Head of Gustie Growth

About Gusto

At Gusto were on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stufflike payroll health insurance 401(k)s and HRso owners can focus on their craft and customers. With teams in Denver San Francisco and New York were proud to support more than 400000 small businesses across the country and were building a workplace that represents and celebrates the customers we serve. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

About the Role:

Gusto is looking for a builder to take on the role of Head of Gustie Growth as we rethink how people grow in an AI-native role is about designing the systems that shape growth day to day. Not courses. Not programs. The actual mechanics of work. Onboarding feedback performance reviews promotion decisions and leadership expectations should all help people get better by default without needing special events or extra will be responsible for building new architecture and tearing down what no longer serves us. AI will be a core part of how you do this not as a concept but as a practical tool for reflection coaching skill building and clarity. The goal is simple but hard: make growth obvious continuous and hard to is a role for someone who wants to build something durable test it in the real world and keep improving it. If it works others will copy it. If it doesnt youll learn fast and fix it.

About the Team:

The Talent Development team sits within the Gustie Engagement Team with a shared purpose: to help Gusties write the best chapters of their careers. We do this by designing the conditions that create clarity connection and commitment across the employee journey not through programs but through how work actually happens.

Heres what youll do day-to-day:

(The day-to-day will change. Thats part of the job.)

• Own the Gustie growth system at Gusto from onboarding through executive leadership with AI embedded at its core
• Redesign moments like feedback performance reviews and promotion decisions so AI actively helps people reflect learn and improve in real time
• Treat AI as a design partner in growth deciding deliberately where it should lead where it should support and where humans stay firmly in charge
• Build development directly into the flow of work with AI reducing friction surfacing insights and prompting better decisions
• Prototype test and ship AI-enabled changes that meaningfully improve how people grow here
• Define new AI-native standards for leadership development coaching and skill building
• Create feedback loops and signals powered by AI that make growth readiness and leadership effectiveness visible as the company evolves
• Continuously revisit what belongs in code what belongs in judgment and how the boundary should shift over time

Heres what were looking for:

(If youve done this before youll recognize yourself.)

• Youve built something that changed how people actually worked. It might have been called talent product systems or something else entirely but it moved behavior not just decks.
• You believe the walls are hollow and you dont assume systems are fixed just because they look finished.
  You get impatient with patchwork solutions and prefer fixing the system instead.
• Youre comfortable starting without a playbook and writing one as you go.
• You already use AI as part of how you think and work not as a talking point or side project.
• You can hold a long-term point of view while shipping fast and putting real things into the world.
• You have strong opinions about what good looks like and youre willing to change them when reality disagrees.
• You care deeply about how people grow especially when things are changing quickly or breaking in interesting ways.

People who fit this role often have 1012 years of relevant experience but we care far more about what youve built than how your resume is labeled.

What does success look like

A year into this role growth at Gusto is no longer something people are asked to manage on top of their jobs. It is something the companys systems quietly and consistently everyday work of the company generates signal by default. Decisions docs code customer interactions feedback and leadership moments all leave usable traces. Those signals are captured and interpreted as work happens then reflected back in ways that help people see patterns progress and gaps without needing to reconstruct the past or advocate for themselves. Growth becomes is no longer organized around classes curricula or moments on a calendar. Instead it exists as an always-on environment woven into how work gets done. People can quickly see examples of strong judgment understand what good looks like in context and explore how similar problems have been solved before. AI makes this possible at scale by synthesizing real examples answering questions in the moment connecting people to relevant expertise and turning individual insight into shared time development feels less like an intervention and more like a natural byproduct of doing the work. People pull what they need when they need it. Leaders spend less time explaining expectations and more time reinforcing them. The system improves with use because every interaction adds clarity rather than the system has a point of view. It creates gentle pressure in the right places and removes friction in the wrong ones. It makes certain behaviors easier others harder and does so through design rather than persuasion. Standards become clear not because they are stated repeatedly but because the environment reinforces that point this work no longer resembles traditional Talent Development or Performance Management. It looks like core infrastructure for a company that expects to keep changing and expects its people to keep pace not through heroics but through design.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is $150000 /year to $180000 /year in Denver & most major metro locations and $177000/year to $210000 /year for San Francisco & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location 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 Gustos 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 its 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 toGustos Applicant Privacy Notice.