Gusto
Staff Software Engineer, Payroll Canada
San Francisco, CA · Staff+ · Full-time
Sponsorship not specified$163k-$204kDetected 1 day ago
RubyRailsBackend DevelopmentFull-Stack DevelopmentGraphQLLLMsRecruiting
About the role
- This is primarily a backend role which involves designing and evolving the services and business logic that power Canadian payroll with full-stack components where that logic surfaces to customers via GraphQL.
- Our work sits at the intersection of backend product engineering and a new, fast-moving market launch, in a highly regulated domain.
- Leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate development, improve code quality and testing, and help normalize and spread effective AI usage across the team
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain backend services and business logic that power Canadian payroll - calculations, compliance, remittances, and related workflows - on Gusto's Ruby on Rails platform
- Connect backend logic to the frontend through well-designed GraphQL APIs, partnering with frontend engineers on the full user experience
- Own a primary domain within Payroll Canada, taking responsibility for correctness, scalability, and long-term evolution as the product and customer base grow
- Act as a technical partner across Product, Design, Data, Compliance, and Operations to deliver accurate, compliant, and customer-impacting solutions
- Author and drive architecture and design documents, balancing near-term delivery with long-term platform goals as we expand in Canada
- We're hiring a Staff Software Engineer to join Gusto's Payroll Canada team, where you'll help build and scale the payroll experience for Canadian businesses.
- You'll own complex technical problems end-to-end, partner closely with Product and Platform teams, and help bring Gusto's payroll product to a new country.
- We own the backend services and business logic that handle Canadian payroll calculations, compliance, and remittances, and we connect that logic to the frontend through GraphQL.
- Experience collaborating across teams as a technical partner, communicating technical complexity clearly to product and design partners and helping the team navigate tradeoffs with full context
- 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.
Requirements
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong focus on backend development
- Experience working in large, complex codebases and a demonstrated ability to improve them incrementally without breaking things.
Nice to have
- Proficiency in one or more backend programming languages
- experience with Ruby is strongly preferred but not required
- Interest in or experience with payroll, tax, or compliance domains a plus
Compensation
- All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) — because everyone who helps build Gusto should share in its success.
Benefits
- We handle the hard stuff - payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR - so owners can focus on their craft and their customers.
- All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) - because everyone who helps build Gusto should share in its success.
- Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.
- Stock equity is additional.
Company info
- The Payroll Canada team is building Gusto's payroll product for the Canadian market, from internal (Gusto-on-Gusto) payroll to external customers running payroll for their own employees.
- Here's what you'll do day-to-day:
- Here's what we're looking for:
- Comfortable venturing into full-stack work when needed, even if your primary strength is backend
- Experience applying AI tools (LLMs, Claude Code, Cursor) to accelerate development, improve code quality and build testing. Comfortable helping teams adopt effective, responsible AI-assisted development workflows.
This listing is sourced directly from Gusto's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.