Executive Operations - R&D

About Gusto At 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 our Total 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: The Executive Operations partner will work closely with leaders within the Engineering, Product Design, Product Management, and Data (R&D) organization. This person will be responsible for ensuring the leaders' operations run smoothly and that the team has strong practices in coordination, execution, communication, and alignment. About the Team: This role serves as the primary partner to 2-3 leaders within the R&D organization. You will be in a key partnership position, helping drive Gusto's growth and scale by leveraging AI to accelerate that work. You will also be a part of the R&D Executive Operations community and report directly to the lead R&D Executive Operations partner. Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day: Expert of ceremonies: Strategically partner to prioritize and coordinate the leader’s time. Make sure it aligns with the department's priorities and creates a system of accountability so the time allocation can evolve as needed. The leader’s time should be prioritized intentionally and deliberately. Ideally, proactively, not reactively. Responsibilities include calendar management, including all internal and external meetings. Meeting enabler : Organize, attend, and track minutes and action items, with an eye toward making every interaction productive and enjoyable. The magic here is in ensuring the right set of follow-up actions is taken, not all of them, and having the relationships in place to follow up with the stakeholders 1-1 if necessary. Special projects: Apply AI-driven research, analysis, presentation preparation, and cross-functional company programs. These projects should be executed by leveraging AI and ensuring a high-quality bar. The goal is not for them to take up a large percentage of your time. Project management: Keep multiple teams and projects on track in parallel. Gusto is a 2,000+-person organization, and the way we plan and organize cross-functional work involves lots of moving parts at times. You will be a key enabler of things moving smoothly, or recognizing when they’re not and making changes to make it smoother. Gifted communicator: Represents the leaders well through phone, email, and chat with various internal and external stakeholders. Culture carrier and community builder: Embody Gusto Values while planning team off-sites, team-building events, and connecting the dots between different parts of the Gusto organization. Relationship builder: You’ll be getting to know hundreds of Gusties across the organization, as well as many external individuals. Creating meaningful and memorable interactions should be natural to you and something that is a source of excitement. Travel planner: Flights, hotels, transportation, dining, etc. Here’s what we're looking for: C-suite or division GM support. 5+ years of direct administrative experience supporting C-Level executives or General Managers at organizations of 1,000+ people, with previous EA work that spanned multiple departments. Career EA. You love the profession and want to stay in it for the long term. Cross-functional project owne