Gusto is hiring a Senior Software Engineer to join the Product & AI Security Engineering team. You will own and evolve the security foundations behind Gusto’s products and AI/LLM experiences, from authentication and authorization at scale to securing core services and data. You’ll partner across the company to solve high-impact security problems and ship secure, reliable, AI-powered features.
What You'll Do
- Design, build, and operate authentication and authorization systems that work at Gusto scale.
- Strengthen core services and data protections, including access control, storage, and APIs.
- Detect and mitigate account takeover and other abuse, improving safety for our customers.
- Build security platforms and tooling that help product and AI teams move quickly and safely.
- Own and improve high-availability security and identity services that other teams depend on.
- Tackle ambiguous AI/LLM security problems from threat modeling to practical mitigations.
- Provide leadership in promoting security and software engineering excellence.
What We're Looking For
- 7+ years of experience as a backend engineer, building and operating large-scale server-side services and APIs.
- Deep experience with authentication and authorization, such as SAML/SSO, RBAC, and ABAC.
- Proven track record building secure, highly available distributed systems and services.
- Hands-on experience with modern security tooling and practices (e.g., SAST, DAST, SIEM, SCA).
- Proficiency in one or more of: Ruby, Python, Kotlin, JavaScript/TypeScript.
- Experience with AI tools for coding (ex: Cloud Code, Cursor, Github Copilot).
- Strong collaboration skills and comfort breaking down complex, cross‑cutting security and AI problems into clear, practical solutions.
Nice to Have
- Experience with authorization platforms/policy engines (e.g., Open Policy Agent, SpiceDB) and technologies like GraphQL, gRPC, Kubernetes, Terraform, Traefik, Flask, Okta.
Technical Stack
- Ruby, Python, Kotlin, JavaScript, TypeScript, GraphQL, gRPC, Kubernetes, Terraform, Traefik, Flask, Okta
Team & Environment
The Product & AI Security Engineering team sits at the intersection of product, platform, and AI at Gusto.
Benefits & Compensation
- Salary: $186,000–210,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Equity: Stock equity is additional
Work Mode
This is a hybrid role open to candidates in Denver, CO; San Francisco, CA; New York City, NY; and Scottsdale, AZ (Symmetry subsidiary).
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.
