Staff Software Engineer, Gusto Pro
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:
As a Staff Software Engineer on Gusto Pro Integrations, you'll build and own integrations between Gusto and the third-party tools accounting firms already use to run their practice. The team maintains a growing portfolio of integrations today (including our Bookkeeping integrations), and we expect that portfolio to keep expanding as the team grows what "integrations" means for Gusto Pro. You'll work hands-on across the stack (Ruby on Rails, Sidekiq), including evaluating both traditional API integrations and emerging AI agent protocols like MCP (Model Context Protocol), while partnering closely with Product, Design, and Data Science to make sure every integration fits naturally into how accountants actually work. This is a high-ownership role on a small, growing team: the Integrations roadmap ahead isn't fully defined yet, and you'll have real input into what gets built next.
About the Team:
The Gusto Pro Integrations team builds and maintains integrations between Gusto and the third-party software used by accounting firms — including our existing Bookkeeping integrations, with more added over time. We expect the set of integrations we own to keep growing, across the various tools and platforms accountants already rely on. We work closely with Gusto Pro's other teams to deliver a seamless experience for accounting professionals.
Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:
- Own and extend Gusto's existing third-party integrations and help build out new ones as the portfolio grows
- Design and build reliable backend services (Ruby on Rails, Sidekiq) that sync data between Gusto and partner platforms
- Evaluate and help build new integration patterns — including AI agent protocols like MCP — as we expand beyond traditional API integrations
- Help define the technical approach and roadmap as the Integrations domain grows
- Partner with Product, Design, and Data Science to validate accountant workflows and iterate based on feedback
- Participate in code review and help set the technical bar for a team that's still establishing its engineering practices
- Mentor other engineers as the team scales
Here’s what we're looking for:
- 8+ years of professional software development experience
- Experience owning multi-quarter projects end-to-end — scoping, planning, execution, stakeholder management, and launch
- Strong platform/application engineering background: services, APIs, third-party integrations, data flows, observability
- Comfortable operating in an ambiguous, early-stage domain where the roadmap isn't fully written yet
- Ruby on Rails experience strongly preferred; experience with OAuth and third-party API integrations a plus
- Familiarity with AI agent protocols (e.g., MCP) or agentic integration patterns is a plus
- Excellent communication skills — able to explain technical tradeoffs to both engineers and cross-functional partners
- AI-native mindset, with AI tools naturally embedded in your daily engineering workflow (code generation, review, debugging, documentation)
Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $163,000–$204,000 in Denver, and $197,000–$247,000 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 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.
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Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.
