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Salary: USD 79,565 - 119,478 / annual
Gusto is seeking an APEX (Agent & Partner Experiences) Risk Operations Analyst to serve as a fraud-fighting detective for Gusto's partner ecosystem. You will play a key role in keeping Gusto Embedded Payroll (GEP) and API-driven partnerships secure by identifying patterns, recognizing uncharacteristic behavior across partner-originated activity, and applying critical thinking to protect partners and their end customers.
In this role, you will sit at the front line of Gusto's AI-native Risk Operations work. You'll serve as the human in the loop for AI-powered workflows—reviewing flagged cases, validating AI outputs, and making nuanced decisions where human discretion matters, including complex white-glove partner cases the AI cannot yet confidently resolve. You'll help improve the systems used daily while continuously looking for opportunities to iterate and optimize processes, driving greater efficiency and reducing partner and customer pain.
The APEX Risk Operations team sits within the broader Risk Operations organization and is a key stakeholder in company decisions. While Risk Fraud Operations counterparts protect Gusto's direct customers, APEX safeguards Gusto's partner ecosystem—the businesses and developers who use Gusto behind the scenes through APIs and embedded payroll. GEP operates like a startup within Gusto, moving fast and experimenting often, pioneering how AI-native risk operations can secure payroll at scale for partners.
Day-to-day responsibilities include: supervising and validating AI outputs for fraud and ACH risk cases, using AI tools (Claude, Gemini, etc.) to enhance everyday work, owning and optimizing operational task queues, investigating flagged partner activity, deep-diving into high-value and edge cases too sensitive or complex for AI decisioning, identifying trends and patterns in partner and API traffic proactively, experimenting with ways to automate manual pain points using AI tools, working cross-functionally with risk, product, and engineering teams as well as external partners, and serving as a subject matter expert for escalations pertaining to partner and embedded payroll risk.
Gusto supports more than 500,000 small businesses nationwide with teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York. All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs). The company expects all team members to actively engage with AI tools relevant to their role and grow their fluency as the technology evolves.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 2+ years of experience in operational work, fraud detection, and/or investigation
- Insatiable appetite for problem solving with structured thinking and data-driven approach
- Ability to spot unusual patterns across partner and API activity with sharp attention to detail
- Demonstrates curiosity and bias toward experimentation
- Strong moral compass; objective yet compassionate; does the right thing
- Excellent time management and ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously
- Extremely process and policy oriented
- Goal-oriented, positive, and proactive; comfortable in fast-paced, results-oriented environment
- Clear and effective communication with partners and internal teams
- Comfort experimenting with AI tools, providing structured feedback, and learning to guide AI decision-making
BONUS QUALIFICATIONS:
- Familiarity with fraud typologies, ACH risk, transaction patterns, and risk indicators
- Experience with APIs, embedded products, or developer-facing platforms
- Professional certifications (CFE or equivalent)
- Payroll or payments industry experience
- SQL/data analysis knowledge
- Experience prompting or working with generative AI
