Product Counsel - PEO/Employment Law

Gusto • Denver, CO;San Francisco, CA;New York, NY • 1w ago

Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs

This Product Counsel role stands out in the SaaS ecosystem because it sits directly at the intersection of product development and regulated employment infrastructure. A PEO offering is not a generic feature set; it is a compliance-heavy product line where legal input shapes what can be built, how it is delivered, and how risk is operationalised. The remit signals a company treating legal as a product partner rather than a downstream reviewer, which is increasingly central in SaaS categories that touch payroll, HR, and co-employment.

From a career standpoint, the work builds durable SaaS “product counsel” muscle: translating complex legal regimes into product requirements, launch gates, and repeatable frameworks that scale across teams. The emphasis on cross-functional workstreams, templates, and internal training suggests experience in building systems, not just answering questions. Exposure to AI-enabled legal workflows also reflects where modern SaaS legal functions are heading—toward higher leverage, faster iteration, and clearer documentation.

This role fits an attorney who prefers being embedded with product and operations partners and is comfortable balancing immediacy (front-line guidance) with longer-horizon program building. It will appeal to someone who enjoys ambiguity at the boundary of law, product design, and go-to-market readiness, and who wants ownership over how compliance is built into a SaaS roadmap.

The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.

Job Description

About the Role:

We are seeking a creative, experienced attorney who wants to apply their deep expertise in employment law (and co-employment issues) to help shape tech-forward products and services for small businesses. This is a unique opportunity to help build Gusto's Professional Employer Organization (PEO) offerings and drive Legal & Compliance cross-functional workstreams for one of Gusto's most strategic new business lines.

In this role, you will move fluidly between providing front-line advice on Professional Employer Organization (PEO), Human Resource, and co-employment issues, and partnering with colleagues to ensure delivery of advice and counsel across all Legal & Compliance-related workstreams. You will be a key collaborator and primary point of contact for the PEO business teams.

Success in this role will require an ownership mindset, experience driving major product launches, and a focus on curiosity, collaboration, flexibility, and a good sense of humor. Attorneys are expected to use AI tools to accelerate research and processes, synthesize insights, and refine positioning and content with speed and precision, while maintaining accuracy and consistency with legal best practices.

About the Team:

Gusto’s Legal & Compliance team partners with product and engineering teams to enable innovation, facilitate responsible company growth, accelerate the Gusto roadmap, and provide compliant products to our customers through solution-focused counsel on legal and business risks. We are passionate about using groundbreaking technology and excellent service to elevate the experience of small business owners and their employees. Each team member takes real ownership of their work and makes a meaningful impact every day.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

Provide front-line legal support to PEO product and operations teams.
Drive legal and compliance workstreams and cross-functional collaboration for pre-launch milestones, compliance frameworks, vendor onboarding, and Go-to-Market readiness.
Advise on risk, product design, features, and operational workflows; address compliance with employment, payroll, HR, licensing, and other requirements relevant to the PEO offering.
Develop actionable guidance, templates, and internal training for PEO-related products.
Partner cross-functionally and build consensus with Legal and Compliance, Product, Finance, and Operations teams.
Create and maintain PEO-related compliance work-product to support internal compliance tracking and content creation processes.

Here’s what we're looking for:

7+ years of legal experience, including in-house experience at a technology company. Experience must include employment law, litigation, and product counseling. We have a strong preference for PEO experience. We encourage exceptional candidates without PEO experience to apply if they have a demonstrated ability to quickly acquire deep expertise in complex new legal domains.
Deep experience providing pragmatic legal guidance on tech products and employment obligations.
Demonstrated ability to build consensus and strong working relationships.
A collaborative, solution-oriented mindset with a focus on progress and teamwork (no job is too big or too small).
An eagerness to dive in, take ownership of projects, and manage work with accountability, while ensuring appropriate visibility and smooth escalation to senior counsel or other decision-makers.
Experience using AI tools to deliver efficiency in your individual work and as essential components in the processes you develop and improve.
JD degree and membership in a State bar with a current license to practice law.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is between $177,000 - $208,000/year in Denver and $208,000 - $245,000/year for New York/San Francisco. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above. Compensation for this position also includes an equity package and performance bonuses.