Staff Software Engineer, Expansion Experiences
Gusto, Inc.· HR & Payroll· Oct 16, 2026 · 11d ago
San Francisco, CA - Hybrid
Hybrid
Full-time
Staff
$167K–$235K est.
8+ years exp
Job description
About Gusto
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 a seasoned full-stack software engineer to join Gusto's Expansion Experiences team, which helps small business owners discover and adopt more of what Gusto offers, such as upgrading to Plus or Premium, adding 401(k) or health insurance, or finding the features that fit their business.
As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll operate across the full product lifecycle, shaping experiments and features from early concept through launch and long-term iteration. That means writing clean frontend code, designing and building reliable backend APIs, and bringing real product and customer-experience judgment to the table. We want engineers who ask whether an idea will actually change customer behavior, not just whether it matches the spec.
If you're drawn to work that combines technical craft with real-world impact, helping power the livelihoods of millions using Gusto products, join us!
Here's what you'll do day-to-day:
Design, build, and test customer-facing experiences across recommendations, nurture campaigns, booking flows, and the plan upgrade/retention experience
Run structured experiments (A/B tests, phased rollouts) to validate whether a change moves conversion, adoption, or retention, and iterate quickly based on results
Design and build reliable backend APIs and data models that support personalization, recommendations, and multi-step customer journeys
Mentor other engineers and raise the bar on technical execution, product quality, and responsible use of AI across the team.
Collaborate with our Product Management, Design, Data, and Platform Engineering teams to understand customer pain points, come up with solutions, and then prototype, iterate, and launch
Here's what we're looking for:
Successful applicants typically have 8+ years of software development experience
A product-minded engineer who starts from the customer problem and the metric that matters, not just the ticket, and is comfortable proposing a different approach when the data calls for it
Experience building scalable solutions that eliminate customer pain, ideally in a growth, lifecycle, or conversion-focused context (onboarding, upsell flows, personalization, or recommendations) — or demonstrated ability to think this way
Experience owning multi-quarter projects that solve complex engineering problems and make measurable customer impact at scale
Comfort designing and interpreting experiments, and working with ambiguous or evolving requirements
Ability to mentor engineers to maximize their performance and impact
Experience with large-scale refactors, performance and reliability issues, and a strong sense of ownership over all aspects of your product area
Experience leveraging AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and deliver new product capabilities
Others:
Experience in, or interest working in, Ruby on Rails, React, GraphQL, and TypeScript
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.
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. 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.
Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at 164,000–204,000 in Denver & most remote locations, and 199,000–247,000 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.
At Gusto, we don't use titles the traditional way, as a signal of rank or hierarchy. Instead, our titles describe two things at once — your craft (what you do, e.g. Engineering, Design) and your scope of ownership (what you're accountable for) — which is why you'll see something like "Head of X" instead of a rank word like "Director" that tells you neither. Because of this, the title on this posting may look different from what you'd expect based on the scope and seniority of the role, and from how similar roles are typically titled elsewhere. If you have questions about how this role compares to your current title or level, your recruiter can help translate.
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.
Reliable, consistent presence: We expect regular and predictable attendance, whether you're working in-office, hybrid, or fully remote, so that you stay closely connected to your team, customers, and stakeholders in real time and ensure colleagues and customers receive the timely support and responsiveness they deserve.
Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.
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.
Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer .
Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice .
Application prep
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Keywords to mirror
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Benefits
Benefits detected in the listing.
Health Insurance
401(K)