Principal Software Engineer, Application Platform

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 300,000 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. The People OS group is Gusto's product platform team - we are unlocking shared frameworks that can be leveraged by product teams across the Gusto platform This business unit will be one of the key contributors to Gusto's next phase of growth and will support revenue in the hundreds of millions over the next several years. We're looking for a strategic and inspirational engineering leader to empower and scale the engineering teams that are building Gusto's next big thing. If you're interested in building elegant software with far-reaching effects in our modern economy, join us Here's what you'll do day-to-day: Lead and contribute to the development of cutting-edge projects within the People OS ecosystem, with a particular focus on access control, workflows, notifications, reporting, user onboarding. Identify areas for process improvement and take the initiative to enhance engineering processes and structures. Mentor and provide guidance to software engineers, fostering their growth and development. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to tackle complex and ambiguous problems, translating them into engineering solutions that drive our People OS platform forward. Work with developers, architects, and tech leads to arrive at solutions that improve the platform experience and ensure platform health and adoption Engage with development teams across the company to evangelize platform capabilities, best practices, and adoption Continuously stay up-to-date with advancements in AI and Machine Learning, applying this knowledge to our projects. Take ownership of projects, ensuring they meet high standards of quality and performance. Actively participate in code reviews, maintain code quality, and contribute to thorough testing. Collaborate with product managers and designers to understand project requirements and deliver innovative solutions. Here's what we're looking for: 15 years of professional software development experience Experience in scaling engineering organizations with a focus on individual and team development Web & Mobile app development expertise, including release management, observability, and performance Experience as a technical lead, overseeing the work of multiple teams on projects Experience architecting, building and testing large-scale production level code Proven experience in Generative AI, Machine Learning, LLM is nice to have. You should have a track record of successfully applying techniques to real-world projects. An aptitude for tackling complex and ambiguous problems, distilling them into effective engineering solutions that drive innovation. Experience in highly cross-functional environments for highly complex products preferred. Experience in mobile, growth, core infrastructure (payments, fraud, credit) and user experience optimization preferred. Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $260,000-$299,000 in the San Francisco Bay area. 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.