The 14 Coolest Places To Work In New York's Hottest Neighborhoods

Location: 28 West 23rd Street

Why it's cool: AppNexus is one of those big New York startup success stories that many people don't know about. It's the largest AdTech company in the city, and still rapidly growing, with around 500 employees. Whether it goes for an IPO or gets sold, its exit is expected to be in the multi-billion dollar range.

Perks: Conference rooms are named after comic book characters and basketball stars. The massive kitchen comes with abundant food and Joyride coffee. There's a work-hard, play-hard philosophy. From the company's website:

"Our working hours are punctuated by surprise ice cream deliveries, happy hours, scavenger hunts, birthday cupcakes, Friday lunches with an ever-changing menu that always delights, and the occasional remote-controlled shark flying across the office."

Jobs open: There are over 20 opening in New York, for everything from a "Black Ops Investigation Engineer" to an Account Manager.

Location: 55 Ft. Washington Street

Why it's cool: Etsy is a burgeoning marketplace for handmade and vintage goods. It's one of the big e-commerce success stories of recent years, helping thousands of people launch businesses even as it grows itself. Its mission isn't just to make money, but redefine commerce in a more sustainable way. To that end, it's a certified "B" corporation, a designation reserved for companies that use the power of business to "solve social and environmental problems." There are over a million active shops, and 60 million unique visitors a month.

Perks: Fitting its quirky image, Etsy gives every employee a $100 credit on the site to decorate their workspace, which makes for a pretty eclectic office. Every Wednesday, a chef prepares a meal out of mostly local ingredients. There are also two office dogs.

Open jobs: More than a dozen for everything from data scientists to a user experience analyst.

Location: 110 William Street, 28th Floor

Why it's cool: StackExchange started out as a Q&A site for programmers. It's now full of valuable answers for just about anybody. The rapidly growing company has 104 sites, more than four million users, and more than 7 million answered questions.

Perks: It's always nice to have a CEO with a sense of humor. Among the perks are, "ridiculous" health insurance and retirement plans, free catered lunches, flexible hours, and the promise that "employees will never be poked with a sharp stick."

Jobs open: There are web developer and sales jobs open in New York.

Location: 113 University Place

Why it's cool: LearnVest is one of the most highly regarded startups in New York, with a mission to help people take control of their finances with a service that's accessible and affordable.

Perks: You can expect a CEO who works as hard as anybody there despite her high profile. Alexa Von Tobel will often get in at 8:15 a.m. and won't leave for 12 hours.

Open jobs: The company is hiring financial planners, a VP of Analytics, and more.

Location: 161 Avenue of the Americas

Why it's cool: The company has disrupted the eyewear market by offering stylish prescription glasses at a tiny fraction of the price that high-end competitors charge with a direct sales model and by creating its own design. It's also spearheading the growing trend of combining e-commerce and brick and mortar stores.

Perks: There are events like Black Tie and Burgers night and a weekly, varying happy hour. The weekly meeting has some of New York's best bagels, lunch is catered three times a week, and there's even a kegerator with Joyride's cold brewed ice coffee.

There's also a "lunch roulette" where two groups of team members are sent out for lunch on the company's tab each week.

Open jobs: Lots of technology positions, and a growing number of retail positions.

Location: 229 West 43rd Street (the old New York Times building)

Why it's cool: After the sale of Tumblr, MongoDB officially became the most valuable startup in New York City, valued at over $1 billion after raising $150 million in its most recent venture round. The company, which makes database software, used to be called 10gen.

Perks: There are catered lunches twice a week, lots of opportunities to travel, including two yearly meetings for the entire company. The last one included a New York City-wide scavenger hunt. Two of the company's founders still sit and work in the middle of the engineering department.

From one engineer on the website: "My MongoDB colleagues and our community members have such a breadth and depth of knowledge that I leave the office at the end of the day feeling smarter than when I got to work in the morning."

Open jobs: A large slate of engineering jobs are open in New York.

Location: 632 West 28th Street

Why it's cool: H. Bloom is a rapidly growing startup focused on the $35 billion floral market. It's the fastest growing such company in the world, and uses proprietary technology to vastly undercut its more traditional competitors on price.

Perks: The company has a formal training and talent development program, H. Bloom University, where employees participate in six-month training cycles. The company recently moved to a much larger (and very beautiful) office, reflecting its rapid growth.

Location: Currently 155 Rivington Street, and next year they move to 58 Kent Street in Brooklyn

Why it's cool: Kickstarter is renovating an old pencil factory on the waterfront in Greenpoint to serve as its permanent headquarters. Beyond that, it's just a really cool place to work, helping bring projects from Zack Braff's next movie to the Pebble smartwatch to life.

Perks: Expect lots of happy hours, lunches, and "hack days." This Tumblr gives a sense of what every day at Kickstarter's like.

Open jobs: There are a variety of open jobs on both the tech team and customer facing sides.

Location: 95 Morton Street

Why it's cool: Fab is one of the leading e-commerce sites out there, having recently raised $150 million in the largest-ever fundraising round for a company of its type, bringing its total funding above $300 million.

Perks: It's no surprise that a design-focused startup has a gorgeous office. The company also offers catered lunches, free beer on tap, and excellent medical coverage.

Jobs open: Though it recently let people go due to its transition away from flash sales, the company is still hiring for marketing and other positions as it makes those changes.

Location: 632 Broadway

Why it's cool: Meetup was created in order to help people interact in real life based on their interests, using the Internet as a tool.

Perks: The quirky office includes a meeting room designed to look like a rooftop, and a real roof deck. The beer selection is also among the most spectacular we've seen at any office. Other perks include monthly massages, a weekly breakfast and catered lunch, and fitness reimbursement.

Jobs open: They need lots of engineers, as well as product managers.

Location: 37-18 Northern Boulevard

Why it's cool: Aereo is trying to do nothing but destroy television as we know it by letting people watch live TV online. It's one of the big movers behind the "cord-cutting" movement where people get rid of their cable subscriptions.

Perks: The company emphasizes an extremely flat hierarchy, where everyone's expected to express themselves as an individual.

Jobs open: They're hiring for customer service, accounts, and business positions for the New York office.

Location: One MetroTech Center, Brooklyn

Why it's cool: Makerbot merged with Stratasys earlier this year in a $400 million deal, but still remains independent. The company is one of the premier players in the rapidly growing 3D printer space, and invented the first desktop 3D printer.

Perks: The office, referred to as the "Botcave," is full of 3D printers and the cool stuff they've made with them.

Open jobs: The company is hiring for everything from business development to sales and retail.

Location: 76 Ninth Avenue

Why it's cool: Not a startup, but you can't talk about a cool place to work without mentioning Google. The company, which just saw its stock price shoot past $1,000, takes up a whole New York City block with its offices, and this isn't even the headquarters.

Perks: Google's perks are legendary. The favorites of the employees themselves include the free food, brilliant coworkers, and outstanding tech support.

Jobs open: There are more than 90 open jobs listed on Google's site for New York, ranging from technical writers and financial analysts to senior engineers.

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