Head of People Operations

<div class="content-intro"><p style="line-height: 1.2;"> </p> <hr> <p><strong>About Gusto</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff—like payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR—so owners can focus on their craft and customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we’re proud to support more than 400,000 small businesses across the country, and we’re building a workplace that represents and celebrates the customers we serve. Learn more about our </span><a href="https://gusto.com/about/careers/total-rewards"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Total Rewards philosophy</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p></div><h3><strong>About the Role</strong></h3> <p>As Gusto scales in size and complexity, we're seeking a Head of People Operations to lead the operational engine of our People function. This leader will own five teams — Employee Relations, People Governance, People Solutions, Shared Services and Experience, and Invite Operations — and the systems, processes, and services that 3,000+ Gusties rely on every day.</p> <p>People Central is where policy meets practice. It's the function that ensures Gusto stays compliant as we grow, that Gusties can get what they need without picking up the phone, and that our People team can focus on high-value, human work because the operational infrastructure underneath it actually works. We're in the middle of an AI-native transformation, and this leader will be central to it — building toward a world where 70% of Gustie interactions with the People team are self-serve.This is not a maintenance role. We're looking for someone who leads through their managers, sets strategy in partnership with senior People leadership, and makes final calls on implementation across a broad and complex portfolio. The decisions made here have multi-year consequences for how Gusto operates — and that's the point.</p> <p><strong>What You'll Do</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Own and evolve the strategic direction of People Central.</strong> Participate with senior People leadership to establish direction across five functions, translate that strategy into operational plans, and be accountable for execution. Anticipate factors that could disrupt People Central's operations or Gusto's compliance posture, and build ahead of those risks. Lead through your managers — set direction, develop leaders, and hold teams accountable without doing the work for them.</li> <li><strong>Build a best-in-class Employee Relations function.</strong> Empower the ER team to handle complex escalations and investigations with sound, independent judgment — reducing the need to loop in Legal on routine decisions. Build a prevention-first ER program that identifies patterns, intervenes early, and reduces issues over time. Own the ER function's return from Legal and establish it as a capable, trusted resource for managers and Gusties alike.</li> <li><strong>Drive compliance across the employee lifecycle.</strong> Own Gusto's compliance posture across contractors, immigration, global operations, and extended workforce. Partner with the People Governance lead to expand and deepen the compliance remit as Gusto's footprint grows — including active M&A integration work.</li> <li><strong>Own the People Tech roadmap.</strong> Partner with People Solutions to drive the HR systems strategy — HRIS, ATS, case management, data integrity, and 3rd party integrations. You don't need to be an engineer, but you know how these tools connect, where the gaps are, and what great looks like. Make build vs. buy vs. integrate decisions with confidence.</li> <li><strong>Transform Shared Services into a world-class shared services function.</strong> Set the vision for SSE as the front door for Gustie support — building the knowledge base, self-serve tooling, and service delivery model that lets Gusties get answers without always needing a human. Drive the operational and AI-native process improvements that move the needle on self-serve rates.</li> <li><strong>Empower Invite Operations.</strong> Set the direction for recruiting operations — ensuring the team is focused on automation and scale so that human attention stays where it matters most: candidates and future Gusties.</li> <li><strong>Influence Gusto-wide People policy.</strong> Reconcile multiple stakeholder views to drive policy decisions that work for the whole company. Implement Gusto-wide