Senior Staff Engineer, Expansion Experiences

Gusto•San Francisco, CA

5d•$191,000 - $275,000

About The Position

Gusto is hiring a Senior Staff Software Engineer for its Expansion Experiences team. The role owns outcomes across the expansion funnel, from identifying a customer need through adoption and ongoing value, with the goal of supporting retained and expansion revenue. The engineer will shape technical approaches and architecture for recommendations and conversion journeys, build foundations that support future initiatives, and decide what to test and prioritize in partnership with Product, Design, and Data Science. The role calls for autonomy in scoping and executing work: shipping a simple version to test an idea, measuring results, and iterating based on what is learned. The engineer will provide pragmatic technical direction, uphold engineering quality through code review, mentor peers, and scope and delegate work to other engineers. Gusto expects team members to actively engage with relevant AI tools and develop their fluency as the technology evolves. Gusto has offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees based in those locations are expected to work in-office on designated days approximately two to three days per week, or more depending on the role. Travel to a Gusto office for onboarding is required. When approved to work outside a Gusto office, employees must have a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection. The role also requires regular and predictable attendance, whether in-office, hybrid, or remote. Cash compensation is targeted at $191,000–$240,000 in Denver and most remote locations, and $225,000–$275,000 in San Francisco and New York. Stock equity is additional. Final offers depend on factors including experience and expertise. Gusto describes its titles as reflecting craft and scope of ownership rather than conventional rank. Gusto is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants.

Requirements

Typically 10 or more years of software development experience.
Experience building and shipping full-stack, customer-facing products at scale.
Product-minded approach focused on customer problems and meaningful metrics; ability to work independently with product, design, and data partners.
Ability to move quickly while executing with high quality, shipping, measuring, and iterating.
Experience owning multi-quarter initiatives end to end, from concept through measurable business impact.
Comfort navigating ambiguity and leading peers through influence rather than formal authority.
Experience with large-scale refactors, performance and reliability work, and technical ownership of a product area.
Track record of mentoring engineers and helping teams scale their impact, including delegating scoped work appropriately.
Track record of identifying technical or product opportunities proactively and making the case to prioritize them.
Experience using AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and deliver product capabilities.
Ability to build well-structured, maintainable, well-documented code.
Ability to communicate effectively with engineering teams and business stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Experience in, or interest in working with, Ruby on Rails, React, GraphQL, and TypeScript.
Experience in a growth, lifecycle, or conversion-focused context, such as onboarding, upsell flows, personalization, or recommendations, or demonstrated ability to think in these ways without direct domain experience.

Responsibilities

Own outcomes across the full expansion funnel, from when a customer need surfaces through adoption and ongoing value.
Shape the technical approach and architecture for recommendations and conversion journeys, building a foundation for future initiatives.
Make scoping decisions under time constraints, shipping simple versions to test ideas and iterating based on results.
Design experiments and use ambiguous or noisy data to decide what to scale or discontinue.
Partner independently with Product, Design, and Data Science to shape the roadmap.
Provide pragmatic technical direction, conduct strong code reviews, and raise the engineering bar.
Mentor engineers, scope work, and delegate appropriately to other engineers.
Identify technical and product opportunities proactively and build the case for prioritizing them.
Leverage AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and deliver product capabilities.
Build maintainable, well-structured, and well-documented code.
Communicate effectively across engineering teams and with business stakeholders.