Design Systems, Product Designer

About Gusto

At Gusto, were 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.

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 Total Rewards philosophy .

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.

About the Role

Were looking for a AI-native Design Systems Designer to join Gustos Builder Enablement team — the team responsible for Workbench, Gustos internal design system, and for how every designer and engineer at Gusto ships high-quality work with AI assistance.

This role sits at an exciting and genuinely new intersection: deep design systems craft combined with fluency in AI-assisted workflows Youll help evolve and maintain Workbench at a pivotal moment — were mid-Brand Refresh, actively building AI tooling to improve how builders interact with the system, and expanding how the design system serves LLMs and AI-assisted products as much as it serves human designers

The ideal candidate is a rigorous systems thinker with strong component and token expertise who is excited about using AI tools as a core part of how they work, not just an add-on

We use Figma as a helper tool, but our deliverables are code The level of this role is similar to/equivalent of a Senior Staff-level.

About the Team

The Builder Enablement teams mission is to make high-quality, AI-assisted shipping the default for every builder at Gusto We own Workbench, Gustos design system, but we also own how it gets expressed to AI tools and builders

Our work spans component design and documentation, token architecture, AI tooling (including MCP servers, prompt engineering, and eval systems), and supporting the broader design and engineering org in using the system well.

Were a small, tight-knit team of designers and engineers embedded within Gustos design organization, led by our CDO, Amy Thibodeau. We care deeply about craft, systems thinking, and making complex things feel simple for the people who depend on u