Enterprise Application AI Engineer

Gusto is on a mission to grow the small business economy, handling payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR for over 500,000 small businesses nationwide. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, all full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs).

As the Enterprise Applications AI Engineer, you will lead the integration of AI and automation across Gusto's enterprise applications ecosystem. Sitting within the IT and Enterprise Applications organization, you will partner with Product, Engineering, Finance, People Tech, and Operations to bridge business needs with AI-driven solutions. You will design Model Context Protocols (MCPs) and AI agents to make enterprise workflows smarter, faster, and more autonomous, supporting Gusto's FY26 Enterprise Systems strategy to shift ERP and Finance systems from reactive to predictive, context-aware, and self-improving platforms.

• Translate business needs into AI workflows by partnering with Finance and Business Operations teams to identify automation opportunities and design agentic workflows.
• Develop and maintain Model Context Protocols (MCPs) that securely connect enterprise systems such as NetSuite, Zuora, and Jira to AI agents.
• Create and manage intelligent agents that execute or augment core enterprise processes such as onboarding, billing support, and compliance monitoring using large language models and orchestration frameworks.
• Govern the full lifecycle of MCPs and agents, ensuring adherence to data governance, privacy, and security standards, including SOX compliance and auditability.
• Measure and optimize impact by defining and tracking KPIs such as automation adoption, efficiency gains, agent accuracy, reliability, and cost performance.
• Enable and influence the organization by partnering with IT, Security, and business stakeholders to build reusable AI frameworks and champion AI-first practices.

• 8+ years in Business Systems Analysis, Enterprise Applications, or Automation roles.
• Demonstrated 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 (e.g., LangChain, CrewAI, Semantic Kernel, MCP) and experience designing or maintaining Model Context Protocols.
• Familiarity with leading LLM platforms (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini) and practical experience with prompt engineering.
• Proficiency in Python or JavaScript for automation and orchestration.
• Strong documentation, analytical, and stakeholder communication skills.
• Passion for building secure, compliant, and explainable AI systems, embedding risk, privacy, and compliance considerations (including SOX and audit controls).

Cash compensation is targeted at $185,000-$205,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $225,000-$250,000/yr for San Francisco, Seattle & New York. Final offers may vary. All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs).

This role is based in San Francisco, CA - Hybrid. Employees based in Denver, San Francisco, or New York City are expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.