Banking Product Design Leader (AI-driven, Hands-on)

Gusto, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 178,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

Gusto, Inc. is seeking a senior Design Leader to champion and grow the Banking design practice, leading across Wallet and SMB Banking.

You’ll blend hands-on craft with people leadership, guiding a team of designers to shape financial products connected to pay, cash flow, and HR experiences. This leadership role emphasizes building processes, partnering with cross-functional teams, and delivering high-quality, AI-enabled design work for regulated financial products, while maintaining hands-on

Qualifications

• 10+ years of product design experience including 4+ years of people management.
• Portfolio showing high-quality work in consumer or business financial products (fintech/banking).
• Experience partnering with Risk, Compliance, or Legal on regulated financial products.
• Experience incorporating AI tools and practices into design teams.

Responsibilities

• Manage an initial team of 3 designers and hire to grow the team.
• Build rituals, pipelines, and planning cadence spanning Wallet and SMB Banking for the first time.
• Coach designers working on products at different maturity stages.
• Set goals and milestones with product/engineering partners; translate strategy into scopes.
• Review and raise the bar on Wallet's quality while establishing new standards for Business Banking.
• Stay hands-on with high-stakes decisions, especially SMB Banking’s beta path, as the team scales.
• Partner with PM and engineering leads in the EPD trio; coordinate with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Data, and Ops.
• Ensure Banking products integrate into Gusto’s broader financial ecosystem and align with adjacent pods.
• Create individual career development plans for direct reports and adapt leadership style.
• Represent Banking’s design needs to senior leadership regarding headcount and tooling.

Skills

Product design

People management

Fintech design

Regulatory collaboration

AI in design

Job description

Gusto, Inc. is seeking a senior Design Leader to champion and grow the Banking design practice, leading across Wallet and SMB Banking.

You’ll blend hands-on craft with people leadership, guiding a team of designers to shape financial products connected to pay, cash flow, and HR experiences. This leadership role emphasizes building processes, partnering with cross-functional teams, and delivering high-quality, AI-enabled design work for regulated financial products, while maintaining hands-on