Application Systems Engineering Manager

About Gusto

At Gusto were 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 500000 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.

About the Team:

The Unified Service Platforms mission is to create seamless connected efficient and delightful experiences that empower our customers (internal and external) to make informed decisions and be supported throughout their journey. This team operates as a startup-within-a-startup with a high level of ownership around specific problems to solve for our customers.

The Payoffs team sits within this platform and is responsible for building and maintaining the systems that power end-of-lifecycle payroll workflows including custom routing intelligent automations auto-indexing of tax documents and end-of-year processing. We move fast care deeply about quality and are actively investing in AI-driven approaches to make our systems smarter and more scalable.

About the Role:

Gusto is looking for an experienced Application Systems Engineering Manager to lead the design development and deployment of AI solutions that enhance our customer this role youll empower a team of 6 to architect and deliver solutions that keep Gustos payoff workflows running reliably and intelligently.

Youll be a key technical voice on the team helping define how we build mentor engineers around you and actively leverage AI and agentic tools to accelerate delivery. Our mission is to deliver consistently exceptional Customer and Advocate experiences at scale across every touchpoint. The ideal candidate will have a background in artificial intelligence and software engineering with proven expertise in applying these technologies to improve customer interactions and satisfaction. Be a change agent on how Gusto leverages AI to better serve customers.

Heres what youll do day-to-day:

• Lead Gustos Go To Market AI engineering team including the recruitment hiring and empowerment of a world-class team
• Collaborate closely with AI Scientists and AI Product Managers to create a world where the sales motions run proactively and efficiently with AI.
• Lead your engineering team to design develop and deploy AI-powered applications to enhance customer and advocate experiences.
• You will work cross-functionally with engineering product design and stakeholder teams to lead various initiatives to advance our customer service solutions
• You will leverage our data to identify key insights and create operational efficiencies as well as produce accurate and meaningful analysis to drive business decisions
• Meet with stakeholders from business and engineering to understand OKR requirements and convert them into analytical solutions
• Integrate with third-party platforms (e.g. Salesforce Zendesk or similar CRM/support systems) where applicable
• Responsible for driving the development of product and core platform in a fast paced start-up environment
• Providing technical leadership in defining the product and platform solutions
• Understand customer pain points devise solutions and then iterate through prototyping and frequent successful product launches.
• Work cross functionally with design leadership and product management leadership to build and drive Gustos product vision and strategy
• Empowering a team of senior engineers architects and potentially managers to create alignment clarity high morale driving quick but informed decision making and helping them get unblocked

Heres what were looking for:

• 10 years of total relevant technical experience
• 2 years of engineering management experience
• 2 years in Generative AI demonstrating the ability to leverage AI/agentic tools (e.g. Copilot Cursor or similar) to accelerate development

Nice to Have:

• Experience with CRM platforms or third-party integrations (Salesforce Zendesk or similar)
• Familiarity with tax or payroll processing domains
• Prior experience working with contractor-heavy or distributed team structures

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $00 for San Francisco. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience level 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 Gustos 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.

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 its 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.

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