FP&A AI Architect

About the Role

Gusto’s Finance team is rebuilding planning, forecasting, and analysis with AI at the center. As Staff FP&A AI Architect, you’ll design and lead the technical and process architecture that turns FP&A from a manual, spreadsheet-driven cycle into an automated, insight-generating function. You’re a hybrid: deep enough in finance to understand driver-based planning, variance analysis, and board reporting, and deep enough in data and AI to design the systems that automate them. You’ll partner with the CFO org, FP&A, Accounting, Data, and Engineering.

About the Team

This is a new role on the Enterprise AIT team, which drives the intelligent transformation of Gusto’s enterprise systems by integrating AI, automation, and advanced analytics across internal applications. The team works closely with Finance, Business Ops, IT, and Security, and this role brings dedicated AI architecture capacity to FP&A and the CFO org.

What You’ll Do

Set the strategy: Define the multi-year architecture and roadmap for AI-enabled planning, forecasting, and reporting, prioritizing use cases by value, feasibility, and risk.

Build forecasting systems: Architect driver-based, ML-assisted forecasts for revenue, headcount, opex, and cash, combining statistical models with LLM workflows and benchmarking against human forecasts.

Automate analysis: Build agentic workflows for variance commentary, flux analysis, scenario modeling, board and QBR narratives, and ad-hoc “ask the numbers” questions.

Own the finance data foundation: Work with Data Engineering on governed data models connecting the GL, billing, CRM, HRIS, and planning tools, so AI outputs are traceable and auditable.

Embed controls and trust: Establish evals, human-in-the-loop checkpoints, lineage, and audit trails that meet SOX, security, and privacy requirements.

Evaluate and select tools: Drive build-vs-buy decisions across planning platforms, LLM providers, and orchestration frameworks.

Lead through influence: Mentor analysts and engineers, create reusable patterns and templates, and drive AI adoption across Finance.

Measure impact: Report on cycle-time reduction, forecast accuracy, analyst capacity freed, and decision latency.

What We’re Looking For

Required

10+ years in FP&A, corporate finance, finance systems, data science, or finance engineering, including 3+ years designing or leading AI/ML or advanced automation for finance

Strong FP&A fundamentals: driver-based modeling, operating plans, rolling forecasts, SaaS or fintech metrics, variance analysis

Hands-on experience with LLMs and agentic systems (prompting, RAG, tool use, evals) and classical forecasting (time series, regression, ensembles)

Proficiency in SQL and Python, a modern data stack (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, dbt), and BI tools

Experience with enterprise planning platforms and ERP/GL systems

Track record shipping production-grade solutions under SOX, data governance, and security review

Exceptional communication: able to explain model behavior to a CFO and system design to an engineer

Nice to have

Payroll, HR tech, fintech, or SaaS finance experience

Experience building internal tools with Engineering

Familiarity with MCP-style integrations and AI governance frameworks

CPA, CFA, or an advanced quantitative degree

Ideal Attributes

Finance-fluent builder, systems thinker, rigorous about trust (evals, lineage, and human-in-the-loop as design requirements), pragmatic on build vs. buy, influencer and teacher, and outcome-driven.

AI Fluency Expectations

Expert/Transformer level, expected to set AI standards for Finance. Advanced in LLM platforms (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini), agent frameworks and MCP, and Python/SQL; proficient in Snowflake/Databricks/dbt, planning platforms (Anaplan, Adaptive, Pigment), ERP/GL (NetSuite), and BI tools.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $185,000-$205,000 /yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $225,000-$250,000 /yr for San Francisco, Seattle & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.