Senior Compensation Manager

The posting, as Gusto wrote it

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

The Senior Compensation Manager is a core member of Gusto's People team, responsible for building and scaling the compensation programs that help us attract, retain, and reward top talent. This role exists to bring rigor, fairness, and strategic clarity to how Gusto thinks about pay — operating at the intersection of data, policy, and people.

Operating with a systems-first, AI-native mindset, the Senior Compensation Manager uses automation, scalable workflows, and well-designed tooling to improve decision quality, ensure compliance, and reduce reliance on manual, one-off analysis. This role partners closely with HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, and business leaders to ensure our compensation programs are grounded in market reality and aligned to our values.

Success in this role is measured by the quality and fairness of compensation decisions, the scalability and reliability of our programs, and the degree to which the organization can operate with confidence — without constant intervention or heroics.

Gusto's compensation function, built on first-principles thinking, is at an inflection point — scaling from early foundations to a mature, high-trust operation. You'll have real ownership to shape how we design and deliver compensation as the company grows.

Here's what you'll do day to day

• Develop, implement, and communicate Gusto's compensation programs, policies, and procedures, ensuring internal equity, external competitiveness, and alignment with business strategy.
• Partner with and influence key stakeholders — including HRBPs, Finance, and senior leadership — to translate compensation philosophy into clear, actionable programs.
• Lead annual compensation cycles (merit, equity refresh, benchmarking) and own the end-to-end process from data collection through communication.
• Perform market analyses and compensation studies using survey data (e.g., Radford/Aon, Mercer, Pave) to recommend pay ranges, job levels, and offer positioning.
• Use AI tools and automation thoughtfully to accelerate analysis, syn

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other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.

Reliable, consistent presence: We expect regular and predictable attendance, whether you're working in-office, hybrid, or fully remote, so that you stay closely connected to your team, customers, and stakeholders in real time and ensure colleagues and customers receive the timely support and responsiveness they deserve.

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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