Staff Software Engineer, HR Experience

Gusto
New York, NY
Hybrid

In the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026, Gusto filed 9 H-1B positions titled "Software Engineer". Source: U.S. Department of Labor, LCA disclosure data. A record of filings already made, not a commitment to sponsor.

Who this role is best for

Best suited to experienced full-stack engineers with a background in HR tech, working in a hybrid environment with a focus on end-to-end project ownership and cross-functional collaboration.

Best fit for

  • Experienced full-stack engineers with a history of end-to-end feature ownership in HR or fintech domains
    — “8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including full-stack work”
  • Individuals with strong technical design and communication skills, able to lead and mentor others
    — “Provide technical guidance and code-review mentorship to less-tenured engineers”

Things to consider

  • Hybrid work arrangement requires regular in-office attendance in New York, Denver, or San Francisco
    — “Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week”
  • Candidates should be prepared for on-call responsibilities and incident response for owned systems
    — “Participate in on-call rotation and lead incident response for owned systems”

How to stand out

  • Highlight end-to-end ownership of features in your resume and interview responses
    — “Owns full-stack features independently — from technical design through implementation, testing, and production monitoring”
  • Demonstrate fluency in both frontend and backend technologies, with examples of full-stack work
    — “Strong proficiency in at least one modern backend language/framework and one modern frontend framework”
  • Showcase experience with cross-functional collaboration, especially with product and design teams
    — “Partner with product and design to translate requirements into technical solutions”
  • Emphasize your ability to write clean, well-tested, and maintainable code in your application materials
    — “Write clean, well-tested, maintainable code across the stack”
  • Include examples of your technical design documentation and communication skills in your portfolio
    — “Clear written and verbal communication, including technical design docs”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • design and implementation of HRX features
  • improvement of system reliability and performance
Typical background
software engineeringfull-stack development

Skills & requirements

Required

Full-stack DevelopmentClean CodeTechnical DesignCI/CDCross-functional Collaboration

Preferred

HR TechREST Or Graphql ApisAccessibility Best Practices

Stack & domain

Ruby On RailsNode.jsPython/djangoReactTypeScriptRelational DatabasesRESTGraphQLAccessibilityCommunicationCollaborationTechnical DesignHR TechPayrollFintech

About the role

Original posting from Gusto via Greenhouse

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

Owns full-stack features independently — from technical design through implementation, testing, and

production monitoring — with light oversight.

What you'll do

  • Design, build, and maintain features for the HRX Engineering (HR Experience) product surface
  • Write clean, well-tested, maintainable code across the stack
  • Participate in code review, sprint planning, and retros
  • Partner with product and design to translate requirements into technical solutions
  • Help monitor and improve the reliability, performance, and quality of shipped features
  • Participate in on-call rotation and lead incident response for owned systems
  • Provide technical guidance and code-review mentorship to less-tenured engineers

What we're looking for

  • 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including full-stack work
  • Demonstrated ability to design, build, and ship features spanning frontend, backend, and data layer with

minimal oversight

  • Strong proficiency in at least one modern backend language/framework (e.g., Ruby on Rails, Node.js,

Python/Django) and one modern frontend framework (e.g., React, TypeScript)

  • Solid understanding of relational databases — schema design, migrations, and query performance
  • Comfortable owning a project end-to-end: scoping, technical design, implementation, testing,

deployment, and monitoring

  • Strong grounding in software engineering fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, automated testing,

CI/CD

  • Experience partnering cross-functionally with product managers, designers, and other engineers
  • Clear written and verbal communication, including technical design docs

Nice to have

  • Experience in HR tech, payroll, or fintech domains
  • Experience designing REST or GraphQL APIs
  • Exposure to accessibility (a11y) best practices

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $197,000–$247,000 for New York. 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 this posting may look different from what you'd expect based on the scope and seniority of the role, and from how similar roles are typically titled elsewhere. If you have questions about how this role compares to your current title or level, your recruiter can help translate.

Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale.

Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas. 

When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.

Reliable, consistent presence: We expect regular and predictable attendance, whether you're working in-office, hybrid, or fully remote, so that you stay closely connected to your team, customers, and stakeholders in real time and ensure colleagues and customers receive the timely support and responsiveness they deserve.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto. 

Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.

Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer.

Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.

Source: Gusto careers (Greenhouse)

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