The company I work for is a small firm. They have the expectations of a traditional company, whereas I am heavily influenced by SV lifestyle and thinking. Ex: everyone shows up at 9, leaves at 5, where I don't really care for timeliness (I don't interface with clients, and don't have colleagues dependent on my presence). My priority is the quality and timeliness of my work.
This has lead to minor frictions where my manager has mentioned that my lateness "sets a bad example" and asked that I show at 9. Fair enough; but as someone who sees themselves as hard working and independent, being told what to do bothers me.
My non-tech friends do not give me much sympathy; they are used to treating work as a necessary evil, and their expectations of their employers are as such.
It is my desire to not become an arrogant, entitled brat. How do I balance my personal beliefs about work with the company's? The work itself is fine, the colleagues are fine, its just these little cultural things. I am lucky enough to be able to walk away if I need to, but I feel that is the ultimate brat move.
Until then, "play the game" and over-deliver. Your only other alternative is to return to freelancing if setting your own schedule is that vital a prerequisite.
Since the bad example has already been brought up, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle to redeem yourself. You may want to start negotiating a different shift that still puts in the hours but allows you to come in later and leave later. Another idea is to push remote work and stress that you aren't customer facing and that you'd be more productive working from home anyway.
Companies that are reluctant to take this approach will sometimes allow work from home X days / week so that they can see you're still producing so that's another option you can try if they flat-out turn down fully-remote.