About Gusto
At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff — payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR — so owners can focus on their craft and their customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we support more than 500,000 small businesses nationwide and are building a workplace that reflects the people we serve.
All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) — because everyone who helps build Gusto should share in its success. Offer amounts are determined by role, level, and location. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.
AI is a fundamental part of how work gets done at Gusto. We expect all team members to actively engage with AI tools relevant to their role and grow their fluency as the technology evolves. AI experience requirements vary by role and will be assessed during the interview process.
Location Preference for this role are: San Francisco Bay Area, New York City Metro, or Seattle Metro
About the Role
We're hiring an experienced full stack engineer to help small businesses work better with AI. You'll build Gus, Gusto's AI-powered assistant, and create scalable solutions that serve millions of users. As a Software Engineer at this level, you'll own projects end-to-end from initial specs to deployed features—working at the intersection of modern AI capabilities and real business needs.
About the TeamThe Core Experience - AI Experiences team owns Gus, Gusto's AI-powered assistant, and the platform that enables teams across Gusto to deliver AI-native experiences to customers across web, mobile, voice, email, and agent-based channels. You'll work within Gusto's AI platform infrastructure, collaborating closely with sister teams who own the underlying agent framework. Your focus is building experiences and enabling product teams to extend and scale within the platform.
This work is directly tied to Gusto's top priorities. We operate with fast iteration cycles, deep cross-functional collaboration, and high ownership.
Here's what you'll do day-to-day:- Architect, build, and test technologies supporting AI experiences within Gusto's product suite
- Create standardized, self-serve patterns that enable product teams to extend Gus across web, voice, email, and agent-based experiences
- Collaborate with ML and product teams on prompt engineering, clarifying question flows, and escalation logic—using A/B tests and data to drive improvements
- Mentor engineers on complex technical challenges in AI, scalability, and platform infrastructure
- Help scale a large Ruby/Rails and React application serving millions of users
- Work with Product, Design, Security, and Technical Operations teams to understand customer needs, develop solutions, and launch features
- Build customer-facing products end-to-end that customers rely on every day
- 8+ years of software development experience, with 4+ years building scalable platforms or high-impact customer-facing products
- Strong foundation in front-end engineering and modern web technologies (Ruby on Rails, React, GraphQL, or similar full-stack frameworks) with ability to build well-structured, maintainable code
- Track record of owning multi-quarter projects that solve complex engineering problems and deliver measurable customer impact at scale
- Experience building internal platforms or developer-facing infrastructure that enables other teams to self-serve and ship AI-powered features
- Excellent cross-functional communication skills with ability to mentor engineers and collaborate effectively across teams and stakeholders
- Product-minded, customer-facing engineering approach with passion for creating great customer experiences and ownership over performance, reliability, and quality
- Bonus if you have AI platform development experience or strong learning orientation toward AI technologies, patterns, and frameworks (orchestration, evals, prompt systems—not ML model development)
Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $163,000-$204,000 in Denver, $178,000-$223,000 for Los Angeles and most remote locations, $197,000-$247,000 for San Francisco, New York, and Seattle. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience, level, and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale.
Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.
When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.
Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.
Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.
Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer.
Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.
Skills Required
- 8+ years of software development experience
- 4+ years building scalable platforms or high-impact customer-facing products
- Strong foundation in front-end engineering and modern web technologies (Ruby on Rails, React, GraphQL or similar)
- Track record of owning multi-quarter projects that solve complex engineering problems and deliver measurable customer impact at scale
- Experience building internal platforms or developer-facing infrastructure enabling self-serve AI-powered features
- Excellent cross-functional communication skills and ability to mentor engineers
- Product-minded, customer-facing engineering approach with ownership over performance, reliability, and quality
- AI platform development experience or strong learning orientation toward AI technologies, patterns, and frameworks
What the Team is Saying
Gusto Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage is highlighted, alongside mental-health resources, family planning and fertility support, gender-affirming care, and abortion travel assistance. Availability of HSAs/FSAs and integrated care elements further reinforce the health pillar.
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Parental & Family Support — Robust parental leave, adoption assistance, childcare benefits, and a structured return-to-work program are emphasized. Additional supports like sleep coaching and house cleaning for new parents broaden this safety net.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid vacation, sick time, bereavement leave, holidays, and sabbaticals are part of the package. A flexible PTO approach is also described, encouraging time away as needed.
Gusto Insights
What We Do
Gusto is a modern, online small business platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York serve more than 400,000 businesses. Our customers come from all walks of life, and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.
Why Work With Us
We help small businesses—the backbone of the economy—thrive. Everything we do ladders up to empowering entrepreneurs and supporting their teams. Gusto empowers builders at every level to take initiative and make things better. You'll be solving meaningful challenges that shape the future of work.
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Gusto Teams
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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
We’ve built an inclusive, connected culture—no matter where you live. Whether near an office or remote, you’ll find opportunities to connect, grow, and belong. Employees work from the office on 2 designated days per week.
