Gusto is hiring: HR Consultant in San Francisco

HR Consultant

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About Gusto

At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff—like payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR—so owners can focus on their craft and customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we’re proud to support more than 400,000 small businesses across the country. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

About the Role

As a HR Consultant, you will drive people operations for designated small business clients on behalf of Gusto. You will excel in dynamic and challenging environments, applying your passion for developing and refining processes and practices. You will be skilled at leveraging cutting‑edge technology and systems to drive efficiency.

About the Team

Gusto’s is growing and scaling. As our business scales and becomes more complex, we’re helping our clients in new and different ways to find success. Join our team to be part of our journey to support our clients’ HR needs.

Day‑to‑Day Responsibilities

• Lead the organizations you support to achieve people objectives, including attracting, hiring and onboarding great talent, developing and retaining staff, and achieving goals around compliance.
• Influence business and talent initiatives that support short- and long-term business goals, driving practices that enable high performance and operational excellence.
• Initiate and maintain effective communications with leadership and employees; provide coaching and guidance on performance management, offering feedback to improve productivity and engagement.
• Engage in strategic workforce planning by assessing organizational capabilities; identify competency and talent gaps; ensure development of people resources; introduce succession planning.
• Identify and translate current and future business needs into comprehensive people plans.
• Provide organizational development support through interventions such as organization design, development solutions, leadership coaching, and proactive change management.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned clients.
• Process and maintain client HR data, including onboarding and offboarding, payroll administration, benefits, and other HR functions; ensure clients stay up-to-date on regulations and compliance.
• Provide excellent customer service.

Qualifications

• 4–8 years of HR experience as a People Operations Specialist and/or HR Generalist across various industries and scales.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of clearly and concisely conveying information to employees at all levels.
• Strong proficiency with cutting‑edge technology across the workplace and a high level of comfort in quickly adopting new tools.
• Proficiency with HR software, Google Suite, and modern productivity tools (Slack, Asana, Zoom, etc.).
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders and competing priorities, demonstrating urgency and adaptability.
• Significant experience with workforce analytics, using data and reporting to drive strategic decisions.
• Demonstrated agility and ability to thrive in ambiguous, fast‑paced, dynamic environments.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle issues ethically and with integrity.
• A perpetual learner who strives for excellence while remaining laser focused on our mission to help clients thrive.

Our cash compensation range for this role is $98,000–$115,000 per year in Denver and other major cities, and $119,000–$140,000 in New York & San Francisco. Final offers are determined by multiple factors including location, experience and expertise.

Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees in those locations are expected to work from the office on designated days—approximately 2–3 days per week (or more depending on role). Hybrid employees must have a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection on non‑office days.

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.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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 any other legally protected characteristic. We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, and are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our 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 and our Applicant Privacy Notice.

Seniority Level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment Type

Full‑time

Job Function

Human Resources

Industries

Software Development