US DOGE Service is hiring following mass workforce losses across the government
“Help modernize technology that impacts every American. Deliver massive impact. Your tour of civic duty starts here,” the USDS account posted Tuesday on X.
Trump remade an existing, Obama-era technology team called the U.S. Digital Service into the U.S. DOGE Service to house the controversial Department of Government Efficiency on day one of his administration.
At the time, Trump essentially created two groups within USDS: the existing team that pre-dates the administration altogether, and a new group of operatives now known for their high-profile, cost-cutting work and that have a pre-set end date of July 4, 2026.
The new DOGE quickly became controversial as it fanned out across federal agencies, fired employees, accessed sensitive systems, culled government contracts and even shuttered entire agencies altogether.
In what was formerly the U.S. Digital Service, dozens of employees were dismissed or chose to resign last year. This part of USDS has been recruiting at least since the summer, and currently has about 70 employees, according to a LinkedIn post.
USDS appears to still be hiring for this permanent team, as its recruitment posts reference two-year terms of service, which are the standard for that unit. USDS has largely continued to work on technology projects in line with what the U.S. Digital Service did even after it was renamed. The group was initially established to help agencies with their technology after the healthcare.gov crash.
Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of USDS, referenced work on online passport renewals and Veterans benefits as examples of 2025 impacts in a LinkedIn post encouraging people to apply.
“All of this depends on trust, both across agencies and with the public,” she wrote.
One former USDS engineer told Nextgov/FCW that “the idea that US DOGE Service is trying to build their legacy based on work done in previous eras is laughable,” noting “they may be still working on legacy U.S. Digital Service projects, but this is a different organization.”
USDS is one of several technology teams created or reworked by this administration that are hiring.
The National Design Studio, led by former DOGE member and Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, was created within the White House over the summer to improve government websites and physical spaces.
Among those that appear to work for the design group are “Big Balls” Edward Coristine, a young technologist who also worked for DOGE. Coristine posted on X last month that the design studio is looking for web designers and developers.
“2am Saturday @ndstudio team is still grinding from the White House,” he posted on Dec. 7.
And just last month, the Trump administration launched an effort with nearly 30 private sector companies to recruit 1,000 primarily early-career technologists into a new U.S. Tech Force. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor said on Dec. 23 that over 25,000 people had expressed interest in joining the new team for a two-year stint so far.
Like the U.S. DOGE Service, the Tech Force says that those who join will work on government modernization. The government also already has an early-career technology program called the U.S. Digital Corps, which offers two-year fellowships to work on government projects.
The Tech Force FAQ page says that DOGE and other existing tech teams “differ in their mandates, structure, required skillsets, and ability to convert to the competitive service.”
All of these recruiting efforts come after the Trump administration rapidly fired or pushed out technologists the government already had and even dismantled tech teams wholesale.
Details about the current state of DOGE and its work are sparse.
Many DOGE operatives left the government after billionaire Elon Musk backed away from the group in May, or they moved to work for government agencies themselves.
Kupor told Reuters in November that DOGE didn’t exist anymore as a “centralized entity,” although DOGE social media accounts quickly pushed back on that story, saying that “nothing has changed” and that both parts of USDS are still operational.
As for DOGE’s impact, despite promises to reduce federal spending by $1 trillion, government spending went up in 2025, and the group’s public track record is riddled with errors, the New York Times has reported.
Still, DOGE’s often-chaotic efforts to cut spending had an impact. It’s estimated that the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development has resulted in the deaths of approximately 600,000 people around the world already.
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