Product Counsel - PEO​/Employment Law

About Gusto

At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff—like payroll, health insurance, 401(k) s, and HR—so owners can focus on their craft and customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we’re proud to support more than 400,000 small businesses across the country, and we’re building a workplace that represents and celebrates the customers we serve.

Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

We are seeking a creative, experienced attorney who wants to apply their deep expertise in employment law (and co-employment issues) to help shape tech-forward products and services for small businesses. This is a unique opportunity to help build Gusto's Professional Employer Organization (PEO) offerings and drive Legal & Compliance cross-functional work streams for one of Gusto's most strategic new business lines.

In this role, you will move fluidly between providing front-line advice on Professional Employer Organization (PEO), Human Resource, and co-employment issues, and partnering with colleagues to ensure delivery of advice and counsel across all Legal & Compliance-related work streams. You will be a key collaborator and primary point of contact for the PEO business teams.

Success in this role will require an ownership mindset, experience driving major product launches, and a focus on curiosity, collaboration, flexibility, and a good sense of humor. Attorneys are expected to use AI tools to accelerate research and processes, synthesize insights, and refine positioning and content with speed and precision, while maintaining accuracy and consistency with legal best practices.

Gusto’s Legal & Compliance team partners with product and engineering teams to enable innovation, facilitate responsible company growth, accelerate the Gusto roadmap, and provide compliant products to our customers through solution-focused counsel on legal and business risks. We are passionate about using groundbreaking technology and excellent service to elevate the experience of small business owners and their employees. Each team member takes real ownership of their work and makes a meaningful impact every day.

• Provide front-line legal support to PEO product and operations teams.
• Drive legal and compliance work streams and cross‑functional collaboration for pre‑launch milestones, compliance frameworks, vendor onboarding, and Go‑to‑Market readiness.
• Advise on risk, product design, features, and operational workflows; address compliance with employment, payroll, HR, licensing, and other requirements relevant to the PEO offering.
• Develop actionable guidance, templates, and internal training for PEO‑related products.
• Partner cross‑functionally and build consensus with Legal and Compliance, Product, Finance, and Operations teams.
• Create and maintain PEO‑related compliance work‑product to support internal compliance tracking and content creation processes.

• 7+ years of legal experience, including in‑house experience at a technology company. Experience must include employment law, litigation, and product counseling. We have a strong preference for PEO experience. We encourage exceptional candidates without PEO experience to apply if they have a demonstrated ability to quickly acquire deep expertise in complex new legal domains.
• Deep experience providing pragmatic legal guidance on tech products and employment obligations.
• Demonstrated ability to build consensus and strong working relationships.
• A collaborative, solution‑oriented mindset with a focus on progress and teamwork (no job is too big or too small).
• An eagerness to dive in, take ownership of projects, and manage work with accountability, while ensuring appropriate visibility and smooth escalation to senior counsel or other decision‑makers.
• Experience using AI tools to deliver efficiency in your individual work and as essential components in the processes you develop and improve.
• JD degree and membership in a State bar with a current license to practice law.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is between $177,000 - $208,000/year in…