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.
About the Role:
You'll be a key full-stack engineer focused on building and owning the systems that empower over a million savers (including entrepreneurs) to save for their retirement via 401(k)s, IRAs, and more. This is a very hands-on role: owning backend services and APIs end-to-end, building the interfaces savers use to manage their accounts, and working through real financial edge cases. You'll partner closely with Product, Design, Compliance, and Operations to turn complex financial requirements into reliable software. If you like solving hard problems and having a real impact on people's lives, then we want to work with you.
About the Team:
The Money Planning team owns the user experience for employees, savers, and entrepreneurs to manage their retirement and savings. We build features and capabilities for savers to manage their contributions, portfolios, and withdrawals. What we do matters. People are trusting us with their retirement, and that's something we never lose sight of.
Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:
- Design, build, and test the experience that enables savers to manage their 401(k)s, IRAs, and more
- Contribute to the architecture of existing systems to support new capabilities
- Apply AI tools as a regular part of your engineering workflow, and bring an AI-native lens to product decisions: identify where AI can reduce saver effort, simplify complex retirement decisions, and surface proactive guidance before savers know they need it
- Advocate for the needs of our savers and entrepreneurs who rely on Gusto to help them save for retirement correctly and confidently
- Collaborate on complex and ambiguous problems with partners across Engineering, Product Management, Design, Compliance, Operations, and other cross-functional teams
- Engage in a highly supportive environment working with others to drive productivity and innovation
- Debug production issues and improve reliability, observability, and operational tooling
- Identify and prioritize long-term investments to improve foundational systems and architecture
- Write clear, reliable, well-tested code that ships quickly and scales well
Here’s what we're looking for:
- 8+ years of software engineering experience building and shipping production products or platforms
- Strong experience working across teams and gaining influence to drive projects forward
- Strong experience with services and APIs
- Strong experience with message-based systems (Sidekiq, Kafka, etc.)
- Experience with Ruby on Rails a must have
- Strong experience with large modern frontend applications (like React)
- Experience with GraphQL
- Comfortable owning systems end-to-end, including production support and operational work
- Experience working closely with PMs and cross-functional partners to deliver scoped work
- Pragmatic, execution-focused approach to engineering
- Comfortable working with and influencing other teams to maximize impact
- Clear communicator and collaborative teammate
Please note that travel to Gusto's office for onboarding is required for this position. If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please share with your recruiter.
Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $163,000–$204,000 in Denver, and $197,000–$247,000 for San Francisco & New York. Stock equity is additional. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.
At Gusto, we don't use titles the traditional way, as a signal of rank or hierarchy. Instead, our titles describe two things at once — your craft (what you do, e.g. Engineering, Design) and your scope of ownership (what you're accountable for) — which is why you'll see something like "Head of X" instead of a rank word like "Director" that tells you neither. Because of this, the title on this posting may look different from what you'd expect based on the scope and seniority of the role, and from how similar roles are typically titled elsewhere. If you have questions about how this role compares to your current title or level, your recruiter can help translate.
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.
Reliable, consistent presence: We expect regular and predictable attendance, whether you're working in-office, hybrid, or fully remote, so that you stay closely connected to your team, customers, and stakeholders in real time and ensure colleagues and customers receive the timely support and responsiveness they deserve.
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 engineering experience building and shipping production products or platforms
- Strong experience with services, APIs, and data-heavy workflows
- Experience with financial systems, payments, or other high-correctness domains, or ability to ramp quickly
- Comfort owning systems end-to-end, including production support and operational work
- Experience working closely with product managers and cross-functional partners
- Pragmatic, execution-focused engineering approach
- Clear communication and collaborative teamwork
- Ability to mentor engineers
- Experience with Ruby on Rails or a comparable backend framework
- Experience leveraging AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and deliver product capabilities
- Curiosity and experimentation with emerging AI frameworks and safe AI adoption practices
What the Team is Saying
Gusto Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as robust and inclusive, with multiple plan choices, relatively low employee premiums for some plans, and offerings like mental-health support and gender‑affirming care. Coverage extends to dependents and is consistently portrayed as a strong part of the package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time away includes paid vacation, sick leave, holidays, bereavement, various paid leaves, and sabbaticals, with some roles using flexible or unlimited PTO. Usage of multiple weeks off annually is described for certain teams, reinforcing the breadth in practice.
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Parental & Family Support — Family-forming benefits such as fertility support and adoption assistance, alongside robust parental leave, are highlighted. Inclusive care elements and supportive resources around family needs are emphasized as part of the core offering.
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.
