Remote opportunity at
Gusto, Inc.Senior Product Design Manager, Payroll
Gusto, Inc. is hiring a Senior Product Design Manager, Payroll to lead design efforts for its core payroll product area. Gusto builds tools such as payroll,…
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About This Role
Gusto, Inc. is hiring a Senior Product Design Manager, Payroll to lead design efforts for its core payroll product area. Gusto builds tools such as payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR to support over 500,000 small businesses nationwide. This high-impact, high-visibility role involves managing a design team, shaping the long-term user experience strategy for payroll, and driving AI and automation initiatives that simplify complex workflows. This position requires deep systems…
Job Description
Gusto, Inc. is hiring a Senior Product Design Manager, Payroll to lead design efforts for its core payroll product area. Gusto builds tools such as payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR to support over 500,000 small businesses nationwide. This high-impact, high-visibility role involves managing a design team, shaping the long-term user experience strategy for payroll, and driving AI and automation initiatives that simplify complex workflows.
This position requires deep systems thinking and a track record of handling intricate, regulated domains. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with cross-functional partners including product, engineering, research, data, operations, and compliance. Team members at Gusto are expected to actively engage with artificial intelligence tools relevant to their responsibilities.
Full-time employees receive competitive compensation packages that include equity in the form of restricted stock units alongside standard benefits. Cash compensation varies based on location, ranging from $172,000 to $237,000 annually in Denver and most remote locations, and from $202,000 to $279,000 annually in San Francisco, Seattle, and New York.
Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end design for the payroll product to ensure small businesses can pay teams correctly and on time
- Define and communicate the long-term user experience vision for payroll and align multiple teams around it
- Partner with product, engineering, data, and operations to establish strategy and roadmaps
- Lead product initiatives centering on artificial intelligence and automation to minimize manual work while preserving accuracy and trust
- Collaborate with research and data teams to transform customer insights into actionable user experience priorities
- Influence technical and product roadmaps by advocating for design quality and customer needs
- Establish standards for quality and judgment across all design work, including AI-assisted outputs
- Create and scale shared standards, principles, and patterns that foster consistency and velocity
- Manage, mentor, and grow a team of designers by providing direct support and clear direction
- Champion the payroll experience as the core foundation of the wider people platform
Requirements
- Possess 8 to 10 or more years of product design experience
- Have at least 3 years of experience leading and managing design teams
- Demonstrate experience designing in complex domains such as financial products, healthcare, or similarly regulated environments
- Show a proven ability to set user experience direction across multiple teams and influence product strategy
- Demonstrate a track record of driving alignment across cross-functional partners in strategic conversations
- Exhibit deep systems thinking capabilities with experience simplifying interconnected, complex workflows
- Apply clear and direct communication and storytelling skills to explain design decisions
- Demonstrate an active engagement with AI tools relevant to the role
Qualifications
- Demonstrated ability to assess AI-generated design directions, knowing when to utilize or override them and how to raise output quality
- Experience leading product initiatives where artificial intelligence or automation is central to the user experience in high-stakes contexts
- Experience leading a team through an artificial intelligence workflow transition, including establishing new standards and norms
Core Skills
Benefits
- Competitive base pay
- Equity in the form of restricted stock units
- Standard employee benefits
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
What is the employment type for this role?
This position is full-time.
What is the salary range for the Senior Product Design Manager, Payroll position?
The cash compensation ranges from $172,000 to $237,000 per year in Denver and most remote locations, and from $202,000 to $279,000 per year in San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Final offer amounts depend on factors such as candidate experience and expertise.
What background is required for applicants?
Applicants must have 8 to 10+ years of product design experience, including at least 3 years leading and managing design teams. Experience in complex, regulated domains like financial products or healthcare is also required.
Sample Interview Questions
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