People Partner (Product and Product Design)

• We’re looking for a high-ownership People Business Partner to support our Product and Design organizations at Gusto
• This role serves as a trusted partner to leaders across some of our most cross-functional, fast-moving teams at Gusto.
• 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 Product & Design 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.
• The ideal candidate is equally comfortable analyzing 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 with follow-through, not slide decks.
• We’re in an active build phase - this role requires someone who arrives ready to construct, not inherit
• Build trusted partnerships with Product Management and Product Design leaders - understanding what’s happening in their teams, surfacing friction early, and navigating performance management, promotions, leveling, and employee relations matters with good judgment
• Synthesize People data - engagement survey, performance cycles, attrition signals, headcount trends - into clear, actionable reads for Product and Design leaders before they have to ask
• Support and operationalize core talent programs including performance cycles, calibration discussions, promotion processes, and manager enablement
• Reinforce high performance standards, accountability, and clarity around expectations, feedback, and growth across Product Management and Product Design
• Serve as the liaison between Product & Design and Gusto’s broader People team (Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, L&D, People Ops), translating company-wide programs into what they mean for product and design orgs - and surfacing that context back to the center
• 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

Benefits

• Gender-affirming care and support
• Family care and support, including family planning and fertility benefits
• A variety of mental health resources
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents
• Free meals and refreshments at the office (conversation and community is an added bonus!)
• Paid vacation, sick time, bereavement, and holidays, paid leaves, sabbatical, and more- High Judgment, Low Bureaucracy: Applies People principles without creating unnecessary process - assesses risk and nuance quickly, and knows when a situation needs a scalable solution versus a good answer now
• Comfortable in the Data: Willing to dig into survey results, performance or attrition cuts, or comp tools - bringing a clear read to a leader conversation rather than a referral
• Relevant Experience: 10+ years of HRBP or People Partner experience, with meaningful time supporting Product Management, Product Design, or similar cross-functional product organizations in a high-growth tech company. Track record of executing complex People initiatives end-to-end - org changes, performance cycles, talent calibrations - owning the process and outcome, not just the advisory role
• Program Partner and COE Integrator: Acts as the connective tissue between Product Management, Product Design, and the wider People team, staying accountable for outcomes while pulling in the right COE capability - and builds those relationships proactively
• Comfortable Navigating Ambiguity and Driving Transformation: Operates effectively without perfect information, brings structure to complexity, and leads through change - ideally at Gusto-scale or larger
• High-Ownership Executor: Blends high-trust business partnership with hands-on execution - earns credibility through follow-through, not decks, and owns the details, dependencies, and timeline without being pushed
• Builder & AI-Native: Builds lightweight, scalable People processes and reaches for AI to do it, without waiting for a perfect framework. Knows when to iterate on what AI gives them and when to keep the human in the loop