SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Gusto is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the HR Experiences team, which builds compliant HR guidance, documentation, and AI-powered tools for small businesses. The role operates across the full product lifecycle—from early design through launch and iteration—spanning both employer-facing and employee-facing surfaces.
Day-to-day responsibilities include designing and building full-stack features (frontend and backend APIs) for HR compliance and guidance tools; developing AI agents and tools to scale Gusto's HR Partners team by automating compliance and document workflows; mentoring other engineers on complex technical problems in highly regulated domains; and collaborating cross-functionally with Product, Data, Design, and Platform Engineering to understand customer pain points and ship solutions.
Gusto serves over 500,000 small businesses nationwide, handling payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR administration. The HR Experiences team specifically addresses the gap where most small businesses lack in-house HR expertise—helping them navigate state and local compliance requirements that vary across 50 states and hundreds of localities.
Required qualifications: 8+ years of software development experience; proven ability to own multi-quarter projects solving complex engineering problems at scale; experience driving large cross-functional initiatives end-to-end through ambiguity; active use of agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Codex) as part of daily workflow; and ability to mentor engineers effectively.
Preferred: experience building products in regulated, compliance-heavy domains (HR, payroll, benefits, tax); experience with or strong interest in building AI agents and MCP tools with judgment about safe application in high-stakes domains; Ruby on Rails experience; test-driven development practices; and strong communication across technical and business stakeholders.
The role is based in New York with hybrid flexibility, though travel to Gusto offices (Denver, San Francisco, New York) for onboarding is required. All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs).
