Greenhouse ·
contractStaff Software Engineer, Payroll Platform
Gusto · San Francisco, CA - Hybrid
Gusto is a company operating in the HR and small business services sector, providing integrated solutions for payroll, health insurance, and 401(k) management. As a Staff Software Engineer on the Payroll Platform team, you will focus on building and maintaining the backend infrastructure that powers payroll workflows for over 500,000 small businesses. This role involves designing and evolving internal APIs and services that are consumed by other product teams, requiring a deep focus on scalability, system reliability, and regulatory compliance. You will own complex technical domains, author architecture design documents, and act as a technical partner to cross-functional teams to ensure the platform meets the needs of both internal developers and external partners. The position is well-suited for a senior engineer with over eight years of backend experience who excels at navigating ambiguous technical challenges and building shared services. Candidates should be comfortable working in a hybrid environment and actively integrating AI-assisted development tools into their daily workflow to improve code quality and development velocity.
About Gusto 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 500,000 small businesses nationwide and are building a workplace that reflects the people we serve. All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) — because everyone who helps build Gusto should share in its success. Offer amounts are determined by role, level, and location. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy . 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. About the Role: We’re hiring a Staff Software Engineer to join Gusto’s Payroll Platform team, where you’ll build backend product infrastructure that powers payroll experiences across Gusto. This is a fully backend role focused on designing and evolving internal APIs and services used by other product teams to deliver accurate, compliant, and scalable payroll. You’ll own complex technical problems end-to-end, partner closely with other engineering teams, and help raise the bar on how payroll capabilities are built and consumed across the company. About the Team: The Payroll Platform team builds the foundational services that make payroll possible at Gusto. Our customers are internal product teams building payroll, time, contractor, and accountant experiences, as well as external partners through Gusto Embedded Payroll. We focus on creating reliable, performant, and well-designed APIs that abstract away payroll complexity and enable teams to move faster with confidence. Our work sits at the intersection of backend product engineering, developer experience, and large-scale systems in a highly regulated domain. Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day: Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs that support core payroll workflows and are consumed by multiple Gusto engineering teams Own a primary domain within the Payroll Platform, taking responsibility for system health, correctness, scalability, and long-term evolution Act as a technical partner to other engineering teams, collaborating closely to understand their needs, guide platform adoption, and co-design solutions that scale across use cases Author and drive architecture and design documents, contributing to technical direction while balancing near-term delivery with long-term platform goals Improve system performance, reliability, and observability as we scale payroll processing for hundreds of thousands of businesses Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, Data, Compliance, and Operations to deliver compliant and customer-impacting solutions Routinely leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate development, improve code quality, and documentation, and help normalize and spread effective usage across the team. Here’s what we're looking for: 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong focus on backend development Experience building and scaling internal platforms, shared services, or foundational APIs that support multiple product teams Proven ability to work independently on ambiguous problems, from understanding the business need through delivery and iteration Strong system design skills, including experience with performance optimization, scalability, and reliability in production systems Actively uses AI-assisted development tools (LLMs, Claude Code, Cursor) in daily engineering work and is comfortable helping teams adopt effective, responsible usage Experience collaborating across teams and acting as a technical partner in a product-focused engineering organization Proficiency in one or more backend programming languages; experience with Ruby is strongly preferred but not required Please note that travel to Gusto’s Denver office for onboarding is required for this position. If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please share with your recruiter. Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $163,000/yr to $204,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $197,000/yr to $247,000/yr for San Francisco, Seattle & New York. Stock equity is additional. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above. At Gusto, we don't use titles the traditional way, as a signal of rank or hierarchy. Instead, our titles describe two things at once — your craft (what you do, e.g. Engineering, Design) and your scope of ownership (what you're accountable for) — which is why you'll see something like "Head of X" instead of a rank word like "Director" that tells you neither. Because of this, the title on t
| Role | Staff Software Engineer, Payroll Platform |
|---|---|
| Company | Gusto |
| Location | San Francisco, CA - Hybrid |
| Type | contract |
| Compensation | Not disclosed |
| Posted | 2026-10-16 |
| Deadline | Rolling |
Typical process for this type of role
A general guide — the exact steps for this specific listing may vary; check the original posting for details.
- 1ApplicationSubmit your resume through the apply link.
- 2ScreeningRecruiter reviews your background against the role.
- 3AssessmentA technical test, assignment, or coding round, depending on the role.
- 4Interview(s)One or more rounds with the hiring team.
- 5OfferOffer letter with compensation and start date.
Before you apply
0/4Staff Software Engineer, Payroll Platform at Gusto: frequently asked questions
- What is the salary for this role?
- Gusto has not stated compensation in the listing. Check the original posting or ask during the application process.
- Is the Staff Software Engineer, Payroll Platform position remote, hybrid or onsite?
- The listing gives San Francisco, CA - Hybrid as the location and does not state a work mode.
- What is the application deadline?
- Gusto has not listed a fixed deadline, so apply early in case the opening is filled.
- How do I apply for the Staff Software Engineer, Payroll Platform role?
- Use the Apply button on this page. It opens the original listing on job-boards.greenhouse.io, where you submit your application with the company.
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