Joblaze summary

In this role, the Staff Software Engineer will design and implement backend services and APIs that facilitate financial transactions and integrations for Gusto Retirement. The position requires strong expertise in building data-heavy workflows, particularly within financial systems, and a hands-on approach to production code and operational support. Ideal candidates will have over eight years of experience and a collaborative mindset, as they will work closely with product and compliance teams. The Financial Infrastructure team emphasizes reliability and execution, making it suitable for engineers who thrive in complex, cross-functional environments.

Joblaze insights

Listed about a month ago — first seen on Joblaze September 26, 2026. Last confirmed on Gusto's careers page November 7, 2026.
Salary band is in line with the typical range for Backend roles (median ~$180,000).
Starts at or below all 13 comparable staff backend roles in United States that list Ruby on Rails we track (median $184,000 across 4 companies).
Ruby on Rails appears in 4.9% of 288 comparable staff backend roles in United States.

Quick facts

Is the Staff Software Engineer, Retirement Money Planning role remote?: It's hybrid — Gusto expects some on-site time in Burlingame, CA - Hybrid; Denver, CO - Hybrid; New York, NY - Hybrid; San Francisco, CA - Hybrid.
What's the salary range?: Gusto lists $163,000–$204,000 for this role.
How much experience is required?: At least 8 years of relevant experience for this Staff Software Engineer, Retirement Money Planning role.
Where is the role based?: Gusto is hiring for this position in Burlingame, CA - Hybrid; Denver, CO - Hybrid; New York, NY - Hybrid; San Francisco, CA - Hybrid.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Ruby on Rails.
What seniority level is this role?: Gusto targets staff-level candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this Staff Software Engineer, Retirement Money Planning role at Gusto.

From the original posting

About Gusto

About the Role:

You'll be a key full-stack engineer focused on building and owning the systems that empower over a million savers (including entrepreneurs) to save for their retirement via 401(k)s, IRAs, and more. This is a very hands-on role: owning backend services and APIs end-to-end, building the interfaces savers use to manage their accounts, and working through real financial edge cases. You'll partner closely with Product, Design, Compliance, and Operations to turn complex financial requirements into reliable software. If you like solving hard problems and having a real impact on people's lives, then we want to work with you.

About the Team:

The Money Planning team owns the user experience for employees, savers, and entrepreneurs to manage their retirement and savings. We build features and capabilities for savers to manage their contributions, portfolios, and withdrawals. What we do matters. People are trusting us with their retirement, and that's something we never lose sight of.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

Design, build, and test the experience that enables savers to manage their 401(k)s, IRAs, and more
Contribute to the architecture of existing systems to support new capabilities
Apply AI tools as a regular part of your engineering workflow, and bring an AI-native lens to product decisions: identify where AI can reduce saver effort, simplify complex retirement decisions, and surface proactive guidance before savers know they need it
Advocate for the needs of our savers and entrepreneurs who rely on Gusto to help them save for retirement correctly and confidently
Collaborate on complex and ambiguous problems with partners across Engineering, Product Management, Design, Compliance, Operations, and other cross-functional teams
Engage in a highly supportive environment working with others to drive productivity and innovation
Debug production issues and improve reliability, observability, and operational tooling
Identify and prioritize long-term investments to improve foundational systems and architecture
Write clear, reliable, well-tested code that ships quickly and scales well

Here’s what we're looking for:

8+ years of software engineering experience building and shipping production products or platforms
Strong experience working across teams and gaining influence to drive projects forward
Strong experience with services and APIs
Strong experience with message-based systems (Sidekiq, Kafka, etc.)
Experience with Ruby on Rails a must have
Strong experience with large modern frontend applications (like React)
Experience with GraphQL
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
Comfortable working with and influencing other teams to maximize impact
Clear communicator and collaborative teammate

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, 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.

At Gusto, we don't use titles the traditional way, as a signal of rank or hierarchy. Instead, our titles describe two things at once — your craft (what you do, e.g. Engineering, Design) and your scope of ownership (what you're accountable for) — which is why you'll see something like "Head of X" instead of a rank word like "Director" that tells you neither. Because of this, the title on this posting may look different from what you'd expect based on the scope and seniority of the role, and from how similar roles are typically titled elsewhere. If you have questions about how this role compares to your current title or level, your recruiter can help translate.

Standard company text repeated across Gusto's postings is omitted here.

Staff Software Engineer, Retirement Money Planning

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