Data Science Senior Manager at Gusto

About Gusto

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 Total Rewards philosophy.

About the Role:

Gusto is looking for an experienced, hands-on people manager to lead a core Data Science product ateam. This role sits at the heart of how we use data to understand, shape, and scale Gusto’s products. You’ll both manage a team of data scientists as well as personally get in-the-weeds to work closely with Product, Engineering, Design, Marketing, Sales, and Finance to deliver insights and frameworks that inform strategy, optimize user experiences, and accelerate business growth.

We’re looking for a leader who can balance strategic influence with hands-on craft—someone who can guide senior Gusto leaders through AI-native data strategy, coach data scientists on impactful problem solving, and dive in to drive forward statistically rigorous analyses when needed.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

Lead and develop a team of data scientists: hire, empower, and coach team members; set a high bar for analytical quality and career growth.

Shape product and business strategy through data and AI: partner with Product and cross-functional leaders to identify opportunities, prioritize investments, and influence long-term product roadmaps.

Develop and scale measurement frameworks: define key metrics, design monitoring systems, and ensure product initiatives are rigorously tracked and evaluated through an AI-native lens

Support experimentation and decision-making: support inferential analyses and experimentation (e.g., A/B tests, segmentation, funnel analysis), ensuring findings are actionable and aligned to strategic goals.

Balance strategic and hands-on impact: dive deep into data, review and refine analyses, and ensure insights are both technically sound and business-relevant.

Influence senior leadership: communicate insights and recommendations clearly, framing trade-offs and shaping executive decision-making.

Strengthen the data craft at Gusto: champion AI-native ways of working, partner with Data Platform, Data Engineering, and ML Engineering to bring scalable, technical solutions to product problems; set team-level standards for analysis quality and documentation.

Here’s what we're looking for:

10+ years of experience in data science or related fields, with at least 4 years managing and scaling high-performing data science teams.

Deep expertise in product analytics – experience with user acquisition, activation, retention, engagement, or expansion in SaaS or product-led environments.

Technical fluency – advanced coding skills, practical experience with AI tools and workflows, strong statistical reasoning, and familiarity with experimentation frameworks; ability to mentor data scientists on best practices.

Strategic and business acumen – demonstrated ability to connect insights to product and business goals, and to influence roadmaps through data.

Executive communication skills – proven experience presenting insights to senior stakeholders, turning complex data into clear and actionable recommendations.

Cross-functional collaboration – history of working closely with Product, Engineering, and go-to-market teams to drive decisions and deliver impact.

Experience with ML applications in product contexts (e.g., personalization, churn prediction, customer segmentation) is a plus.

Familiarity with multi-product SaaS ecosystems and customer lifecycle analytics is desirable.

If you are passionate about using data to drive strategic decisions and help small businesses thrive, we'd love to hear from you!

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $181,000/yr - $216,000/yr in Denver and $219,000/yr - $255,000 for San Francisco, Seattle and New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale.

Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.

When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.

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.

Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer.

Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.

Data Science Senior Manager

Job Description