Software Engineer Jobs at Gusto with Visa Sponsorship
Software Engineer jobs at Gusto involve working across the full product stack, as the company builds payroll, HR, and benefits software used by small businesses across the U.S. Gusto has a consistent track record of sponsoring work visas for Software Engineers, supporting candidates through H-1B visa, E-3 visa, and employment-based green card pathways.
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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:
As a Staff Engineer on the Developer Productivity - AI Developer Tools team, you will be the architectural anchor shaping the AI platform that accelerates engineering across Gusto. You will redefine how our entire engineering organization builds, tests, and ships software by architecting a highly secure, context-aware, "AI-native" development lifecycle.
Your mission is to eliminate developer friction through AI tools, multi-agent systems, and intelligent automation. Whether you are building bespoke internal coding assistants, automating sprawling codebase refactors, or deploying AI to self-heal CI/CD pipelines, your work will directly multiply the velocity of hundreds of builders. Help us drive developer productivity by building the next generation of AI tools.
About the Team:
The AI Developer Tools team is a specialized team within Developer Productivity. We believe AI is the next great leap in software craftsmanship. Our goal is to provide every builder at Gusto with a suite of "superpowers" tools that deeply understand our codebase and absorb operational toil so engineers can focus on creative problem-solving. We treat our fellow engineers as our primary customers, prioritizing developer experiences that are not just powerful, but absolutely delightful to use.
Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:
- Architect AI Core Infrastructure: Design, scale, and maintain the internal platform and APIs that integrate LLMs into the developer workflow, with a heavy focus on autonomous agents, custom retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and smart context-delivery systems.
- Drive Technical Leadership & Vision: Establish engineering best practices for building with AI at Gusto, including robust evaluation frameworks (evals), guardrails for code safety, and strategies for optimizing model latency and token spend.
- Collaborate & Evangelize: Partner closely with product engineering teams to uncover systemic friction points, and collaborate with core Infrastructure and Security teams to ensure all AI tooling is scalable, compliant, and secure.
- Optimize Feedback Loops: Identify and eliminate critical bottlenecks in the local-to-production lifecycle at scale across Gusto.
- Maintain Enterprise Reliability: Treat AI infrastructure with production-grade rigor. Monitor system health, diagnose complex integration or networking issues, and mitigate model drift or downtime.
Here’s what we're looking for:
- 8+ Years of Systems Expertise: You are a seasoned engineer who is highly comfortable navigating massive, complex codebases and delivering production-grade, distributed software.
- Production AI Experience: You have a proven track record of moving AI beyond prototypes. You possess a deep understanding of prompt engineering, fine-tuning, RAG architectures, and orchestrating multi-agent workflows.
- Developer-First Mindset: You are passionate about Developer Experience and Productivity. You intuitively understand what makes an internal tool frictionless, fast, and empowering for other engineers.
- Strategic Execution: You don't just build wrappers; you think deeply about data privacy, security, cost management, and systemic reliability when deploying AI solutions.
- Exceptional Communication: You can seamlessly translate bleeding-edge AI capabilities into clear, actionable infrastructure strategies, mentoring junior engineers and aligning cross-functional stakeholders along the way.
- Working as a Team: You work across team boundaries and bring other teams and groups along with you towards our strategic vision.
Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $180,000/yr to $200,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, $220,000/yr to $245,000/yr for San Francisco, New York & Seattle. 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.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Software Engineer Jobs at Gusto
Frame your experience around payroll infrastructure
Gusto's engineering work sits at the intersection of financial systems and developer tooling. Candidates who can speak to building reliable, compliant backend systems, especially in payments or tax calculation, stand out in the screening process.
Confirm sponsorship eligibility before applying
Gusto sponsors multiple visa types for Software Engineers, but not every role or team is structured for cap-subject H-1B petitions. Ask your recruiter directly which visa categories the specific role supports before you invest time in later interview rounds.
Time your offer around the H-1B cap window
If you need cap-subject H-1B sponsorship, USCIS only accepts petitions in April for an October 1 start. Securing your Gusto offer by February or March gives you enough runway to complete the employer filing process before the registration window opens.
Position your Australian citizenship for the E-3 advantage
Australian citizens targeting Gusto can bypass the H-1B lottery entirely through the E-3 visa. The E-3 has no annual lottery, processes at a U.S. consulate in two to four weeks, and allows two-year renewals indefinitely while you remain employed.
Understand PERM timing if a green card matters
If long-term U.S. residence is your goal, ask during the offer stage whether Gusto initiates PERM-based green card sponsorship for Software Engineers. DOL's PERM process starts with a prevailing wage determination, which can take six months before recruitment even begins.
Browse Gusto openings on Migrate Mate to filter by visa type
Use Migrate Mate to find Software Engineer roles at Gusto that match your specific visa category. Filtering by sponsorship type upfront saves you from applying to roles that won't support your situation before you reach the offer stage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Gusto sponsor H-1B visas for Software Engineers?
Yes, Gusto sponsors H-1B visas for Software Engineer roles. Because the H-1B is a specialty occupation visa, your engineering degree and job duties need to align with USCIS's definition of a specialty occupation. Software Engineer roles at a product company like Gusto generally satisfy this standard, but the specific team and role scope can affect how the petition is structured.
Which visa types does Gusto commonly use for Software Engineer roles?
Gusto sponsors H-1B, E-3, and employment-based immigrant visas including EB-2 and EB-3 for Software Engineers. Australian citizens are well-positioned to use the E-3, which bypasses the H-1B lottery and offers faster consular processing. Candidates seeking permanent residence can pursue PERM-based green card sponsorship, though timelines depend on your country of birth and USCIS priority dates.
What qualifications and experience does Gusto expect from Software Engineer candidates?
Gusto's engineering roles typically require a bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, which also satisfies the H-1B specialty occupation requirement. Practically, the team values experience with distributed systems, API design, and the kinds of reliability and compliance constraints that come with building financial software for small business customers.
How do I apply for Software Engineer jobs at Gusto?
You can find and filter Software Engineer openings at Gusto by visa type on Migrate Mate, which makes it straightforward to identify roles that match your sponsorship situation before you apply. Once you've identified a role, apply through Gusto's careers page. Recruiter screens at Gusto typically move quickly, so having your resume and visa documentation questions ready early helps you keep pace with the process.
How do I plan my timeline if I need Gusto to sponsor my visa?
The timeline depends on your visa category. E-3 applicants can typically move from offer to visa appointment within four to six weeks. H-1B sponsorship is calendar-constrained: USCIS opens registration in March, petitions are filed in April, and employment begins October 1 at the earliest. If you're pursuing a green card through PERM, expect the DOL prevailing wage and recruitment process alone to take a year or more before USCIS even receives the petition.