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.
- AI in your workflow. Using AI to explore ideas, prototype, and synthesize research — so you progress faster without losing craft.
- AI in the product. Designing the experience of AI outputs — representing uncertainty, surfacing errors gracefully, preserving user agency when a recommendation conflicts with best practice, and knowing when a human should step in.
- Shape AI-native HR experiences end to end — where the customer says what they need and the product delivers the right outcome, without exposing the underlying complexity.
- Lead service design across a two-sided experience — journey mapping and blueprinting the routing and handoffs between the customer, the AI, and human HR experts.
- Make and defend judgment calls about AI outputs — when they're ready to ship, when to keep a human in the loop, and when they shouldn't ship at all — designing for failure so trust holds in the hard moments.
- Ground the work in a specific customer and hold a high craft bar from strategy through pixel-level execution.
- Partner with PM, engineering, and data as a co-owner of product direction — framing ambiguous problems early and spearheading clarity when the picture isn't yet clear.
- Work in fast cycles: set a clear target for an experience, ship real things to customers, and let what you learn sharpen the direction.
- Conduct and direct research with customers and HR experts to validate decisions in a high-stakes, compliance-sensitive domain.
- 5+ years of product design experience owning and shipping work in a B2B SaaS environment, with robust craft across web.
- Experience designing AI-enabled or conversational experiences shipped to real users — and you can speak concretely to how you handled uncertainty, errors, and human override.
- Experience in service design for products with two sides or multiple stakeholders. You should have real journey mapping and blueprinting experience. This includes operational handoffs and should not be limited to workshop exercises.
- Judgment to evaluate and direct AI outputs — knowing when to use them, when to override them, and how to raise the bar — especially where the cost of being wrong is high.
- Comfort with ambiguity — you frame the problem, scope the work, and proceed forward without waiting for perfect information.
- Well-developed collaboration and communication across design, product, engineering, and data.
- Experience in a high-stakes or regulated domain — HR, compliance, fintech, legal, or healthcare.
- Helped lead a team's shift to AI-native workflows, and can speak to what changed about the work itself, not just the tools.
- Background contributing to AI governance, evaluation practices, or AI experience design patterns.
- Experience designing for internal or expert users (advisors, agents, support staff) alongside customer-facing surfaces.
Compensation Details
At Gusto, we strive to provide rewards that empower employees to achieve their financial and personal goals. We offer competitive compensation packages with a strong emphasis on equity based compensation (ownership in Gusto). To learn more about Gusto’s compensation philosophy and benefits offerings please view our Total Rewards Approach page.
Our cash compensation range for this role is $146,000/yr to $183,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $177,000/yr to $222,000/yr in San Francisco, Seattle & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience 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
- Shipped AI-powered experiences to production and handled uncertainty, errors, and human override
- Experience in service design for multi-stakeholder products, including journey mapping and service blueprinting with operational handoffs
- Ability to evaluate and direct AI-generated design and content, knowing when to use or override outputs
- Cross-functional judgment to co-lead direction with PM, engineering, and data and hold position when necessary
- Comfort with ambiguity; ability to frame problems, scope work, and advance without perfect information
- 5+ years product design experience owning shipped B2B SaaS work with strong web craft (Figma and modern design toolchain assumed)
- Experience in consequential domains (HR, compliance, fintech, legal, healthcare) where cost of being wrong is real
- Led a team's shift to AI-native workflows and can describe changes to the work, not just tools
- Background contributing to AI governance, evaluation practices, or AI experience design patterns
What the Team is Saying
Gusto Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Core coverage spans medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents, alongside mental‑health resources, fertility and family‑planning support, and gender‑affirming care. Feedback suggests these offerings are a consistent bright spot and frequently cited as a strength.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid vacation, sick time, bereavement, holidays, and paid leaves are provided, with sabbaticals noted for longer‑tenured employees. Feedback suggests time‑off policies meaningfully support work‑life balance.
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Parental & Family Support — Programs include generous parental leave, adoption assistance, childcare support, return‑to‑work resources, and extras like sleep coaching for new parents. Feedback suggests family‑building benefits are notably comprehensive.
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
Gusto Offices
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.
