Head of Design, Unified Service Platform

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 Design at Gusto

Design at Gusto is made up of over 80 creative collaborative people who care deeply about our mission to empower small businesses and their employees. Were a cross-functional group that is always looking for opportunities to build understanding and empathy for the people who use Gusto. We dont care much about swim lanes and though we care deeply about quality and craft we are never precious about it. We work closely with cross-functional partners in Product Engineering Data and Marketing to design build and ship experiences that make a real difference. We believe great design can make hard things possible even delightful.

We are building an AI-native design organization and we mean that seriously. Were looking for designers who are already working this way: using AI to prototype ideas quickly shorten customer feedback loops and ship quality UX directly to customers. This isnt a future aspiration its how we work now and its changing what the design role looks like at Gusto and across the industry.

About the Role:

Gustos Unified Service Platform (USP) is the infrastructure behind how small businesses get help when it matters most AI-driven support multi-channel service and the human expertise that steps in when AI isnt enough. Were looking for a Head of Design to lead the design team behind it and set the bar for what AI-native service design looks like at Gusto.

This is a people-leadership role. Youll lead coach and grow a small high-caliber team of three designers spanning product design and conversation design and youll be accountable for the quality direction and delivery of design across the platform. Youll also be the design voice on the USP quartet peer-to-peer with PM Engineering and Data leaders authoring strategy in ambiguous spaces and spearheading cross-functional convergence. And its a genuine player-coach role: alongside leading the team youll stay hands-on on the highest-leverage design work yourself.

If you want to build and lead the team defining AI-native service design at the exact moment the category is being invented this is that role.

About the Team:

The Unified Service Platform team builds the experiences that establish how Gusto customers get help across self-service in-product guidance multi-channel support and the AI and human experts behind all of it. Youll lead a team of three designers (product and conversation design) within a cross-functional group of engineers PMs and data partners designing for both the small business owners who rely on Gusto and the experts who serve them. Design on USP is a strategic function embedded in product direction from day one not brought in at the execution stage.

Heres what youll do day-to-day:

• Lead coach and grow a team of three designers (product conversation design) own their development careers performance and craft growth and create the conditions for them to do their best work.
• Own design direction and quality across USP set the vision and the bar and be accountable for the teams outcomes not just its output.
• Stay hands-on where it matters most as a player-coach prototype and design the hardest flows and quartet-level artifacts yourself not just review them; flex your hands-on time down as the team grows.
• Represent design on the USP quartet co-lead product direction with PM Engineering and Data leaders; author strategy and POV in ambiguous spaces; drive convergence and close decisions.
• Set the standard for AI-native service design. This includes how trust uncertainty graceful failure and AI-human handoffs show up on the platform. You will identify when AI outputs are ready to ship when a human is needed and when outputs should not be sent out at all.
• Guide service design end-to-end journey mapping blueprinting and operational handoffs for a two-sided product through your team.
• Champion an AI-native design practice model and expect fluency with AI-native tools (Claude Code Cursor and comparable agentic tools) as part of the craft and raise the floor for how the team designs.
• Partner on hiring and team building as the team grows.

Heres what were looking for:

• Experience managing and growing product designers youve led a team developed designers run performance and growth and built a healthy team culture. Managing across disciplines (e.g. content/conversation design alongside product design) is a well-developed plus.
• Design leadership in ambiguity you set direction and a high craft bar co-own strategy with cross-functional peers and hold a position when the right answer is unpopular.
• AI-product judgment in consequential domains youve shipped (or led teams that shipped) AI-mediated experiences in production and can speak to uncertainty errors graceful failure and human override.
• Service design depth real journey mapping and blueprinting on two-sided products with operational handoffs not workshop exercises.
• Hands-on AI fluency you use AI-native tools yourself and can raise your teams fluency; you perceive AI as part of the craft not separate from it.
• 12 years of design experience including 5 years managing designers with clear ownership of shipped work in a B2B SaaS environment.

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 Gustos compensation philosophy and benefits offerings please view our Total Rewards Approach page.

Our cash compensation range for this role is $204000/yr to $238000/yr in Denver & most remote locations and $240000/yr to $280000/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 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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