Product Designer, Contractors

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.

AI is a fundamental part of how work gets done  expect all team members to actively engage with AI tools relevant to their role and to grow their fluency as the technology evolves. AI experience requirements vary by role and will be assessed during the interview process.

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 continually seeks opportunities to build empathy for the people who use Gusto. We value quality and craft, yet remain agile and collaborative.

We work closely with product, engineering, data, and marketing to design, build, and ship experiences that make a real difference.

We are building an AI‑native design organization. We expect designers to use AI to prototype quickly, shorten feedback loops, and ship quality UX directly to customers. This is how we work now and it shapes the design role at Gusto.

Our Contractors team helps small and medium business owners hire, manage, and pay domestic and international contractors, as well as helping contractors manage their client engagements and build their own thriving businesses.

As a staff product designer, you’ll help bring our contractor products to maturity. You’ll be the IC design leader across this area, driving foundational shifts to our platform and customer experiences. You will lead the entire product development process from setting long‑term vision to launching new features and iterating on existing ones.

• Drive end‑to‑end design strategy and execution across the contractors experience from discovery and visioning through iterative delivery and refinement.
• Partner with product, engineering, research, data, legal, compliance, operations, and support to define problem spaces, align on priorities, and deliver solutions that meet both customer and business needs.
• Translate insights from research and data into intuitive, scalable experiences that support a variety of customer workflows.
• Champion thoughtful, inclusive design by participating in design reviews, sharing feedback, and contributing to design standards and platform quality.
• Bring genuine AI fluency to your design practice, using it to prototype quickly, shorten feedback loops, and improve contractor experiences.
• Mentor and support fellow designers by offering thoughtful critique, sharing knowledge, and contributing to design community initiatives across Gusto.

• 8+ years of product design experience with demonstrated impact in complex domains.
• Proven ability to lead design direction at the product level and influence cross‑functional partners.
• Strong collaboration experience with partners in product, engineering, research, and data.
• A portfolio that demonstrates high‑quality interaction and visual design with thoughtful consideration for accessibility and end‑to‑end user experiences.
• Comfort translating ambiguity into clear design decisions and outcomes.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to align teams around shared goals.
• Demonstrated AI fluency in your design practice. You’re using AI to move faster, prototype more, and make better decisions.

At Gusto, we strive to provide rewards that empower employees to achieve their financial and personal goals. We offer competitive compensation packages with a strong emphasis on equity‑based compensation (ownership in Gusto). Compensation for this role ranges from $146,000/yr to $183,000/yr in Denver and most remote locations, and…