PEO Sales, Senior Account Executive

Gusto is a company dedicated to empowering small businesses by managing essential services like payroll and HR. They are seeking a Senior Account Executive for their PEO sales team, responsible for driving new revenue by selling Gusto's co-employment solution and converting existing payroll customers to PEO.

Responsibilities:

• Own the full sales cycle. Prospect, qualify, run discovery, demo, navigate complex buying groups, and close. This is a quota-carrying role for a seller who's comfortable owning a deal from first touch to signed agreement
• Sell across both motions. Close net-new prospects and convert existing Gusto payroll customers to PEO. You'll learn the distinct objections, value propositions, and rhythms of in-base selling vs. cold-start prospecting
• Serve as a PEO Subject Matter Expert. Guide prospects through co-employment, benefits, compliance, and the practical realities of moving onto a PEO. Build and maintain deep knowledge of PEO compliance, co-employment regulations, and applicable state and federal employment law
• Sell with selling-season fluency. Understand and plan around PEO's concentrated selling window (Sept–Dec, with the bulk of new business landing Jan 1). Build pipeline early and manage your funnel to hit those timelines
• Work the channel. Partner with broker, GA, and accountant referral sources to develop pipeline, and feed insights back on what's converting
• Manage your pipeline rigorously. Keep Salesforce clean and current, forecast accurately, and operate within the sales stages, routing, and reporting the team establishes
• Use AI to sell smarter. Bring genuine AI fluency to your daily workflow — leveraging AI tools for prospecting, call prep, follow-up, and forecast hygiene. We expect our sellers to be hands-on with AI and to share what's working with the broader team
• Collaborate cross-functionally. Work closely with Marketing, Product, and the broader Sales org to surface market signals, sharpen positioning, and improve the customer experience

Requirements:

• 4+ years in a closing sales role, ideally in PEO, HCM, or benefits
• Consistent, demonstrable track record of meeting and exceeding individual sales targets
• Proven ability to own a deal end to end — prospecting, discovery, multi-stakeholder navigation, and close — in a consultative, complex sale
• Familiarity with PEO's Jan 1 selling cycle (Sept–Dec pipeline build, renewal dynamics)
• Experience selling into or converting an existing customer base to a higher-tier or adjacent product
• Understanding of broker, GA, and accountant referral channels in the PEO or benefits space
• Strong working knowledge of inbound and outbound sales methodologies in SMB SaaS or HCM/PEO environments
• Ability to work effectively across HR, Benefits, Product, and Marketing; excellent interpersonal skills
• Proven, day-to-day experience integrating AI into how you work — across writing, research, prep, and summarization as a core part of your workflow
• Salesforce.com (SFDC) experience required
• Direct PEO selling experience
• Familiarity with HCM platforms and benefits administration tools