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.

About the role

Gusto is looking for a Staff AI/ML Engineer to join the Applied Data Science team at Gusto Retirement-App. This is a critical role to build AI and ML framework and infrastructure to enable us to strengthen and optimize how data is used to enable customer journey and experience at Gusto.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day

• Develop, test, and deploy AI/ML models to solve complex business problems, such as anomaly detection, personalized experience, generative AI application, algorithm & optimization.

• Transition models from proof-of-concept to production-ready solutions, ensuring scalability and performance.

• Review and contribute to codebases, participate in pull requests, and maintain high-quality engineering standards.

• Work with containerized environments to deploy, monitor, and troubleshoot ML services.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including analytics, engineering, products and business stakeholders, to align solutions with organizational needs.

• Become a domain expert in key business areas, enabling you to craft intelligent, impactful data-driven solutions.

Here’s what we’re looking for

• PhD with 3+ years or MS with 5+ years of industry experience in applied ML/GenAI, data science, or a related field.

• Proven track record of developing and deploying ML solutions in production, from PoC to scalable systems.

• Strong programming skills (Python, Javascript, C++, Java, or Scala) and proficiency in SQL for data extraction and manipulation.

• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), MLOps, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).

• Ability to work cross-functionally, translating business needs into AI-driven solutions and communicating effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $230k-280k for San Francisco, New York, and Seattle $205k - 255k in Los Angeles, $185k-234k in Denver, and 200k-250k CAD for Toronto. 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. 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.

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Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.