intense focus with fun, camaraderie and shared purpose.

Ultimately, the AI research team at Adyen stays anchored by keeping the human aspect front and center. Fostering a collaborative, fun and mission-driven environment ensures our ideas move beyond theoretical experimentation to create meaningful, global impact in service of businesses and shoppers around the world.