Senior Staff Software Engineer, Gusto
Benefits
$185-275k
Salary dependent on location
2-3 days a week in office
Automated payroll, benefits & HR platform
Be an early applicant
Automated payroll, benefits & HR platform
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$185-275k
Salary dependent on location
2-3 days a week in office
1001+ employees
Company mission
To grow the small business economy.
Role
Who you are
- 12+ years of experience building scalable and robust web applications
- Curiosity and ability to operate in an AI-native environment. Integrating intelligence, automation, and experimentation into systems
- Deep experience building modern and accessible frontend applications with technologies such as React, TypeScript, and Next.js
- Deep experience with backend API development, data modeling and database design
- Deep experience in CI/CD and observability
- Ability to act as a thought partner for both technical (Engineering, AI/Data) and business (Sales, Operations) teams
- A balance of pragmatic execution and long-term architectural thinking to build a scalable, intelligent platform
- Experience enabling productivity across large engineering organizations
Desirable
- Hands-on experience designing or implementing product experiences incorporating ML/AI, such as AI-driven personalization engines, recommendation systems, or predictive intent models
- Experience with generative AI or LLMs, particularly in applications related to content personalization (for a CMS) or building intelligent customer-facing agents
- Familiarity with building in React and Ruby on Rails
What the job involves
- As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on the Benefits Advisory team, you will spearhead the architectural evolution of Gusto’s benefits growth as we transition to an AI-native company
- This is a full-stack architecture role where you will be instrumental in designing and building the foundational platform that enables customers to explore, apply for, and maintain their benefits
- Your work will focus on transforming our benefits opportunity, shopping and renewal flows, creating clear system boundaries that enable efficient reuse and increased scalability, allowing the ability to offer a wider variety of products more quickly
- You will design services that continue to scale the organization while enabling novel AI-driven interfaces to deliver a delightful benefits shopping experience
- You’ll operate at the intersection of marketing, sales, and engineering. If you are passionate about building highly scalable systems that can reason, predict, and personalize to unlock Gusto Benefits’ next phase of sustainable growth, we’d love to have you join our team
- The Benefits Advisory team is building the next generation of infrastructure that powers benefits applications, making it easier than ever to give customers access to the absolute best benefits for their needs
- Our mission is to build a robust system that informs our customers of the most relevant benefits options, making it easier than ever to confidently fulfill benefits that fit our customers current and future needs
- We’re building a world-class technology platform designed to understand customer context in real-time, and continuously improve through data and feedback. This means rapid experimentation, fast learning, and strong cross-functional partnership
- We prioritize quality, observability, and uptime because these intelligent systems are fundamental to Gusto's growth and brand
- We partner closely with Marketing, Sales, and Operations to build and connect the AI-powered tools they use every day
- Architect and evolve our customer-facing web platforms with a focus on scale, performance, and AI-driven personalization
- Design, build, and maintain shared services to enable rapid iteration on product offerings
- Implement and optimize key workflows for a best-in-class customer experience
- Write high-quality, well-tested code across the stack, leveraging AI-powered tools to accelerate development and improve reliability
- Support, mentor, and up-level fellow engineers on the team, helping to establish best practices for AI-native design patterns
- Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, Sales, Operations and leadership to translate business needs into technical solutions that fit our needs now and in the future
- Be an owner of the long-term technical roadmap, ensuring it aligns with Gusto’s AI-native strategy
Our take
For many small businesses, vital administrative tasks such as payroll, taxes, and benefits are manual tasks that take time and energy which many SMB owners don’t have. The three co-founders of Gusto – all coming from small business backgrounds – collaborated on a Fintech company that would handle employee payments, benefits administration, and compliance support specifically for small businesses.
The company may have started slowly, as the founders focused on nailing each individual aspect of Gusto’s operations, but has now skyrocketed to unicorn status with more than 400,000 customers and a multi-billion dollar valuation. And in 2021, Gusto began acquiring other companies to strengthen its offering and its position in a competitive market, including two other fintech startups, Ardius and Symmetry.
Through its continued acquisitions and fundraising efforts, the company has carved out a strong position for itself in the space. Although Gusto has found itself impacted by the macroeconomic situation, through the significant effect it has had on its clientele, the company still appears positive for the future after raising funds in 2023 that has seen it reach key profitability benchmarks. It continues to expand its platform, most recently partnering with Parafin to launch a payroll line of credit for small businesses. With a growing suite of services and a clear focus on supporting small businesses through changing economic conditions, Gusto looks set to sustain its momentum and further strengthen its position in the HR and payroll technology market.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
45% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 9 rounds)
May 2022
$55m
SERIES E
Aug 2021
$175m
SERIES E
Total funding: $706.3m
Company benefits
- Health and Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents. Family care and support, including family planning and fertility benefits. Gender-affirming care and support. A variety of mental health resources.
- Time Away: It's important to take time away for yourself or to take care of your family. Gusto offers paid vacation, sick time, bereavement, and holidays, paid leaves, sabbatical, and more!
- Free meals and refreshments: If you work at one of our offices, enjoy food, drinks, and snacks— on us. Conversation and community is an added bonus!
- Perks:
Company HQ
Central Waterfront, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Joshua Reeves
(Co-Founder & CEO)Studied Electrical Engineering at Stanford and went onto co-found Gusto in 2011.
Tomer London
(Co-Founder & CPO)Has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. Was a Researcher at Intel, and then interned at Bump Technologies. Co-founded Vizmo, a mobile self-service technologies company, in 2008. Co-founded Gusto in 2011.
Edward Kim
(Co-Founder & Head of Engineering)Studied Electrical Engineering at Stanford. Was Senior Project Engineer at Volkswagen of America Electronics Research Lab and then co-founded Picwing, a printed photos company, in 2008. Co-founded Gusto in 2011.
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