Senior Product Design Manager (Banking)

Gusto; Toronto; On-site; CAD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Gender-affirming care

Family care and fertility benefits

Mental health resources

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Free meals and refreshments

Paid vacation and holidays

Job summary

Gusto is seeking a Design Leader for Banking to guide a small, high-impact team across Wallet and SMB Banking. You will set rituals, standards, and a hiring pipeline while staying hands-on on critical design decisions.

You will partner with product, engineering, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Data to ensure cohesive experiences across consumer and business banking surfaces. This role combines leadership with ongoing design craft.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of product design experience, including 4+ years of people management.
• Experienced hands-on manager in a player-coach capacity across products at different maturity stages.
• Proven ability to build and scale design teams, rituals, and hiring pipelines.
• Experience partnering with Risk, Compliance, or Legal on regulated financial products is a strong plus.
• Ability to collaborate with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Data, and Ops across Banking products.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of designers and hire to grow the team.
• Co-create goals and planning cadence across Consumer Banking and Business Banking.
• Raise the bar on Wallet's quality while defining standards for Business Banking.
• Stay hands-on on high-stakes decisions while mentoring the team to independence.
• Partner with PMs and engineering leaders, aligning with Risk and Compliance.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Design leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

AI design tools

Tools

AI tools in design

Job description

• This is a leadership role, empowering a team of Product Designers. And, as the first Design Leader for Gusto's Banking team, you'll lead design across two products at different stages of maturity: Wallet, a long-running, established product already helping workers manage their pay, and SMB Banking, a newer banking product for small businesses
• You're bringing together an established Consumer Banking design practice with a newer Business Banking effort for the first time, building the shared rituals and practices that will connect them, while staying close enough to the craft to help both products grow
• This is a player-coach role, for now - but as Banking grows, this role's balance of hands-on craft versus people leadership will shift over time. That's why we're looking for an experienced, hands-on manager: someone who's managed before and is comfortable working as player-coach, using craft to set the bar high for the team they're growing
• Manage an initial team of 3 designers, and hire to build your team
• Build the rituals, hiring pipeline, and planning cadence that span both Consumer Banking and Business Banking for the first time, formalizing what already exists on Wallet and building from zero for Business Banking
• Coach designers working at two different stages at once: one optimizing and scaling something live (Wallet), and one defining something that doesn't exist yet (SMB Banking)
• Co-create goals and success metrics with product and engineering partners for the team, translating strategy into clear scopes, sequences, and milestones
• Raise the bar on Wallet's existing quality standard through critique and review, while defining a new standard from scratch for Business Banking
• Stay hands-on: review and sometimes do design work directly on the highest-stakes decisions, especially on SMB Banking's path to beta, while coaching your team toward greater independence over time
• Partner as an equal in the EPD trio with Banking's PM and engineering leads on each side, and partner regularly with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Data, and Ops given both products are regulated financial products
• Ensure Banking's products fit cohesively into Gusto's broader financial ecosystem, coordinating with design and product counterparts on adjacent pods (like Accounting and Payments) so the customer experience feels connected across surfaces rather than fragmented by internal team boundaries
• Build individualized career development plans with each direct report, and adapt your leadership style to the person and the moment
• Represent Banking's design needs (headcount, quality investment, tooling) to senior design leadership

Benefits

• Gender-affirming care and support
• Family care and support, including family planning and fertility benefits
• A variety of mental health resources
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents
• Free meals and refreshments at the office (conversation and community is an added bonus!)
• Paid vacation, sick time, bereavement, and holidays, paid leaves, sabbatical, and more

Your portfolio and management track record show high-quality work in consumer or business financial products - fintech, banking, or financial platforms strongly preferredYou have experience incorporating AI tools and practices into how a whole design team works10+ years of product design experience, including 4+ years of people management experience, ideally with senior designers or higherYou're an established manager who has worked as a player-coach before. Ideally you've managed designers across products at different stages, for example an established, metrics-driven product alongside a true 0-1 effortExperience partnering with Risk, Compliance, or Legal on regulated financial products (KYC/KYB, identity verification, money movement rails, partner bank relationships) is a strong plus