Senior Staff Software Engineer, Growth Onboarding

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:

Getting started on Gusto should feel effortless the path from I just signed up to my business is set up and running on Gusto is where small business owners need us most and where the biggest opportunity to grow the business lives. Were in the middle of the most exciting shift in Gustos history: reimagining our product as a proactive AI teammate that doesnt just help small businesses but does the work for them. Most of that opportunity is still ahead of us which means this role is full of net-new 0-to-1 problems to invent and build from the ground up. As a Senior Staff Product Engineer on Growth Onboarding youll own the experience that turns curious signups into activated thriving customers taking friction out of getting started and meeting customers wherever they are from the web to SMS WhatsApp and third-party AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude working full-stack and cross-functionally as both a product builder and a founder.

About the Team:

Growth Onboarding owns one of the most consequential moments in a customers journey: their first experience of Gusto. Were a full-stack outcome-driven team measured by activation not features shipped. We move fast ship prototypes over docs and partner tightly with Product Design Data and other engineering teams to make onboarding simpler smarter and a launchpad for everything a business does next. You wont just be handed a roadmap youll help invent it turning a bold AI product vision into new front doors and experiences that have never existed before. If you want your work to move a top-line number and shape the front door to a company serving 500000 businesses this is the team.

Heres what youll do day-to-day:

• Own meaningful slices of the signup-to-activation experience end to end from data model to UI and ship measurable improvements to how quickly and reliably new customers get up and running.
• Invent and prototype net-new 0-to-1 experiences bringing your own ideas for how AI can reimagine onboarding not just implementing a spec handed to you.
• Partner directly with Product Design and Data to frame problems form hypotheses and validate them with real customers in weeks not quarters.
• Identify where AI meaningfully removes customer effort (and where a simple form is better) and build those experiences thoughtfully into the flow.
• Design onboarding as modular reusable building blocks so new entry points into Gusto can be added quickly without rebuilding the foundation.
• Raise the engineering bar through pragmatic technical direction high-quality code strong reviews and mentoring engineers around you.
• Make sharp scoping calls under a time box shipping the simplest version that proves or disproves an idea then iterating.

Heres what were looking for:

• 10 - 12 years of software engineering experience including building and shipping customer-facing products at scale.
• A product-minded engineer who starts from the customer problem and the metric that matters not just the ticket and who can operate independently across product design and data partners.
• Demonstrated ability to move quickly and execute with high quality: someone who ships measures and iterates rather than waiting for perfect certainty.
• Experience applying AI/LLM capabilities to real product problems with the judgment to know where it adds value and where it adds noise and a habit of using AI tools to work more effectively.
• A founder mindset: high ownership comfort with ambiguity and greenfield problems and a bias toward action and outcomes over output.
• A track record of raising the bar for teams around you through technical leadership mentorship and setting standards others follow.
• Strong full-stack fundamentals and the versatility to work wherever the problem is (front end back end data).

Our cash compensation for this role is targeted at $223000/yr to $278000/yr for San Francisco CA. Final compensation packages will include equity and benefits as well. Final base salary offerings will be 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.

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.