Product Design Manager, Payroll

Gusto; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Gender‑affirming care and support

Mental health resources

Free meals and refreshments

Job summary

Gusto is seeking a Product Design Manager for Payroll to lead design across a high-impact area used by millions. You will mentor designers, set a long‑term UX vision, and drive AI initiatives to simplify payroll while ensuring accuracy and trust. Collaboration with Product, Engineering, Data, and Ops will shape strategy and roadmaps.

You will oversee end‑to‑end design, elevate design craft, and scale patterns and standards across the payroll platform and broader People Platform ecosystem.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to drive alignment across cross‑functional partners and represent design in high‑stakes conversations.
• Experience leading a team through an AI workflow transition and establishing new norms.
• Experience setting UX direction across multiple teams and influencing product strategy.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design for Payroll, shaping experiences that simplify payroll complexity.
• Define and communicate the long‑term UX vision for Payroll and rally teams around it.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Ops to set strategy and roadmaps.
• Lead AI and automation initiatives that improve efficiency while preserving trust.

Skills

Design leadership

AI/Automation

Cross-functional collaboration

Product strategy

UX direction

Job description

• For the hundreds of thousands of small businesses we serve, our mission starts with one of their most critical responsibilities: paying their team.
• As the Product Design Manager for Payroll, you’ll lead design in this senior level position for one of Gusto’s most complex and consequential product areas, shaping the future of a product that millions of people rely on for financial stability and personal prosperity.
• This is a high-impact, high-visibility role with broad scope. You’ll manage a team of designers and set the UX direction for Payroll, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Research, Data, Ops, Compliance, and others to take on payroll complexity so our customers don’t have to.
• Your work will include simplifying complex, interconnected workflows, defining a long-term UX vision and rallying others around it, and leading automation and AI initiatives that make the work of paying a team disappear. You’ll also mentor designers, raise the bar for craft across the broader Design team, and contribute to platform standards that help others across Gusto build consistent, high-quality experiences.
• Payroll is the foundation of Gusto and our most-used, most-loved product. It’s the first Gusto experience many customers interact with, and it continues to power their success as they grow. Payroll also underpins our broader ecosystem, enabling the adoption of Benefits, Time Tracking, HR tools, and so much more.
• Our team is tasked with evolving and scaling this core experience for small businesses of all sizes, from solo entrepreneurs to growing companies. We focus on taking on the complexity of payroll so our customers don’t have to—making payroll faster, more flexible, and increasingly hands off.
• Lead end-to-end design for Payroll, shaping experiences that help small businesses pay their teams properly, on time, and with confidence.
• Define and communicate the long-term UX vision for Payroll, and rally multiple teams around it.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Ops and others to set strategy and roadmaps.
• Lead AI and automation initiatives that simplify payroll and reduce manual work, without compromising accuracy or trust.
• Collaborate with Research and Data to uncover customer insights and translate them into clear, actionable UX priorities.
• Influence product and technical roadmaps by advocating for design quality, customer needs, and long-term system health.
• Set the quality and judgment standard for all design work — whether AI-assisted or not — including when to push further and when outputs meet the bar.
• Define and scale shared patterns, principles, and standards that promote quality, consistency, and velocity.
• Manage and grow a team of designers, providing mentorship, clear direction, and hands‑on support across the team.
• Champion the Payroll experience as the foundation of Gusto’s broader People Platform, ensuring seamless integration across Benefits, Time & Attendance, and third‑party tools.

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

Proven ability to drive alignment across cross‑functional partners and represent design in high‑stakes, strategic conversationsDemonstrated ability to assess AI‑generated design directions: knowing when to use them, when to override them, and how to raise the quality bar on AI outputsExperience setting UX direction across multiple teams and influencing product strategy — not just executing on itA Genuine bond to Gusto’s mission and the needs of small businessesExperience leading a team through an AI workflow transition — not just adopting AI personally, but changing how a team works, including establishing new norms and standardsClear, direct communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to explain design decisions and influence partners at all levelsDeep systems thinking, with a track record of turning interconnected, complex workflows into experiences that feel simple and intuitive8–10+ years of product design experience, with at least 3 years leading and managing design teamsExperience leading product initiatives where AI or automation is central to the user experience — including how to represent uncertainty, surface errors gracefully, and preserve user agency when automation gets it wrong, particularly in high‑stakes contextsExperience designing in complex domains i.e. financial products, healthcare, or similarly regulated environments