Payroll and Taxes Manager

Human Resources Exam SHRM; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 69,000 - 91,000; Full time

Job summary

Gusto seeks a Payroll & Tax team leader to guide a high‑performing customer support team responsible for accurate payroll processing and regulatory compliance across multiple states. You will coach, mentor, and scale operations to improve NPS and customer happiness while aligning with company OKRs.

The role emphasizes leadership in a regulated environment, use of scalable systems and AI tools, and collaboration with product teams to reduce inquiries and drive efficiency.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years of experience leading teams of individual contributors.
• Deep understanding of customer experience, support metrics, best practices, and tools.
• Background in payroll and/or tax is desired.
• Experience using data to build new processes and improve existing ones.
• Adopts AI in their daily tasks and works to efficiently use these tools to drive the business.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of passionate individuals and support their daily activities.
• Create an environment of continuous development and improvement through mentoring, coaching, and feedback.
• Empower your team to use scalable systems and metrics to monitor and improve the customer experience.
• Understand your team's performance and coach individuals to meet or exceed their performance goals.
• Use scalable systems and metrics to monitor and improve the customer experience, driving loyalty, retention, and growth.
• Understand and communicate company initiatives, OKRs, and metrics used to measure growth and performance in customer support.
• Use data to identify how we can improve our tools and processes as we scale.
• Build a strong culture of collaboration with our product team to prioritize the most impactful product enhancements and reduce inbound inquiries.
• Partner cross-functionally to develop your team's skills and capabilities over time.
• Utilized AI to learn quickly, create process improvement, gain efficiencies and drive organizational change for you and your team.

Skills

Team leadership

Customer experience

Problem solving

Payroll knowledge

Data analysis

Hiring & coaching

AI adoption

Education

Bachelor's degree preferred

Job description

About Gusto

At Gusto, we're 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 500,000 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

As a Payroll & Tax team leader, you will be at the heart of our world-class support team, playing a pivotal role in ensuring businesses run smoothly. You'll lead a dedicated team that leverages Gusto's powerful platform to handle one of the most vital tasks—ensuring employees get paid accurately and on time while maintaining compliance with state and federal tax laws. With your leadership, we'll continue to set the bar for service excellence, driving customer happiness and industry-leading NPS while supporting over 300,000 businesses (and counting!). You'll coach and mentor a high‑performing team of customer advocates, leading with passion and vision to scale our operation for millions of businesses in the years ahead.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

• Lead a team of passionate individuals and support their daily activities.
• Create an environment of continuous development and improvement through mentoring, coaching, and feedback.
• Empower your team to use scalable systems and metrics to monitor and improve the customer experience.
• Understand your team's performance and coach individuals to meet or exceed their performance goals.
• Use scalable systems and metrics to monitor and improve the customer experience, driving loyalty, retention, and growth.
• Understand and communicate company initiatives, OKRs, and metrics used to measure growth and performance in customer support.
• Use data to identify how we can improve our tools and processes as we scale.
• Build a strong culture of collaboration with our product team to prioritize the most impactful product enhancements and reduce inbound inquiries.
• Partner cross-functionally to develop your team's skills and capabilities over time.
• Utilized AI to learn quickly, create process improvement, gain efficiencies and drive organizational change for you and your team.

Here’s what we're looking for:

• Minimum of 3 years of experience leading teams of individual contributors.
• Deep understanding of customer experience, support metrics, best practices, and tools.
• Loves creative problem-solving to dissolve roadblocks.
• Background in payroll and/or tax is desired.
• Deep understanding of customer satisfaction indicators and best practices.
• Expertise in identifying, analyzing, and implementing behaviors that build customer loyalty.
• Demonstrated success in continuous process improvement.
• Experience using data to build new processes and improve existing ones.
• Ability to hire, coach, and retain top talent in a highly complex and regulated support environment.
• Bachelor's degree preferred, but not required.
• Adopts AI in their daily tasks and works to efficiently use these tools to drive the business.

Compensation

Our cash compensation amount for this role is $69,000/yearly - $85,000/yearly in Phoenix and $74,245/yearly - $91,000/yearly in Denver, Chicago and Las Vegas. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Location and Work

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, Gusto's 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.

Company Culture

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 it's 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.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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 toGusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.