Sr. Staff Software Engineer, Pay Group Engineering

Overview Sr. Staff Software Engineer, Pay Group Engineering at Gusto. Join to apply for the Sr. Staff Software Engineer, Pay Group Engineering role at Gusto. About Gusto: At Gusto, we’re on a mission to grow the small business economy by handling payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR so owners can focus on their craft and customers. We serve over 400,000 small businesses across the country and operate with teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York. About the Role We’re hiring seasoned engineers to join our teams that work on core platform capabilities, improving our existing systems for extensibility and scalability, and building the future of Gusto's Payroll system. As a Gusto Software Engineer at this level, you’ll guide projects end-to-end by influencing initial feature specs, shaping how existing systems move toward desired end states, executing on projects, and maintaining code powering core experiences. Team and Focus Payroll is the beating heart of Gusto’s business. The Pay Group teams own the product, operations, and services used to onboard customers, process payrolls, calculate taxes & deductions, pay and file with tax agencies, and maintain compliance for customers. Sub–Teams include: Contractors + EOR : Building a platform for hiring, paying, and managing the entire workforce, including international teammates. Focused on fast, reliable, compliant contractor payments and workflows with automation, reimbursements, and bulk onboarding. Payroll : Core payroll infrastructure and customer experiences from setup through submission, designed to be simple, reliable, and compliant. Tax : End-to-end payroll tax management—setup, calculation, payments, filings, and year-end communications—kept accurate and timely through robust systems and thoughtful design. Time : Tools to schedule, track, and manage teams with automation and mobile-first workflows to reduce complexity for employers and empower employees. Responsibilities Design, build, and test the foundation that supports compliant payroll for millions of people Scale one of the largest Ruby/Rails and TypeScript/React applications Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Engineering, Product Management, Design, Data Science, Compliance, Operations) Build the software platform that powers multiple products and serves millions of businesses Mentor and grow fellow engineers to create holistic and scalable solutions Drive the product development process from concept to launch Improve team productivity and happiness through the services, tools, and APIs you build Contribute to a highly supportive environment that drives productivity and innovation Own and drive the technical strategy and roadmap for your domain aligned with team OKRs Identify and prioritize long-term investments to improve foundational systems and architecture Lead improvements to incident response processes, tooling, and culture to enhance reliability Qualifications 12+ years of experience Experience designing and developing robust, distributed systems using multiple general-purpose programming languages Experience guiding multiple teams on scaling, refactoring, and optimizing legacy products Experience architecting, building, and testing large-scale production code Ability to bring clarity to complex problems and communicate technical tradeoffs Collaborative, test-driven mindset Maintainable, well-documented code Experience building fault-tolerant, mission-critical software Experience in highly regulated domains is desired but not required Experience in Payroll, Taxes, or Compliance domains preferred Bonus: Ruby on Rails, TypeScript, and React Please note: Travel to Gusto’s Denver office for onboarding is required for this position. If you have questions about this requirement, share them with your recruiter. Compensation targets: $191,000–$240,000/yr in Denver and most remote locations; $225,000–$275,000/yr in San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Stock equity is additional. Final offers depend on experience and may vary. Office expectations: Gusto has offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees based in those locations are typically asked to work from the office 2–3 days per week (or more, depending on role). San Francisco office notes cover the SF and San Jose metro areas. Hybrid work requires a reliable internet connection on non-office days. Gusto is an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. For accommodations requests, please contact our team. Review our Applicant Privacy Notice for personal information collected during applications. Additional Seniority level: Mid-Senior level Employment type: Full-time Job function: Engineering and Information Technology Industries: Software Development #J-18808-Ljbffr