Senior Manager, Growth Data Science

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

Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs

This Senior Manager, Growth Data Science role stands out as a SaaS-native intersection of product analytics, experimentation, and AI-informed decisioning. The remit spans multiple functions that typically define modern subscription businesses, including acquisition-to-retention measurement, customer lifecycle instrumentation, and the evaluation of AI-driven product experiences. That combination signals a company operating with mature data expectations where growth levers are managed through rigorous frameworks rather than ad hoc reporting.

From a SaaS career perspective, the role builds durable strengths in leading analytics as a strategic partner to Product and go-to-market teams. Owning metric definitions, monitoring systems, and test design maps directly to how SaaS companies scale learning loops and allocate investment across funnels and segments. The added emphasis on AI product evaluation also develops a transferable skill set as more SaaS teams ship intelligent features that require careful measurement, guardrails, and stakeholder alignment.

The position is best suited to an experienced people leader who still values hands-on analytical craft and can switch between coaching and deep problem solving. It fits someone comfortable influencing senior stakeholders, translating statistical work into prioritisation decisions, and navigating cross-functional trade-offs common in product-led SaaS environments.

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:

Gusto is looking for an experienced, hands-on people manager to lead a core Data Science & Analytics team. This role sits at the heart of how we use data — and increasingly AI — to understand, shape, and scale Gusto's products. You’ll both manage a team of data scientists and analysts as well as personally get in-the-weeds to work closely with Product, Engineering, Design, Marketing, Sales, and Finance to deliver insights and frameworks that inform strategy, optimize user experiences, and accelerate business growth.

We're looking for a leader who can balance strategic influence with hands-on craft — someone who can guide senior Gusto leaders through data and AI strategy, coach data scientists on impactful problem solving, and dive in to drive forward statistically rigorous analyses when needed.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

Lead and develop a team of data scientists – hire, empower, and coach team members; set a high bar for analytical quality and career growth.
Shape product and business strategy through data – partner with Product and cross-functional leaders to identify opportunities, prioritize investments, and influence long-term product roadmaps.
Develop and scale measurement frameworks – define key metrics, design monitoring systems, and ensure product initiatives — including AI-powered features — are rigorously tracked and evaluated.
Support experimentation and decision-making – support inferential analyses and experimentation (e.g., A/B tests, segmentation, funnel analysis), including designing evaluations for AI and ML-driven systems, ensuring findings are actionable and aligned to strategic goals.
Partner on AI-powered product development – collaborate with ML Engineering and Product to bring intelligent features to life (personalization, predictions, intelligent automation), ensuring they're grounded in customer insight and measured for real-world impact.
Balance strategic and hands-on impact – dive deep into data, review and refine analyses, and ensure insights are both technically sound and business-relevant.
Influence senior leadership – communicate insights and recommendations clearly, framing trade-offs and shaping executive decision-making.

Here’s what we're looking for:

10+ years of experience in data science or related fields, with at least 4 years managing and scaling high-performing data science teams.
Deep expertise in product analytics – experience with user acquisition, activation, retention, engagement, or expansion in SaaS or product-led environments.
Technical fluency – advanced coding skills, strong statistical reasoning, and familiarity with experimentation frameworks; ability to mentor data scientists on best practices.
AI product intuition – experience working at the intersection of data science and AI product development; comfort reasoning about model behavior, evaluation design, and the tradeoffs of deploying AI in customer-facing contexts.
Strategic and business acumen – demonstrated ability to connect insights to product and business goals, and to influence roadmaps through data.
Executive communication skills – proven experience presenting insights to senior stakeholders, turning complex data into clear and actionable recommendations.
Cross-functional collaboration – history of working closely with Product, Engineering, and go-to-market teams to drive decisions and deliver impact.
Hands-on experience with ML applications in product contexts (e.g., personalization, churn prediction, customer segmentation, or LLM-powered features) is strongly preferred.
Familiarity with multi-product SaaS ecosystems and customer lifecycle analytics is desirable.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $217,000 - $265,000 in San Francisco and New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

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