Staff Software Engineer, Core Products

Gusto; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 197,000 - 247,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity (RSUs)

Competitive base pay

Benefits package

Job summary

Gusto is looking for a Staff Software Engineer in New York to work on customer-facing products. The role involves design, coding, and collaboration across teams.

Applicants should have over 8 years of experience, a passion for creating solutions, and the ability to mentor others. Competitive salaries range from $197,000 to $247,000, plus equity.

Gusto supports diversity and encourages applicants from various backgrounds.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience.
• Passion for creating memorable customer experiences.
• Experience with multi-quarter projects solving complex problems.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and test core products.
• Mentor engineers to solve technical problems.
• Collaborate with teams to prototype and launch solutions.

Skills

Software development experience

Building scalable solutions

Leveraging AI tools

Mentoring engineers

Curiosity and experimentation with AI frameworks

Job description

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.

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

We’re looking for seasoned full‑stack software engineers to join the teams behind Gusto’s customer‑facing products — the features and experiences that small business owners and their employees rely on every day. As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll operate across the full product lifecycle: shaping features from early spec and design through to launch and long‑term iteration. That means writing clean front‑end code, designing and building reliable back‑end APIs, influencing product direction, and taking ownership of what happens after a feature ships.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and test Gusto core products such as Payroll, Benefits, HR, Retirement, Gusto Money, Gusto Solo, and Gusto Pro, among others
• Mentor other engineers to solve some of the hardest technical problems in very complex domains and at a large scale
• Collaborate with Product Management, Data, Design, and Platform Engineering teams to understand customer pain points, come up with solutions, and then prototype, iterate, and launch daily
• Build products that customers genuinely love

Qualifications

• Successful applicants typically have 8+ years of software development experience
• Experience building scalable solutions that eliminate customer pain; passion for creating memorable experiences for customers
• Experience leveraging AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and deliver new product capabilities
• Curiosity and experimentation with emerging AI frameworks, applying and sharing best practices to evaluate and scale AI use safely across teams
• Experience owning multi‑quarter projects that solve complex engineering problems and make measurable customer impact at scale
• Experience with large‑scale refactors, performance and reliability issues, and a strong sense of ownership over all aspects of your product area
• Ability to mentor engineers to maximize their performance and impact

Travel requirement: A two‑day travel to a Gusto office for onboarding is required for this position.

Our cash compensation for this role is targeted at $163,000–$204,000 in Denver and most remote locations, and $197,000–$247,000 for San Francisco and New York. Stock equity is additional. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

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). 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.

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.