R&D Insights and Operations - Growth

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.

We're looking for a builder to help construct a world class Growth organization. This is an opinionated leader that is motivated by creating big picture vision and digging into where the biggest opportunities are, sizing them, and building the systems, rigor, and connective tissue that let Growth and GTM operate cohesively. This is a member of Gusto's Insights & Operations (I&O) team — our internal Strategy/BizOps function — embedded against Growth, partnering closely with our Head of Growth and our CRO-side GTM leadership.

This role is intentionally IC-first. You'll start by going deep on the highest-leverage problems in Growth, build a point of view grounded in data, and drive it to outcome. As trust and scope grow, this role is expected to expand — most likely into owning the operating bridge between Growth and our broader go-to-market organization, and potentially into building and leading a small team.

Gusto's Growth organization is on an ambitious trajectory: we're building toward a much more self-serve-led motion, and the opportunity ahead is significant. As Growth scales, we have a chance to be much more intentional about how it connects to Product and to our go-to-market teams (sales, demand gen, expansion sales, pricing, etc) — building a shared, prioritized roadmap and clear visibility into dependencies from the ground up, rather than retrofitting it later.

• Identify and size the highest-leverage opportunities for Growth: go from a fuzzy problem to a clear-eyed analysis of the opportunity, a recommendation on whether to pursue it, and a plan if the answer is yes.
• Anchor on problems, not headcount: dig into what's actually slowing the Growth organization down, define how to build a best in class engine, size the opportunity, and decide what's worth solving before proposing who or what is needed — not the reverse.
• Build the operating rhythm for Growth and drive execution against it: planning cycles, prioritization, and a shared, prioritized roadmap that makes trade-offs and dependencies visible across Growth R&D, Product R&D, and GTM.
• Bring real analytical rigor to how Growth invests — attribution, LTV, and testing/experimentation discipline — so decisions about where to deploy resources are tied clearly to business impact.

• 15+ years in operations, business operations, or strategy & ops at a high-growth technology company. This must include time spent building a growth function from an earlier, less mature stage.
• Direct experience with the discipline behind growth decision-making: attribution and LTV modeling, testing and experimentation, and translating marketing/growth spend into demonstrable business impact.
• A track record of working at the intersection of growth and go-to-market (or product and sales) — connecting teams with different incentives around a shared goal.
• A strong point of view on how operations should scale: knowing when a problem needs a dedicated system vs. when it needs reprioritization, and resisting the urge to grow headcount by default.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is between $188,510 - $232,496/year in Denver and between $221,275 - $298,721/year for New York/San Francisco, Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, 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. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.

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.