Workforce Management Capacity & Analytics Team Lead

About Gusto

At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff—like payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR—so owners can focus on their craft and customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we’re proud to support more than 400,000 small businesses across the country, and we’re building a workplace that represents and celebrates the customers we serve. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy. 

About the Role:

Gusto is seeking a highly analytical, strategic, and detail-oriented Capacity Planning and Analytics Lead to drive data-informed decision-making and workforce optimization across our multi-line-of-business contact centers. Reporting into the Workforce Management (WFM) team, you will play a critical role in shaping both tactical and strategic capacity decisions, ensuring that staffing, scheduling, and operational processes are aligned to business goals and customer experience objectives. While this role does not have direct reports, it requires strong cross-functional influence, collaboration, and the ability to drive process improvement initiatives.

About the Team:

• Leads and enhances capacity planning processes across multiple lines of business, integrating forecasting, intraday management, and historical trend analysis to validate staffing accuracy and operational efficiency.
• Builds and maintains sophisticated analytic models (including correlation and scenario modeling) to evaluate the impact of volume fluctuations, skill mix, shrinkage, and other operational variables on service levels and capacity requirements.
• Translates complex operational and financial data into actionable insights and recommendations, providing clarity for both tactical decisions and long-term strategic planning.
• Partner with Operations, Scheduling, Forecasting, Intraday Management, and Vendor Management to ensure alignment of capacity strategy with business objectives, resource constraints, and service level targets.
• Serves as a key point of contact for capacity-related escalations, decisions, and optimization initiatives, ensuring consistent methodology and responsiveness in the absence of senior management.
• Monitors and analyzes operational metrics, including occupancy, adherence, handle time, volume variance, and shrinkage, to identify trends, root causes, and opportunities for improvement.
• Facilitates data-driven decision-making through the preparation of dashboards, executive-level reports, and presentations for senior leadership, highlighting risks, opportunities, and performance impacts.
• Leads continuous improvement initiatives across capacity planning and analytics, standardizing models, improving data quality, and enhancing forecasting accuracy using advanced statistical and AI-driven techniques.
• Develops and maintains documentation for all capacity planning and analytic processes, including models, assumptions, methodologies, and change-control protocols.
• Collaborates with WFM leadership to develop new analytic frameworks, predictive modeling approaches, and process automation tools that enhance decision-making, operational efficiency, and scalability.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

• Own the end-to-end capacity planning process, ensuring forecasts and staffing plans align with operational requirements, service levels, and strategic objectives.
• Design and implement advanced analytic models, including regression, correlation, and scenario modeling, to validate forecast accuracy and identify capacity gaps or surplus.
• Partner with forecasting and intraday teams to evaluate plan-to-actual performance, providing insight on deviations and recommending corrective actions.
• Analyze multi-channel operational data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improving service efficiency, staffing utilization, and cost management.
• Serve as the analytical subject matter expert and POC for senior leadership and cross-functional teams on capacity, workforce trends, and performance drivers.
  Provide peer-level mentorship, training, and guidance to WFM colleagues on analytic best practices, model interpretation, and data visualization techniques.
• Support strategic initiatives, including workforce optimization projects, staffing scenario modeling, AI/ML-driven planning, and operational process redesign.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation of analytic methods, capacity planning processes, assumptions, and validation protocols.
• Develop and deliver executive dashboards and reporting, summarizing operational performance, forecast accuracy, and staffing recommendations.

Here’s what we're looking for:

• 5+ years of experience in Workforce Management, capacity planning, or operational analytics in a multi-channel, multi-line-of-business contact center, including back-office staffing and support functions.
• Demonstrated expertise in capacity modeling, scenario planning, and correlation analysis, with the ability to translate complex data into actionable operational insights.
• Hands-on experience with NICE IEX (or similar WFM systems), Tableau, Business Intelligence (BI) tools, and SQL for data extraction, analysis, and reporting.
• Experience leveraging AI-driven workforce optimization tools, predictive analytics, or automation to enhance capacity planning accuracy.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel, Google Sheets, or similar tools for complex modeling, scenario analysis, and operational reporting.
• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills; ability to identify trends, make recommendations, and implement solutions across tactical and strategic horizons.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with experience translating complex analytic findings into concise executive-level insights.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and collaborate with operations, scheduling, intraday, and vendor teams to implement capacity-driven decisions.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and disciplined, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to process improvement, data governance, and standardization across analytic workflows.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is $105,000/yearly to $129,00/yearly in Denver and most remote locations, and $127,000/yearly to $156,000/yearly in San Francisco and New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale.

Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas. 

When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto. 

Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.

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