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:
Gusto is seeking a Senior Fraud Investigations Analyst to join our Fraud Investigations team. In this role, you will independently conduct the most complex end-to-end fraud investigations involving account takeover, business email compromise, identity theft, payment fraud, and other emerging fraud typologies. Using a combination of investigative expertise, open-source intelligence, internal data, and AI-enabled tools, you will identify root causes, assess risk, and document investigative findings.
Fraud investigations at Gusto present unique and intellectually engaging challenges. Our platform supports hundreds of thousands of small businesses across diverse industries, ownership structures, and geographies, creating a dynamic fraud landscape that requires strong analytical thinking, sound judgment, and adaptability. Analysts encounter complex fact patterns, sophisticated social engineering schemes, and evolving attack vectors that often require balancing customer impact, operational considerations, and risk mitigation. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys deep investigative work, thrives in ambiguity, and leverages AI as a core part of their workflow to improve efficiency, consistency, and investigative quality.
About the Team:
The Fraud Investigations team is responsible for investigating fraud impacting Gusto, its customers, and its financial partners. The team conducts complex investigations, supports customer remediation and fund recovery efforts, and partners with Risk, Financial Crime Compliance, Product, and Engineering teams to identify emerging threats and strengthen fraud prevention controls. Through detailed investigative work and root cause analysis, the team helps protect the integrity of Gusto's platform and the small businesses we serve.
Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:
• Independently analyze account activity, transactional behavior, authentication data, customer communications, and external intelligence sources to surface fraud indicators and build well-supported investigative narratives
• Synthesize investigative findings into clear case narratives and prepare Unusual Activity Referrals (UARs) for Financial Crime Compliance partners when appropriate; escalate high-risk events with sound, risk-based remediation recommendations
• Support customers impacted by fraud and coordinate with external banking partners on fund recovery efforts, including Letters of Indemnity
• Leverage AI-enabled tools to accelerate alert triage, issue spotting, research, evidence gathering and documentation, while critically validating AI-generated outputs for accuracy and compliance with Gusto's AI policies
• Collaborate with Risk, Compliance, Product, Engineering, and Data Science to surface emerging threats, close control gaps, and improve investigative tooling and AI-assisted workflows
• Mentor junior analysts on fraud typology identification, evidence gathering, and case narrative quality through case reviews and structured feedback
Here’s what we're looking for:
• 5+ years of fraud investigations, fraud detection, or similarly complex investigative work within a financial institution, FinTech, payment processor, or regulated environment
• Strong investigative writing and analytical skills with the ability to document complex fact patterns, develop defensible narratives, and assess risk across ambiguous scenarios
• Experience across fraud typologies including account takeover, business email compromise, identity theft, payment fraud, and social engineering
• Sound investigative judgment with the ability to manage multiple investigations simultaneously, make risk-based recommendations under pressure, and communicate findings with empathy and clarity to customers, external institutions, and cross-functional stakeholders
• Experience using AI-enabled tools in day-to-day investigative workflows and the ability to critically evaluate AI-generated outputs for accuracy, completeness, and alignment with investigative standards
• Experience mentoring or providing structured feedback to junior investigators
• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), CAMS, or other relevant financial crime certifications are a plus
Our cash compensation amount for this role is between $89,165/yr - $112,942/yr in Denver and $110,640/yr -$136,456/yr for New York and 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.
At Gusto, we don't use titles the traditional way, as a signal of rank or hierarchy. Instead, our titles describe two things at once — your craft (what you do, e.g. Engineering, Design) and your scope of ownership (what you're accountable for) — which is why you'll see something like "Head of X" instead of a rank word like "Director" that tells you neither. Because of this, the title on this posting may look different from what you'd expect based on the scope and seniori