Gusto
People Partner Lead, Engineering
Denver, CO;San Francisco, CA · Full-time
Sponsorship not specified$158k-$195kDetected 20 days ago
Data ScienceRecruitingPerformance ManagementEmployee RelationsHRISCommunication
About the role
- This role blends high-trust business partnership with hands-on execution.
- Synthesize People data - gPulse results, Gustofied performance cycles, attrition signals, headcount trends - into clear, actionable reads for R&D leaders before they have to ask.
- Reinforce high performance standards, accountability, and clarity around expectations, feedback, and growth across Engineering, Data Science, and Security/IT.
Responsibilities
- Build trusted partnerships with Engineering, Data Science, and Security/IT leaders - understanding what's happening in their teams, surfacing friction early, and navigating performance management, promotions, leveling, and employee relations matters with good judgment.
- Support and operationalize core talent programs including performance cycles, calibration discussions, promotion processes, and manager enablement.
- Build lightweight but scalable People frameworks, operating mechanisms, and repeatable processes that improve consistency across the business.
- When org changes are decided, own end-to-end execution - transition planning, communication sequencing, Workday updates, leader enablement, and follow-through until nothing is left unresolved.
- You'll partner with leaders through organizational changes, drive core People programs and operating rhythms, and act as the connective tissue between R&D and the broader People team.
- The leaders you'll support have strong points of view and deep context - you add value by stress-testing their thinking, then making it happen.
- You build credibility through follow-through. Leaders trust you because you do what you say you'll do.
- You make People decisions that hold up beyond your client group - ones your COE partners can build for and that don't create one-off exceptions that ripple across the company.
- 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
- You know what a well-run reorg looks like from the inside.
- Deep experience with performance management, calibrations, promotions, and organizational design.
- Ability to thrive in ambiguity and hold a lot of detail without losing the thread.
- You know when to reach for AI, when to iterate on what it gives you, and when to keep the human in the loop.
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.
- The ideal candidate is equally comfortable analyzing gPulse data to surface a team health trend, running a clean reorg end-to-end, and building a lightweight process that makes a program actually land.
Company info
- Serve as the liaison between R&D and Gusto's broader People team (Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, L&D, People Ops), translating company-wide programs into what they mean specifically for technical orgs - and surfacing R&D context back to the center.
- Proactively identify risks, friction points, and opportunities for improvement using People insights and organizational data.
- Here's what you'll do day-to-day:
- Here's what we're looking for:
- 10+ years of HRBP or People Partner experience, with meaningful time supporting technical organizations - Engineering, Data Science, Security, or similar.
- Strong operator mindset. You've executed complex People work - not just advised on it. You know what a well-run reorg looks like from the inside.
- A strong bias toward action and a high speed of execution. You'd rather move and adjust than wait for the perfect answer - and when you decide to move, you move quickly.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and partner with senior technical leaders. You have opinions, you share them, and you push back when something doesn't make sense - but you don't need to own the answer.
This listing is sourced directly from Gusto's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.