Staff Software Engineer - React, Rails & GraphQL

The Briefed; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSUs

Healthcare, dental, and vision

401(k) retirement plans

Flexible PTO

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Gusto is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for the Expansion Experiences team in a hybrid setup in San Francisco. You will own end-to-end features that help small businesses discover and adopt more of Gusto’s offerings, including plan upgrades and new integrations.

You will design and implement scalable backend APIs, robust frontend experiences, and drive experiments to measure impact on conversions and retention. Mentoring and AI-enabled development are key parts of the role.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software development experience.
• Proven track record of owning multi-quarter projects that drive measurable customer impact at scale.
• Experience with large-scale refactoring, performance optimization, and maintaining high reliability across full-stack applications.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and test end-to-end features across product recommendations, nurture campaigns, booking flows, and plan upgrade/retention flows.
• Run structured experiments (A/B testing, phased rollouts) to measure and optimize conversion, feature adoption, and customer retention.
• Build reliable, scalable backend APIs and data models that support personalization engines, product recommendations, and multi-step customer journeys.
• Mentor engineers, elevate code quality standards, and champion responsible use of AI tools across development workflows.
• Partner with Product, Design, Data, and Platform Engineering to translate customer pain points into scalable launches.

Skills

Ruby on Rails

React

GraphQL

TypeScript

AI tooling

Job description

At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy by simplifying payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR for more than 500,000 small businesses nationwide.

We are looking for a seasoned full-stack software engineer to join Gusto's Expansion Experiences team, which helps small business owners discover and adopt more of Gusto’s offerings—such as upgrading to Plus or Premium plans, adding 401(k) or health insurance, and uncovering features tailored to their business needs.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will operate across the entire product lifecycle—shaping experiments and features from early concept through launch and long-term iteration. You will write clean frontend code, design reliable backend APIs, and bring strong product judgment to evaluate how changes impact actual customer behavior.

Key Responsibilities

• Customer-Facing Experiences: Design, build, and test end-to-end features across product recommendations, nurture campaigns, booking flows, and plan upgrade/retention flows.
• Experimentation & Growth: Run structured experiments (A/B testing, phased rollouts) to measure and optimize conversion, feature adoption, and customer retention.
• Backend Architecture: Build reliable, scalable backend APIs and data models that support personalization engines, product recommendations, and multi-step customer journeys.
• Technical Leadership & AI: Mentor engineers, elevate technical execution and code quality standards, and champion the responsible leverage of AI tools across development workflows.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Product Management, Design, Data, and Platform Engineering teams to turn customer pain points into prototype solutions and scalable launches.

Requirements

Experience & Education

• 8+ years of professional software development experience.
• Proven track record of owning multi-quarter projects that solve complex technical problems and drive measurable customer impact at scale.
• Experience with large-scale refactoring, performance optimization, and maintaining high reliability across full-stack applications.

Technical Skills

• Hands-on expertise or strong working interest in Ruby on Rails, React, GraphQL, and TypeScript.
• Experience building scalable solutions in growth, lifecycle, or conversion contexts (e.g., onboarding, upsell flows, personalization, recommendations).
• Experience designing and interpreting A/B experiments, data metrics, and user behavior analytics.
• Proficiency leveraging modern AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and ship product capabilities.

Soft Skills & Mindset

• Product-minded perspective that starts from customer problems and business outcomes, not just task tickets.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills across engineering teams and business stakeholders.
• Passion for mentoring engineers, fostering team growth, and operating in a test-driven, collaborative environment.

Benefits & Total Rewards

• Equity: RSUs included with all full-time offers.
• Healthcare & Care: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage, plus mental health support.
• Financial & Retirement: 401(k) retirement plans and competitive total compensation structures.
• Flexibility: Generous PTO, flexible hybrid work models, and parental support options.