Enterprise Application AI Engineer

About Gusto

Gusto supports more than 500,000 small businesses with payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR services.

About the Role

The Enterprise Applications AI Engineer will lead AI and automation integration across Gusto’s enterprise applications ecosystem. Within the IT and Enterprise Applications organization, this role partners with Product, Engineering, Finance, People Tech, and Operations to translate business needs into AI-driven solutions.

Reporting to the Enterprise AIT team, this new role designs Model Context Protocols (MCPs) and AI agents that make enterprise workflows more autonomous, predictive, and context-aware while maintaining security, compliance, and measurable impact.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Finance and Business Operations to identify automation opportunities and design agentic workflows that improve decision-making and reduce manual effort.
• Develop and maintain MCPs connecting enterprise systems such as NetSuite, Zuora, and Jira to AI agents securely and reliably, with clear documentation and ongoing optimization.
• Build and manage intelligent agents using large language models and orchestration frameworks for processes including onboarding, billing support, and compliance monitoring.
• Govern the lifecycle of MCPs and agents, ensuring data governance, privacy, security, SOX compliance, auditability, and appropriate access controls.
• Define and track automation adoption, efficiency gains, agent accuracy, reliability, and cost performance to guide improvements.
• Partner with IT, Security, and business stakeholders to build reusable AI frameworks, coach teams on safe AI workflows, and champion AI-first practices.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in Business Systems Analysis, Enterprise Applications, or Automation roles, with demonstrated impact in complex environments.
• Experience building and maintaining integrations across systems such as Jira, NetSuite, or similar, with a strong grasp of APIs, JSON, and RESTful service design.
• Hands-on knowledge of AI agent frameworks such as LangChain, CrewAI, Semantic Kernel, or MCP, and experience designing or maintaining MCPs or equivalent frameworks.
• Familiarity with leading LLM platforms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini, plus practical prompt engineering experience.
• Proficiency in Python or JavaScript for automation, orchestration, and modular, scalable AI workflows.
• Strong documentation, analytical, and stakeholder communication skills; ability to explain tradeoffs and align technical solutions with business needs.
• Passion for secure, compliant, explainable AI systems, incorporating risk, privacy, SOX, and audit controls, with a growth mindset and focus on clarity, iteration, and measurable outcomes.

Compensation and Benefits

• San Francisco, Seattle, and New York targeted annual cash compensation: $225,000–$250,000.
• Denver and most remote locations targeted annual cash compensation: $185,000–$205,000.
• Final offers depend on experience, expertise, and other factors and may vary from these ranges.
• Posting compensation metadata also lists an entry amount of 183,580, midpoint of 218,000, mature maximum of 252,423, and variable pay target of 0.
• Full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity through RSUs.

Work Expectations and Interview Process

• San Francisco hybrid employees are expected in the office on designated days approximately 2–3 days per week, or more depending on the role. These expectations encompass the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.
• A secure, reliable, consistent internet connection is required when working outside a Gusto office, including hybrid non-office days.
• Regular, predictable attendance and timely responsiveness are expected.
• All team members are expected to engage with relevant AI tools and develop their fluency. AI experience will be assessed during interviews.
• Medical or religious accommodations may be requested during the application process.