Software Engineer, People Technology

Gusto, Inc.•San Francisco, CA

11h•$163,370 - $247,369•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Software Engineer to join our People Technology team as the dedicated engineer behind PeopleOS — our AI-native internal HR platform — and the broader suite of custom tools and integrations that power our People tech ecosystem. In this role, you will design, build, and ship software that directly shapes how every Gustie experiences HR, from recruiting and onboarding to performance and offboarding. The ideal candidate is a hands-on full-stack engineer and problem solver who thrives in ambiguity, cares about the employee experience, and wants to see their work used every day by real people.

Requirements

3–5 years of full-stack software engineering experience, with production-quality work in Python, TypeScript/Node.js, or both
Strong experience building and consuming REST APIs — including OAuth flows, rate limiting, pagination, and error handling
Demonstrated ability to integrate SaaS platforms (bonus: Workday, Greenhouse, Slack, or Google Workspace)
Comfort with AI/LLM API integration — Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, or equivalent — including prompt design and response parsing
Experience shipping internal tools or developer tooling with real end users and feedback loops
Strong written communication: you can document your own APIs, write a clear tech spec, and explain trade-offs to non-engineers
An understanding of sensitivity of HR data and familiarity with implications of labor law and data retention guidelines

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with MCP (Model Context Protocol) server architecture
Experience with HR Tech ecosystems: HRIS, ATS, LMS platforms
Background in People Ops, HR Systems, or internal tools engineering at a high-growth tech company
Experience with XML, XSLT, JSON, and related integration technologies

Responsibilities

Be the technical owner for PeopleOS, our internal AI-powered HR platform that was built with the purpose of enhanced Gustie experiences for people programs and a more efficient People team with features like the Offer Workflow Engine, People Home Base portal, Celebration tools, and automated Talk Track generation
Partner directly with People Ops stakeholders to translate workflows into working software driving technical design, implementation, UAT support, and release
Design, build, test, and maintain integrations across Workday, Greenhouse, Lattice, Slack, and Google Workspace
Build and maintain custom MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that give AI agents structured access to People Systems data where no native tool MCP exists
Integrate the Anthropic API (Claude) to build intelligent internal tools including QPR coaching agents, HR front door chatbots, and ticket deflection workflows
Design prompts, handle structured outputs, and build safe, reliable AI-assisted workflows for People Ops use cases
Document integration specs, data mappings, and system configurations in Notion
Participate in Jira sprint planning and demo work to stakeholders bi-weekly
Troubleshoot issues, identify root causes, and proactively implement corrective actions across the portfolio