Payment Operations Analyst

Gusto, Inc.•San Francisco, CA

3d•$82,610 - $107,393•Hybrid

About The Position

Payments at Gusto aren't just infrastructure — they're the reason people get paid on time, every time. Payment Operations sits within Gusto's Money team, a cross-functional group spanning Engineering, Product, and Operations that powers money movement across Gusto's growing product surface: core payroll, contractor payments, international money movement, and new business offerings like PEO. As a Payment Operations Analyst, you'll own specific end-to-end payment workflows, resolve exceptions that require real judgment, and help make our systems more reliable and efficient over time. Gusto's payment surface area is expanding — and this team is at the center of that growth. This is a role for someone who can shift from investigating a single misfired transaction to coordinating a response on a payment outage affecting thousands — and bring the same rigor to both. You think in systems. You hold partners accountable. You lead with curiosity and embrace AI as a core part of how you work. You'll collaborate closely with Engineering, Product, Accounting, Risk, and CX — and you'll develop strong day-to-day relationships with Gusto's bank and payment partners. When something breaks or slows down, you're the one who drives it to resolution.

Requirements

3+ years of experience in payment operations, banking operations, treasury operations, or a related role at a fintech or financial institution
Working knowledge of domestic payment rails (ACH/Nacha, wires, RTP) and/or international money movement (cross-border transfers, FX, global disbursement networks); experience across both is a strong plus
Strong analytical instincts — you look for the pattern behind the problem and can query or structure data to find it (SQL a plus but not required)
Experience working with bank portals, payment processors, or reconciliation tools
Ability to communicate clearly with both operational and technical counterparts; you can write a crisp Slack to an engineer and a professional escalation to a bank partner
Comfortable working in ambiguity and taking ownership without waiting for perfect information
Eager to build AI into how you work — whether you're already using it daily or just getting started, you see it as a genuine productivity lever and are committed to developing that fluency

Nice To Haves

Experience across both domestic payment rails and international money movement is a strong plus
SQL a plus but not required
Knowledge of relevant compliance frameworks (Nacha operating rules, unclaimed property, money transmission) is a strong plus

Responsibilities

Support the payment lifecycle end-to-end
Own the operational layer of specific payment workflows — ACH processing, exception handling, refunds, collection re-debits, reconciliation. When something is off, you investigate, escalate where needed, and see it through to resolution. And when you see a pattern, you push to fix the root cause.
Build alongside Product and Engineering: Contribute to product specs, surface operational pain points, help define requirements, and participate in launches.
Close the loop on customer pain: Actively mine customer and CX feedback to identify friction in payment flows, prioritize what matters, and bring those insights into the operational and product conversations where decisions get made.
Think in systems: Connect the dots across rails, partners, reconciliation, compliance, and customer experience. Understand how an issue ripples and bring that perspective to cross-functional conversations.
Hold partners to a high standard: Work directly with Gusto's bank and payment partners — domestic and international — to triage issues, resolve escalations, and maintain strong working relationships.
Lead with AI: Use AI as a genuine work partner — to move faster on analysis, draft communications, synthesize data, and automate the repetitive. Always looking for the smarter way to get to the answer.