Senior Manager, Agentic Strategy & Operations (San Francisco)

About GustoAt 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.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 ourTotal 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:We are building AI-powered, agentic workflows to transform how service operations scale, resolve customer needs, and maintain quality in high-stakes environments. At Gusto, that means designing systems that can earn the trust of small business owners — where a wrong answer or a missed escalation has real consequences.As an AI Solutions Architect, you will own the end-to-end design and performance of these workflows in production — where models, tools, data, and human judgment come together to deliver outcomes. This is not a traditional architecture role. You will design, prototype, deploy, and continuously improve AI-driven systems that directly impact customer experience and operational efficiency. You will also play a key role in shaping the evolution of our AI platform by identifying capability gaps, prototyping solutions, and informing the primitives required to scale agentic systems effectively.You will report into the Service Transformation org and work at the intersection of AI governance, service quality, and operational transformation — operating as the connective tissue between Engineering, CX, Legal, and Compliance as Gus, Gusto's AI assistant, scales.About the Team:The mission of our Service Transformation (CXT) team is to quickly evolve and scale how Gusto delivers outstanding service experiences and leverages AI to do so. Our team designs the systems, governance frameworks, and feedback loops that allow Gusto's service model to improve continuously, operate reliably, and earn the trust of the customers and employees who depend on it.Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:Architect, prototype, and own end-to-end agentic service workflow frameworks, from scoping through production deployment and iteration — including solve and assist targets, HITL protocols, override logic, and downstream quality safeguardsAnalyze SOPs, operational metrics and interaction data to identify and prioritize high-impact automation opportunities based on volume, risk, and customer impactDesign and implement multi-agent orchestration patterns across tools, data sources, and decision steps within a single end-to-end workflowApply and influence AI platform capabilities in partnership with CoreX (Gusto's AI Platform team) — including orchestration, retrieval, and evaluation — helping define what needs to be built to support production workflows at scaleIdentify platform gaps, prototype workflow-level solutions, and partner with engineering to shape the primitives required for reliable, scalable AI systemsServe as the primary CX voice in Legal, Security, Compliance, and CoreX forums — translating CX quality stakes and workflow risk into terms each audience acts on, and ensuring governance requirements are embedded in design, not retrofitted after launchStrengthen evaluation frameworks and feedback loops to ensure quality, compliance, and continuous improvement; contribute to Gusto's human evaluation programs and AI governance practices through deep partnership with our internal CX Labs teamPartner with Data teams to define and track workflow performance — including solve and assist rate, AHT, rework rate, and customer effort score — clearly distinguishing between model-level, workflow-level, and operational driversBuild ROI models to quantify workflow impact across efficiency, quality, and cost before and after deploymentRepresent workflow performance and risk to senior stakeholders with appropriate precision and brevity; communicate in a way that drives action, not overwhelmLead through ambiguity and rapid change: the function is still being defined, and you will help define itHere’s what we're looking for:8+ years in operations, product, or AI roles — with at least 2 years designing and deploying AI-assisted or agentic workflowsStrong fluency with LLM systems, including prompt design, evaluation, and production behavior at scaleHands-on experience with agentic tooling, orchestration frameworks, or MCP-style integrations — conceptual familiarity is not sufficient at this levelExperience designing human-in-the-loop (HITL) systems with clear escalation logic, override controls, and compliance-aware checkpointsWorking knowledge of multi-agent systems and tool coordinationStrong operational judgment: able to define and diagnose workflow metrics Proven track record influencing cross-functional stakeholders — including Product, Engineering, Legal, Security, and Compliance — in writing, in design reviews, and in high-stakes forumsFamiliarity with Responsible AI practices, governance, and risk management in production environmentsProven ability to operate in high ambiguity, create clarity, and drive alignment across technical and non-technical audiencesStrong systems thinking with a bias toward execution and measurable outcomesDeep empathy for small business customers and the employees who serve themOur cash compensation amount for this role is $133,470/yr to $173,511/yr in Denver & most major metro locations, and $157,145/yr to $204,289/yr for San Francisco & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.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. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.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. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer.Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.