Head of Partner Growth, Embedded Payroll

Gusto•Chicago, NY

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

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 400,000 small businesses nationwide and are building a workplace that reflects the people we serve. 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. Gusto Embedded Payroll (GEP) is one of Gusto's highest-growth bets — a platform business that enables software companies to offer Gusto-powered payroll directly within their own products. We're looking for a Head of Partner Growth to lead the team responsible for making our embedded partners successful: driving go-to-market execution, growing partner revenue, and building the operational and strategic frameworks that will scale this business toward $100M+. This is a player-coach leadership role. You'll manage a cross-functional team spanning Partner Success Management (PSM) and Partner enablement— while also staying deeply hands-on with our most strategic partner relationships. You'll own the partner growth playbook end-to-end: from GTM planning and launch sequencing through ongoing optimization, escalation management, and executive relationship development. Gusto's partnerships organization focuses on evaluating and executing strategic partnerships in new categories. Gusto Embedded Payroll allows us to bring our people platform to thousands more businesses than those we serve directly and will play a key role in Gusto's growth.

Requirements

12-15 years of experience
8+ years in a people management role
7+ years in partner-facing or channel-facing roles
Partner-side perspective: Has operated on the partner or channel side of the table — understands how partners evaluate, prioritize, and activate embedded or referral relationships
Farmer mentality: Wired to grow and deepen existing partner relationships through trust-building, strategic account planning, and proactive expansion — not just hunting new deals
Methodical operator: Builds repeatable playbooks, escalation frameworks, and operational rhythms rather than relying on one-off heroics. Strong systems thinker
GTM playbook experience: Hands-on experience building go-to-market plans from scratch — including co-marketing, keyword strategies, content roadmaps, and launch sequencing
Full-funnel fluency: Understands the complete marketing and sales journey from demand gen through conversion, activation, and retention. Can diagnose where a partner motion is leaking value and prescribe the right intervention
AI fluency: Actively uses AI tools (e.g., LLMs, automation platforms) to accelerate workflows, improve decision quality, and build team capability. Comfortable leading an AI adoption agenda within a team
Executive communicator: Strong ghostwriter and strategic communicator who can represent the partnership function credibly with C-suite stakeholders — both internally and at partner organizations
Strong sense of ownership and resilience: Thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative, and drives outcomes without waiting for permission
Exceptional written and verbal communication: Can shift register fluently between partner-facing emails, internal Slack, leadership documents, and board-level narratives

Nice To Haves

Experience with embedded or platform business models (APIs, developer tools, B2B2B)
Knowledge of payroll, HR tech, or fintech software ecosystems
Experience managing partner P&Ls, cost-to-manage models, or portfolio-level financial analysis
"Gets" the building-mode opportunity — has scaled a partner function from early stage, not just inherited a mature program

Responsibilities

Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team of Partner Success Managers and Partner Enablement
Set the operational rhythm for the partner growth function — including planning cadences, escalation workflows, and performance management
Coach team members on partner strategy, executive communication, and cross-functional navigation
Drive Enablement with the ideation, creation, and execution of enablement frameworks and materials.
Drive AI fluency across the team — embedding AI tools and workflows into day-to-day partner operations, GTM planning, and internal knowledge management to accelerate output and decision quality
Own the partner growth strategy across the GEP portfolio, including partner segmentation, prioritization, and resource allocation
Develop and maintain per-partner operating plans with clear success metrics, in collaboration with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Sales Enablement
Build repeatable GTM playbooks — covering co-marketing motions, sales enablement, content roadmaps, and launch sequencing — tailored to each partner's distribution model and ICP
Translate portfolio-level data (revenue, attach rates, funnel performance) into strategic narratives for leadership
Drive success for our partners and their end customers through adoption, activation, and retention of Gusto-powered embedded products
Own the full marketing funnel and sales motion with partners — from top-of-funnel demand generation through conversion, onboarding, and expansion
Manage complex, high-stakes partner relationships directly — including contract negotiations, executive escalations, and cross-functional alignment on roadmap priorities
Lead partner incident response and escalation management with structured, cross-functional workflows
Create and expand the feedback loop between partners, their end users, and Gusto's internal product, marketing, engineering, and operations teams
Design frameworks, templates, and processes that enable the team to manage a growing partner portfolio without linear headcount growth
Identify and implement AI-powered workflows and tools that improve team efficiency, partner reporting, and knowledge management