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 Design at Gusto
Design at Gusto is made up of over 80 creative, collaborative people who care deeply about our mission to empower small businesses and their employees. We're a cross-functional group that is always looking for opportunities to build understanding and empathy for the people who use Gusto. We don't care much about swim lanes and though we care deeply about quality and craft, we are never precious about it. We work closely with cross-functional partners in Product, Engineering, Data, and Marketing to design, build, and ship experiences that make a real difference. We believe great design can make hard things possible, even delightful.
We are building an AI-native design organization — and we mean that seriously. We're looking for designers who are already working this way: using AI to prototype ideas quickly, shorten customer feedback loops, and ship quality UX directly to customers. This isn't a future aspiration — it's how we work now, and it's changing what the design role looks like at Gusto and across the industry.
About the Role
This is a leadership role, empowering a team of Product Designers. And, as the first Design Leader for Gusto's Banking team, you'll lead design across two products at different stages of maturity: Wallet, a long-running, established product already helping workers manage their pay, and SMB Banking, a newer banking product for small businesses. You're bringing together an established Consumer Banking design practice with a newer Business Banking effort for the first time, building the shared rituals and practices that will connect them, while staying close enough to the craft to help both products grow.
This is a player-coach role, for now — but as Banking grows, this role's balance of hands-on craft versus people leadership will shift over time. That's why we're looking for an experienced, hands-on manager: someone who's managed before and is comfortable working as player-coach, using craft to set the bar high for the team they're growing.
About the Team
Gusto already serves over 500,000 small businesses and pays millions of their employees every month. Wallet puts your team's design decisions in front of a meaningful share of those employees directly, and SMB Banking opens the door to the 6.2 million employers in the US (98% with fewer than 100 employees) and the 550,000 new businesses started every year. Because Gusto already runs payroll for hundreds of thousands of businesses, we can design banking that's connected to pay, cash flow, and hiring from day one. You'll help invent what that looks like.
Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:
- Manage an initial team of 3 designers, and hire to build your team.
- Build the rituals, hiring pipeline, and planning cadence that span both Consumer Banking and Business Banking for the first time, formalizing what already exists on Wallet and building from zero for Business Banking.
- Coach designers working at two different stages at once: one optimizing and scaling something live (Wallet), and one defining something that doesn't exist yet (SMB Banking).
- Co-create goals and success metrics with product and engineering partners for the team, translating strategy into clear scopes, sequences, and milestones.
- Raise the bar on Wallet's existing quality standard through critique and review, while defining a new standard from scratch for Business Banking.
- Stay hands-on: review and sometimes do design work directly on the highest-stakes decisions, especially on SMB Banking's path to beta, while coaching your team toward greater independence over time.
- Partner as an equal in the EPD trio with Banking's PM and engineering leads on each side, and partner regularly with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Data, and Ops given both products are regulated financial products.
- Ensure Banking's products fit cohesively into Gusto's broader financial ecosystem, coordinating with design and product counterparts on adjacent pods (like Accounting and Payments) so the customer experience feels connected across surfaces rather than fragmented by internal team boundaries.
- Build individualized career development plans with each direct report, and adapt your leadership style to the person and the moment.
- Represent Banking's design needs (headcount, quality investment, tooling) to senior design leadership.
Here’s what we're looking for:
- 10+ years of product design experience, including 4+ years of people management experience, ideally with senior designers or higher.
- You're an established manager who has worked as a player-coach before. Ideally you've managed designers across products at different stages, for example an established, metrics-driven product alongside a true 0-1 effort.
- Your portfolio and management track record show high-quality work in consumer or business financial products — fintech, banking, or financial platforms strongly preferred.
- Experience partnering with Risk, Compliance, or Legal on regulated financial products (KYC/KYB, identity verification, money movement rails, partner bank relationships) is a strong plus.
- You have experience incorporating AI tools and practices into how a whole design team works.
Our cash compensation range for this role is $178,000/yr to $253,000/yr in San Francisco and New York, and $147,000/yr to $215,000/yr in Denver. 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.
Gusto San Francisco, California, USA Office
Gusto's San Francisco office is located in a vibrant, up-and-coming area nestled between Potrero Hill and the bay. Formerly a shipbuilding hub dating back to the 1800s, this dockside area retains an industrial vibe. Gusties drive, bike, or take public transportation to our office.
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