Staff Software Engineer, Infrastructure

Overview

Staff Software Engineer, Infrastructure role at Gusto.

Gusto’s mission is to grow the small business economy by handling core business infrastructure such as payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR so that business owners can focus on their craft and customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, Gusto serves more than 400,000 small businesses across the country.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the vision for Gusto’s compute and networking platforms by setting strategy for Kubernetes, service mesh, and related systems that power our global SaaS platform.
• Lead architecture design, performance optimization, and security hardening of distributed systems at scale.
• Partner with engineering leaders to translate broad organizational goals into concrete, measurable technical outcomes.
• Treat infrastructure as a product by focusing on the developer experience, simplifying workflows, and accelerating delivery.
• Serve as a mentor and force multiplier by growing the skills of mid‑level engineers through coaching, pairing, and modeling best practices.
• Communicate with clarity by simplifying complex concepts and building alignment across teams and functions.
• Lead incident response and ensure our systems meet the highest standards of availability and resiliency.

Qualifications

• 12 or more years of experience in Infrastructure, Platform, or Site Reliability Engineering roles operating large‑scale distributed systems.
• Proven hands‑on coding experience in production environments and the ability to contribute directly to system development and automation.
• Deep expertise running, scaling, and securing Kubernetes and service mesh technologies such as Istio, Envoy, or Cilium in production.
• A demonstrated record of designing highly available systems that balance reliability, observability, and developer velocity.
• Mastery of Infrastructure as Code using tools such as Terraform or Crossplane, with experience managing complex state for large engineering organizations.
• Experience owning and evolving 24/7 SaaS infrastructure including monitoring, alerting, and performance analysis.
• A systems‑thinking mindset that identifies small levers capable of creating meaningful organizational impact.
• Exceptional communication skills that simplify complex ideas and bring teams together around a shared vision.
• A strong bias toward action, resilience in the face of ambiguity, and the ability to transform big ideas into real, impactful systems.

Compensation

Targeted range: $200,000‑$230,000 per year in Denver and most remote locations; $230,000‑$270,000 per year for San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Location & Remote Policy

Physical office spaces are located in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees based in those locations are 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 Gusto subsidiary roles. When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required, including for non‑office days for hybrid employees.

Diversity & Inclusion

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 in compliance 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.

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.

Contact & Application

For more exclusive features and AI‑powered advice on this job, visit Gusto’s careers page. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out the form at Gusto’s accessibility page and a team member will get in touch.