Senior Manager, Growth Data Science

About Gusto

At Gusto were 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 500000 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:

Gusto is looking for an experienced hands-on people manager to lead a core Data Science & Analytics team. This role sits at the heart of how we use data and increasingly AI to understand shape and scale Gustos products. Youll both manage a team of data scientists and analysts as well as personally get in-the-weeds to work closely with Product Engineering Design Marketing Sales and Finance to deliver insights and frameworks that inform strategy optimize user experiences and accelerate business growth.

Were looking for a leader who can balance strategic influence with hands-on craft someone who can guide senior Gusto leaders through data and AI strategy coach data scientists on impactful problem solving and dive in to drive forward statistically rigorous analyses when needed.

Heres what youll do day-to-day:

• Lead and develop a team of data scientists hire empower and coach team members; set a high bar for analytical quality and career growth.
• Shape product and business strategy through data partner with Product and cross-functional leaders to identify opportunities prioritize investments and influence long-term product roadmaps.
• Develop and scale measurement frameworks define key metrics design monitoring systems and ensure product initiatives including AI-powered features are rigorously tracked and evaluated.
• Support experimentation and decision-making support inferential analyses and experimentation (e.g. A/B tests segmentation funnel analysis) including designing evaluations for AI and ML-driven systems ensuring findings are actionable and aligned to strategic goals.
• Partner on AI-powered product development collaborate with ML Engineering and Product to bring intelligent features to life (personalization predictions intelligent automation) ensuring theyre grounded in customer insight and measured for real-world impact.
• Balance strategic and hands-on impact dive deep into data review and refine analyses and ensure insights are both technically sound and business-relevant.
• Influence senior leadership communicate insights and recommendations clearly framing trade-offs and shaping executive decision-making.

Heres what were looking for:

• 10 years of experience in data science or related fields with at least 4 years managing and scaling high-performing data science teams.
• Deep expertise in product analytics experience with user acquisition activation retention engagement or expansion in SaaS or product-led environments.
• Technical fluency advanced coding skills strong statistical reasoning and familiarity with experimentation frameworks; ability to mentor data scientists on best practices.
• AI product intuition experience working at the intersection of data science and AI product development; comfort reasoning about model behavior evaluation design and the tradeoffs of deploying AI in customer-facing contexts.
• Strategic and business acumen demonstrated ability to connect insights to product and business goals and to influence roadmaps through data.
• Executive communication skills proven experience presenting insights to senior stakeholders turning complex data into clear and actionable recommendations.
• Cross-functional collaboration history of working closely with Product Engineering and go-to-market teams to drive decisions and deliver impact.
• Hands-on experience with ML applications in product contexts (e.g. personalization churn prediction customer segmentation or LLM-powered features) is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with multi-product SaaS ecosystems and customer lifecycle analytics is desirable.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $217000 - $265000 in San Francisco and 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 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.

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