Gusto is seeking a Senior Performance Marketing Manager to lead paid social and emerging channels, steering experimentation and AI powered workflows to achieve pipeline and revenue targets.
Location
Burlingame, CA (hybrid)
Compensation
Annual base salary range: USD 108,570 to 161,000.
Experience
Minimum 7 years of performance marketing experience in a B2B SaaS, performance marketing agency, or high growth consumer organization, with deep paid social expertise and a proven record of testing and scaling new channels.
Responsibilities
- Direct the paid social program across Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, and TikTok, managing full funnel activities from brand awareness to retargeting and conversion with clear pipeline and revenue accountability.
- Oversee multi‑million dollar budgets with rigorous pacing, forecasting, and budget versus actuals analysis, making the case for paid social investment in environments with imperfect attribution.
- Refine and apply Gusto's paid acquisition measurement framework, including attribution philosophy and budget allocation principles, in collaboration with the broader marketing team.
- Lead creative strategy and testing at scale by briefing studios and agencies, designing meaningful experiments, interpreting complex data, and plotting a clear learning roadmap.
- Serve as the go‑to expert on paid social and AI‑powered marketing workflows, documenting playbooks and best practices for the paid acquisition team.
- Identify, test, and validate new digital media channels beyond core paid social, such as Google Demand Generation campaigns and ChatGPT ads, running pilots with predefined success criteria and deciding on scale within budget guardrails.
- Support 0‑to‑1 product launches by developing and executing the paid acquisition plan for launch moments, including channel mix, budget, creative, and timeline, in partnership with Integrated Marketing and Product Marketing.
- Collaborate with Web Marketing to align landing page strategy, message match, and post‑click conversion, recognizing that paid social performance extends beyond the click.
- Leverage AI tools as a routine part of the workflow to generate briefs, create copy variants, speed up audience research, and build reusable systems that elevate the team.
- Work cross‑functionally with Integrated Marketing, Product Marketing, Sales, Communications, and Web to align paid social with integrated campaigns and earned media moments, feeding performance data back upstream to influence creative production and asset strategy.
Requirements
- 7+ years of performance marketing experience in a B2B SaaS, performance marketing agency, or high growth consumer organization, with deep paid social expertise and a track record of testing and scaling new channels.
- Full funnel ownership across two or more major paid social platforms (Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, TikTok), including hands‑on execution (campaign builds, audience targeting, creative testing, bid and budget management) with substantial budget responsibility and proven pipeline impact.
- Strong creative strategy and testing instincts, with the ability to structure tests, distinguish learning from results, and translate performance data into creative direction.
- AI fluent in practice, consistently using AI tools to accelerate briefs, copy, and analysis, and delivering AI driven efficiencies for the team.
- Excellent cross‑functional collaboration, translating integrated briefs into paid social strategy and advocating for channel needs alongside brand, web, and communications partners.
- Analytical and data‑driven, with a clear point of view on attribution in imperfect measurement environments and the ability to communicate paid social contributions to business outcomes.
Technologies
- Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, TikTok
- Google Demand Generation
- ChatGPT ads
- AI tools
Benefits
- Competitive base pay
- Benefits
- Equity (RSUs)
About Gusto
Gusto aims to grow the small business economy by handling the essential operations — 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, Gusto supports more than 500,000 small businesses nationwide and strives to reflect the people it serves in its workplace.
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. AI is a fundamental part of how work gets done, and team members are expected to engage with AI tools relevant to their role and grow fluency as technology evolves.
About the Role
Gusto seeks a seasoned performance marketer to own execution across paid social and emerging acquisition channels, testing new platforms, formats, and tactics to identify effective approaches before scaling. This high‑visibility position sits at the intersection of performance marketing, channel experimentation, and AI powered workflow design. You will own day‑to‑day strategy and execution for paid social and new channel tests within Gusto's demand generation framework, with clear accountability for results.
About the Team
As part of the Demand Generation function, you will join the Paid Acquisition group, a team dedicated to driving awareness and pipeline through paid media. The group operates with autonomy, a bias for experimentation, and strong cross‑functional partnerships. The team emphasizes speed, high standards, and an AI native approach as part of doing the job well today.
Day to Day
- Own the paid social strategy and execution across multiple platforms, driving full funnel campaigns with revenue targets.
- Manage multi‑million dollar budgets with disciplined pacing and forecasting.
- Refine measurement frameworks and attribution principles in collaboration with the marketing team.
- Lead creative strategy and testing, coordinating with studios and agencies, and building a learning roadmap.
- Document playbooks and best practices for the paid acquisition team and act as the go‑to expert on paid social and AI workflows.
- Test new channels such as Google Demand Gen and ChatGPT ads, running pilots with predefined criteria and scale decisions within budget guardrails.
- Support 0‑to‑1 product launches with a comprehensive paid acquisition plan in partnership with Integrated Marketing and Product Marketing.
- Coordinate with Web Marketing on landing pages, message match, and post‑click conversions.
- Apply AI tools routinely to accelerate briefs, copy, and audience research, building reusable systems for the team.
- Collaborate across functions to align paid social with broader campaigns and earned media, feeding performance insights back to creative and asset strategy.
What We're Looking For
- 7+ years of performance marketing experience in a B2B SaaS, agency, or high growth consumer company, with deep paid social expertise and a success record in testing and scaling new channels.
- Full funnel ownership across two or more major paid social platforms, including hands‑on execution and significant budget responsibility with measurable pipeline impact.
- Strong creative strategy and testing instincts, translating performance data into creative direction.
- Practice of AI fluency in daily workflow, with a track record of implementing AI driven efficiencies for teams.
- Excellent cross‑functional collaboration, translating integrated briefs into paid social strategies and working effectively with brand, web, and communications partners.
- Analytical and data‑driven, with a clear stance on attribution and the ability to communicate paid social contributions to business outcomes.
Compensation Details
Our cash compensation for this role is $108,570/year to $133,000/year in Denver and $131,430/year to $161,000/year for San Francisco and New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience, and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Equal Opportunity / Accommodations / Privacy
Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or employment decisions based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, disability, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics. We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories. Details are provided as part of our applicant privacy materials.
Security / Privacy
Gusto regards the protection of personal information as a priority. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer and our Applicant Privacy Notice, which governs how information collected during the application process is handled.
