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. 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.
About the Role:
You’ll be a key engineer focused on building and owning the systems that move money and assets through Gusto Retirement. This is a very hands-on role: owning backend services and APIs end-to-end, shipping production code, and working through real financial edge cases. You’ll partner closely with product, compliance, and operations to turn complex financial requirements into reliable software. If you like working on core systems where correctness matters and enjoy getting things shipped, you’ll be a great fit.
About the Team:
The Financial Infrastructure team owns the core money and asset flow systems for Gusto Retirement. We’re a senior team that works on payments, settlements, tax and compliance integrations, and much more. The work is complex and often cross-functional, so we stay focused, collaborate closely, and keep tight ownership of what we build. We work closely with product and partner teams, but we’re responsible for execution and reliability end-to-end.
Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:
- Design, build, and ship services and APIs for money movement and financial integrations
- Work on payments, settlements, reconciliation, and corrections involving real customer funds
- Build and support critical workflows like payroll integration, KYB/KYC, 401k loans, billing and invoicing, and IRA
- Partner with product, compliance, and operations to scope work and deliver production-ready solutions
- Debug production issues and improve reliability, observability, and operational tooling
- Collaborate with other engineering teams to integrate with shared systems and platforms
- Mentor other engineers to help solve some of the hardest technical problems out there in very complex domains and at a large scale
- Write clear, reliable, well-tested code that ships quickly and scales well
- Build a product that our customers genuinely love
Here’s what we’re looking for:
- 8+ years of software engineering experience building and shipping production products or platforms
- Strong experience with services, APIs, and data-heavy workflows.
- Experience working on financial systems, payments, or other high-correctness domains (or the ability to ramp quickly).
- Comfortable owning systems end-to-end, including production support and operational work.
- Experience working closely with PMs and cross-functional partners to deliver scoped work.
- Pragmatic, execution-focused approach to engineering.
- Clear communicator and collaborative teammate.
- Ability to mentor engineers to maximize their performance and impact
- Experience with Ruby on Rails (or a comparable backend framework).
Bonus Points:
- Experience leveraging AI tools or systems to accelerate development, improve testing, and deliver new product capabilities.
- Curiosity and experimentation with emerging AI frameworks, applying and sharing best practices to evaluate and scale AI use safely across teams.
Please note that travel to Gusto’s office for onboarding is required for this position. If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please share with your recruiter.
Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $163,000–$204,000 in Denver & most remote locations, and $197,000–$247,000 for San Francisco & New York. Stock equity is additional. 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.
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.
Career Guide for Gusto’s Financial Infrastructure Engineer Role
Job Overview
The Financial Infrastructure Engineer at Gusto plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining the systems that manage financial transactions, such as payroll and retirement accounts. This is a hands-on position where you will write and manage backend services to ensure accuracy and reliability in money movement and financial integrations. You will work closely with other teams to turn complex financial requirements into effective software solutions.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, build, and deploy services and APIs for financial transactions.
- Handle payments, settlements, and reconciliations involving real customer funds.
- Support vital workflows including payroll integration and compliance measures.
- Collaborate with product teams and other stakeholders to deliver solutions.
- Debug production issues to enhance system reliability.
- Mentor junior engineers and assist in solving complex technical challenges.
- Write efficient, well-tested code that can be quickly deployed.
Required Skills and Knowledge
Technical Skills
- Proficient in backend development, particularly with Ruby on Rails or similar frameworks.
- Experience in building APIs and managing data-intensive workflows.
- Familiarity with financial systems, payments, and compliance protocols.
Soft Skills
- Strong communication skills for effective collaboration.
- Ability to work pragmatically and focus on delivering results.
- Mentorship capability to guide junior engineers.
Tools and Technologies
- API development frameworks (e.g., Ruby on Rails).
- Financial transaction processing tools.
- Debugging and monitoring tools for production systems.
Certifications or Training
- Certifications in software engineering or financial technology may enhance hiring chances.
- Training in AI tools and their applications in software development is a plus.
Interview Preparation
Common Interview Questions
- Describe your experience with building APIs. How did you ensure reliability?
- Can you discuss a challenging project in financial systems you’ve worked on?
- How do you handle debugging in a production environment?
- Explain your experience with mentorship and team collaboration.
- What approaches do you take to manage tight deadlines?
- Share an example of how you’ve used data to make a technical decision.
- How do you keep updated with emerging technologies, particularly AI?
- What are the key considerations when developing financial software?
- Can you describe a time when you improved a system’s reliability?
- How do you prioritize tasks in a complex project?
Advice on How to Answer Them
- Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers.
- Provide specific examples from your past experiences.
- Demonstrate your problem-solving abilities and technical skills clearly.
Important Topics Candidates Should Review
- Financial regulations and compliance.
- API design principles and best practices.
- Debugging methodologies in production settings.
- Recent advancements in AI technologies relevant to software engineering.
How to Increase Your Hiring Chances
CV Improvement
- Highlight relevant experience in financial systems and backend development.
- Use quantifiable achievements to showcase your impact.
LinkedIn Profile Optimization
- Ensure your profile reflects your expertise in financial technology and programming skills.
- Engage with industry content to showcase your knowledge and interests.
Portfolio or Project Ideas
- Create a project that demonstrates your ability to handle payments or APIs.
- Work on open-source contributions in the financial technology domain.
Learning Recommendations
- Online courses in software engineering, especially focused on backend technologies.
- Workshops or webinars on financial systems and compliance.
- Resources on integrating AI into software development processes.
Career Growth
In this role, you can progress to higher engineering positions such as Senior Engineer or Engineering Manager. Opportunities may also extend into specialized areas like DevOps or Data Engineering, depending on your interests and skills. Continuous learning and taking on more complex projects will significantly enhance your career trajectory.
How to Apply
Apply for this position through the original job source: