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Head of Risk Data

Gusto

Gusto

Multiple locations
Posted on Nov 18, 2023


About Gusto

Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York serve more than 300,000 businesses nationwide.

Our mission is to create a world where work empowers a better life, and it starts right here at Gusto. That’s why we’re committed to building a collaborative and inclusive workplace, both physically and virtually. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

About the Role

Gusto is looking for an experienced Data professional to lead our Risk and Payments Data organization, a critical component of how we serve our customers and grow our business safely.

This individual should be knowledgeable about Risk and Payment domains, such that they can guide the data scientists and analysts on their team to ask the right questions, assess and prioritize gaps in the Risk System, balance between risk mitigation and growing the business, and identify opportunities to scale and improve our business.

Expect to be deeply hands-on reviewing models and analyses, as well as a strategic leader who can guide executives through our data strategy and team priorities.This individual will initially lead and grow a team of data scientists and analysts, and collaborate closely with a broad set of cross functional partners from Product, Design, Operations, Payments Engineering, Growth, and more.

The Data Science team leverages Gusto’s data to deliver data-informed insights for our customers and guide product direction and decision-making. We operate full-stack, conducting analyses, prototyping and deploying predictive models and statistical tools both for internal use and for our customers.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day

  • Lead Gusto’s Risk & Payments Data Science & Analytics team - recruit, hire, empower and coach a team of data scientists and data analysts working to protect Gusto’s customers and our business from credit risk, fraud loss, and product loss while enabling customers to engage in a safe, reliable, and delightful experience.
  • Partner with product, risk and payment operations, engineering and other teams to drive data efforts for all loss-related workstreams, using all of the tools in our data science and analytics toolkit.
  • Through your team, evaluate trends and patterns to determine the policies, products, and tools that together can protect our customers and our business. Identify new opportunities to leverage data to improve our ability to manage risk and loss as we grow.
  • Get hands-on with incident management and preparation, model and analysis review, and be comfortable digging into the data directly.
  • Present and communicate results to stakeholders across the company

Here’s what we're looking for

  • 8+ years of data science and analytics experience including skills as an individual contributor, with 2+ years leading a growing data science team
  • Experience optimizing or analyzing risk and fraud organization challenges at consumer or SMB technology companies required
  • Able to lead both analytical and machine learning/algorithmic data scientists and work streams - we have both on this team!
  • Strong programming skills - comfortable with coaching and reviewing all phases of the data science development process, from initial analysis and model development all the way through to deployment
  • Experience developing and evaluating analyses and metrics to solve business problems
  • Excellent communication skills - able to effectively deliver findings and recommendations to non-technical stakeholders in a clear and compelling fashion

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $180,000-$232,000/year in Denver, Chicago, and Atlanta, $196,000-$252,000/year in Los Angeles and Seattle, and $213,000- $273,000/year for San Francisco and New York.


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.


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. If you require assistance in filling out a Gusto job application, please reach out to candidate-accommodations@gusto.com.