Staff Product Designer

Job description

About Gusto

Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York serve more than 400,000 businesses nationwide.

Our mission is to create a world where work empowers a better life, and it starts right here at Gusto. That’s why we’re committed to building a collaborative and inclusive workplace, both physically and virtually. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

About Design at Gusto:

Product Design at Gusto is made up of over 70 creative, collaborative people who care deeply about our mission to empower small businesses and their employees. We’re a cross-functional bunch focused on Design, Research, Writing, Ops and Front-end Development who are always looking for opportunities to build understanding and empathy for the people who use Gusto. We don’t care a whole lot about swim lanes and we work closely with our partners in Product, Engineering, Data, and Marketing to design, build and ship experiences that make a difference. We are passionate advocates for thoughtful, crafted, and inclusive experiences and we believe great design can make hard things possible, even delightful. Read more about Design at Gusto.

About the Role:

Gusto is on a mission to create a world where work empowers a better life. As part of that vision, we are building out Gusto’s HR capabilities for customers. As a Staff Product Designer, you will play a critical role in shaping the strategic vision for an emerging product at an early stage, designing conversational UI and messaging experiences that connect people and create meaningful interactions. You’ll take ownership of a significant area of Gusto’s product, influencing the entire design process—from visioning to execution to refining and launching AI-enabled experiences.

About the Team:

You’ll be a critical part of a newly formed product area within Gusto’s HR product team, dedicated to providing proactive guidance to small business owners tackling the most complex and nuanced HR challenges. We’ll offer personalized guidance on compliance, people management, and strategic growth. Over the coming months, this team will expand into multiple engineering, product, and design pods to develop a seamless, AI-powered concierge experience for small businesses.

We focus on delivering:

• Personalized HR guidance: helping small businesses navigate compliance, employee relations, and team growth with expert guidance.
• Proactive risk mitigation: providing tailored insights to help employers stay ahead of changing regulations and workplace challenges.
• White-glove service: connecting business owners with expertise to solve their most pressing people-related issues.

This is an opportunity to help shape a strategic, high-growth area from the ground up.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

• Design and refine conversational UI and messaging experiences across web and mobile platforms.
• Leverage data-driven insights to shape product experiences and improve engagement.
• Conduct research and engage with customers—particularly in the gig economy—to understand their needs and design tools that bring people closer together.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including engineering, product, and design, to iterate on AI-enabled customer support and concierge experiences.
• Ensure the user experience aligns with Gusto’s vision while considering scalability from early-stage adoption to broader market expansion.
• Balance strategic vision with execution, contributing to both long-term planning and near-term product development.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• 8+ years of experience in product design, with a strong focus on conversational UI, messaging platforms, or AI-driven customer support experiences.
• Proven track record of designing cross-platform conversational AI experiences, whether for internal tools, consumer-facing CX/support experiences, or AI-enabled applications.
• Concepting and creating variety of user flows and workflows for internal tooling experiences.
• Experience scaling early-stage products in a B2B or B2C environment, particularly in Series B-C startups or mid-stage growth (2→10) companies.
• Strong research and customer empathy skills, with a background in designing tools that connect people—especially in consumer gig platforms, concierge services, or machine-mediated applications.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and refine scope as the user base scales, balancing short-term execution with long-term product vision.
• Familiarity with service design methods, including journey mapping and blueprinting, to align stakeholders and drive strategic product decisions.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work independently or cross-functionally, driving alignment across design, engineering, product, and data teams.

Our cash compensation range for this role is $146,000/yr to $183,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $177,000/yr to $222,000/yr in San Francisco, Seattle & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.

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.

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.