Staff Software Engineer, Growth (Orchestration Platform)

Gusto; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 197,000 - 247,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base pay

Benefits package

Stock equity (RSUs)

Job summary

Gusto is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join its Growth team in San Francisco. You will design and develop full-stack capabilities for effective customer engagement, mentor other engineers, and build scalable systems.

The role requires 8+ years of experience in software engineering, particularly in building backend APIs. A competitive salary ranging from $197,000 to $247,000 is offered for this position in San Francisco, along with stock equity.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience.
• Experience building scalable full-stack systems.
• Experience designing backend APIs and data flows.
• Experience owning multi-quarter projects.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and test full-stack platform capabilities.
• Collaborate with teams to launch iteratively.
• Mentor other engineers on complex problems.
• Build systems to enable actionable customer engagement.

Skills

Full-stack development

Software engineering

AI tool leverage

Mentoring engineers

Tools

Ruby on Rails

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Growth (Orchestration Platform)

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.

We’re looking for seasoned full‑stack software engineers to join Gusto’s Growth team building the systems and workflows that help turn customer and go‑to‑market signals into timely, relevant engagement experiences across the funnel.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll operate across the full product lifecycle: shaping capabilities from early definition and design through launch and long‑term iteration. That means writing clean frontend code, designing and building reliable backend APIs and services, influencing product and platform direction, and taking ownership of what happens after a feature ships.

If you’re drawn to work that combines technical craft with real‑world impact—helping teams deliver more relevant, personalized, and effective customer experiences at scale—join us.

Here’s what you’ll do day‑to‑day:

• Design, build, and test full‑stack platform capabilities that power signal‑driven workflows and customer engagement experiences across the funnel
• Build systems that ingest, prioritize, and route product, marketing, and sales signals into actionable next‑best steps for downstream teams and tools
• Develop backend services and internal interfaces that support orchestration, decisioning, experimentation, and delivery across evolving engagement channels
• Collaborate with Product Management, Data, Design, Platform Engineering, and go‑to‑market partners to understand pain points, prototype solutions, and launch iteratively
• Mentor other engineers to help solve complex technical problems across distributed systems, product workflows, and platform architecture
• Build products and platforms that internal teams love to use and that create measurable customer and business impact

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Successful applicants typically have 8+ years of software development experience
• Experience building scalable full‑stack systems that solve meaningful customer or business problems
• Experience owning multi‑quarter projects that solve complex engineering problems and drive measurable impact at scale
• Experience with large‑scale refactors, performance, and reliability issues, and a strong sense of ownership over all aspects of a product or platform area
• Experience designing backend APIs, data flows, and event‑driven services that integrate reliably with other systems
• Strong product and platform instincts, with the ability to balance technical quality, speed, and long‑term maintainability
• Ability to mentor engineers and raise the quality bar across the team
• Experience leveraging AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and unlock new product capabilities
• Curiosity and experimentation with emerging AI frameworks, and sound judgment about how to evaluate and scale AI use safely and effectively

Others:

• Experience in, or interest working in, Ruby on Rails
• Appreciation for a collaborative, test‑driven environment
• Ability to build well‑structured, maintainable, well‑documented code
• Ability to effectively communicate across engineering teams and with business stakeholders

Please note that travel to Gusto's office for onboarding is required for this position. If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please share with your recruiter.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $163,000–$204,000 in Denver & most remote locations, and $197,000–$247,000 for San Francisco & 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). 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.

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.