# Head of Design, Unified Service Platform

**Company:** [Gusto](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/gusto)
**Location:** Denver, CO, San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Product Design
**Salary:** $204k – $280k/yr
**Experience:** 12+ years
**Skills:** ai-native design, service design, journey mapping, blueprinting, conversation design, Product Design, Claude Code, Cursor, B2B SaaS
**Posted:** 2026-07-22

> Lead a team of three designers for Gusto's Unified Service Platform, setting the vision for AI-native service design. As a player-coach, co-lead product strategy with PM/Eng/Data peers, drive hands-on design of complex flows, and champion AI fluency while growing the team in a B2B SaaS environment.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Lead, coach, and grow a team of three designers (product + conversation design) — own their development, careers, performance, and craft growth.
- Own design direction and quality across the Unified Service Platform — set the vision and the bar, and be accountable for the team's outcomes.
- Stay hands-on where it matters most — prototype and design the hardest flows and quartet-level artifacts yourself as a player-coach.
- Represent design on the USP quartet — co-lead product direction with PM, Engineering, and Data leaders; author strategy and POV in ambiguous spaces; drive convergence and close decisions.
- Set the standard for AI-native service design, including how trust, uncertainty, graceful failure, and AI-human handoffs show up on the platform. Identify when AI outputs are ready to ship, when a human is needed, or when outputs should not be sent.
- Guide service design end-to-end — journey mapping, blueprinting, and operational handoffs for a two-sided product.
- Champion an AI-native design practice — model and expect fluency with AI-native tools (Claude Code, Cursor, and comparable agentic tools).
- Partner on hiring and team building as the team grows.

## Requirements
- 12+ years of design experience, including 5+ years managing designers, with clear ownership of shipped work in a B2B SaaS environment.
- Experience managing and growing product designers — led a team, developed designers, run performance and growth, and built a healthy team culture. Managing across disciplines (e.g., content/conversation design alongside product design) is a plus.
- Design leadership in ambiguity — set direction and a high craft bar, co-own strategy with cross-functional peers, and hold a position when the right answer is unpopular.
- AI-product judgment in consequential domains — shipped (or led teams that shipped) AI-mediated experiences in production, and can speak to uncertainty, errors, graceful failure, and human override.
- Service design depth — real journey mapping and blueprinting on two-sided products with operational handoffs.
- Hands-on AI fluency — use AI-native tools yourself and can raise your team's fluency; perceive AI as part of the craft.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Managing across disciplines (e.g. content/conversation design alongside product design).

## Compensation
Cash compensation range for this role is $204,000/yr to $238,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $240,000/yr to $280,000/yr in San Francisco, Seattle & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise.

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