People Partner Lead, R&D

<div class="content-intro"><p style="line-height: 1.2;">&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p><strong>About Gusto</strong></p> <p>At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff — payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR — so owners can focus on their craft and their customers. 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.</p> <p>All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) — because everyone who helps build Gusto should share in its success. Offer amounts are determined by role, level, and location. Learn more about our<a href="https://gusto.com/about/careers/total-rewards" target="_blank"> <u>Total Rewards philosophy</u></a>.</p> <p>AI is a fundamental part of how work gets done at Gusto. We expect all team members to actively engage with AI tools relevant to their role and grow their fluency as the technology evolves. AI experience requirements vary by role and will be assessed during the interview process.</p></div><p><strong>About the Role:</strong></p> <p>We're looking for a high-ownership People Business Partner to support our Engineering, Data Science, and Security/IT organizations at Gusto. This role reports into Gusto's Head of People and serves as a trusted partner to leaders across some of our most technically complex teams.</p> <p>This role blends high-trust business partnership with hands-on execution. You'll partner with leaders through organizational changes, drive core People programs and operating rhythms, and act as the connective tissue between R&amp;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.</p> <p>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. This role is designed for someone who operates with high ownership, has a strong bias toward action, and earns trust through follow-through — not decks.</p> <p>We are in an active build phase — this role requires someone who arrives ready to construct, not inherit.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>About the Team:</strong></p> <ul> <li>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.</li> <li&gt