Hiring FAQ

Anyone with U.S. citizenship, including dual citizenship, or those who are a national (a resident of American Samoa and Swain Island).

The new federal standard is a two-page resume. Anything beyond two pages will not be read and/or considered by our talent team. Within your resume, we recommend you focus on the accomplishments of your work. For example, don’t just list your tech stack or design approaches. Instead, describe what you did and what the outcomes were. We want to be sure we capture your full breadth and depth of experience right away as we consider you through the application process.

First, your resume will be reviewed by our talent team. If you meet our baseline for technical qualifications and experience, a recruiter will reach out to you to schedule a 20-minute phone call to share more about USDS and the roles we’re looking to fill, as well as to learn more about your professional background.

Everyone’s onboarding journey in government is a little different. We have outlined the steps and average time below, but it may take more or less time because onboarding is unique to the person. The steps included in the security process are dependent on individuals’ unique circumstances.

Our HR and security partners work hard to fill critical roles across the Executive Office of the President, which includes USDS. As part of working with a White House component, all candidates must undergo background investigations. We’ve worked alongside our onboarding partners to streamline this process as much as possible and decreased our onboarding times when compared to those commonly found in the federal government, but they are still lengthier than what you might expect compared with the private sector.

Onboarding to USDS can take several weeks depending on completion of your required background check. Our talent team will be with you every step of the way and we will keep you up-to-date throughout the process.

The timelines below are designed to serve as high-level examples of what you can expect for both the hiring and onboarding processes.

USDS requires all candidates to complete an initial screen via the phone to learn more about the role and working at USDS.

For technical candidates (i.e. engineers and product managers), we then ask you to complete a take-home assessment within 3-4 days. If you pass, you would then move onto the interview stage where you could complete up to 3 virtual interviews, two technical and one behavioral, via Webex.

For design candidates, after the initial phone screen, we require you to submit a link to your design portfolio and a case study of one former project you completed. Upon reviewing your submission, you could move onto the virtual interview stage which also consists of two technical interviews and one behavioral interview.

For non-technical candidates, after the initial phone screen, you could be asked to complete two virtual interviews, one focused on your specialty and one behavioral.

No matter which role you apply to our talent team will be sure to provide instructions throughout the interview process.

We actually do, although they are a little different from typical government position descriptions. The best resource for candidates to understand our roles—and impact across government— is the “How we work” section of our website. The roles and responsibilities of any given USDS team member vary tremendously because agencies have different technological needs. Even projects within the same agency require distinct skill sets.

Given the unpredictability and breadth of our engagements, we focus on hiring technical experts who can adapt to a project’s needs, though we also hire specialists for particular projects.

We are always hiring for a number of different roles, so if you are an expert in your field and are interested in working at USDS, you should apply!

As part of the federal government, we’re building a team that reflects the full mosaic of our country. We do not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factors.

To learn more, please visit the Office of Equal Opportunity.

That’s a good question – unfortunately USDS does not have any insight into candidates’ background investigations, which includes an individual’s status.

Our security partners work closely with intelligence agencies to make sure things are moving as fast as possible, with consideration that we all need to be deemed suitable for employment by a White House component. The estimated timeframe for the process is between 10 and 30 days.

If you are being deployed to an agency you may undergo an investigation with that particular agency as well.

During the TJO (Tentative Job Offer) process, the first phase of your federal background check is conducted to determine whether you are suitable for employment with the Executive Office of the President. Once that background check is complete and you have passed, you will receive your Full-Time Job Offer (FJO).

Upon onboarding with USDS, your background check will continue as part of the adjudication process for your security clearance. This process can take several months to complete.

If you do not pass your background check, you will be deemed ineligible for employment for the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and your Tentative Job Offer will be rescinded. However, a failed background check with the EOP doesn’t deem you ineligible to apply to other agencies within the United States Government.

If you have further questions regarding the results of your background check, you can contact the security team listed in your determination email.

You may know this before we do. You’ll receive a formal offer letter from HR when you have passed the background check and drug test. The HR team who issued your Tentative Job Offer will be in touch with more information once you are considered suitable for employment, but your actual investigation may continue to go on for many months after you’re employed.

Please keep the talent team informed of any changes to your timeline while onboarding.

You will receive a Tentative Job Offer that offers you a role conditional upon passing the background security check and drug test. Because it is conditional, we suggest that candidates hold off on long-term decisions until receiving a Formal Job Offer.

You will receive a Formal Job Offer after you have successfully passed your background check and drug test.

Once you pass your background investigation and drug test, the talent team will reach out to discuss your start date and send you a Formal Job Offer. Once you take the drug test you must start within 30 days or results become invalid.

We require all staff to work in-person five days a week at our Washington, DC office and/or the agency office you are assigned to in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area. You will also be assigned to the Washington, DC locality pay area; you can learn more about the General Schedule (GS) levels here.

No. USDS does not offer relocation incentives.

We are happy to help set up a visit for incoming candidates who have received a Tentative Job Offer. Please reach out to the talent team to schedule a visit.

There is no such thing as a typical USDS experience.

Depending on your skillset and interests, you’ll either get matched to an agency team (e.g., Veterans Affairs, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, etc.), our you may join our Rapid Response Team to work on a series of high-priority sprints for 6-8 weeks.

The number and types of projects you’ll work on could vary wildly, and you may be doing things you never dreamed of. Visit a mainframe warehouse in a mine? Check. Pitch a project to a Deputy Secretary? Check.

We encourage USDSers to dress for your day. If you’re onsite at one of our offices at the White House, you may be plugging away, heads down on a project and not meeting with many stakeholders—and when we have days like that, most of us will dress fairly casually. You’ll also have days where you’re meeting with leadership or stakeholders and will want to dress closer to business casual or even put on a suit. Our culture is quite laid back and we encourage USDSers to use their best judgment, but you can always feel free to ask someone who’s been around for a while to help you navigate the situation.

USDS is full of people who are scrappy, mission-driven, and passionate.

We are unusual within government in many ways, both small and large. While all of them contribute to making this a special place, there are a handful of foundational and fundamental aspects of USDS that combine to give us the impact that we are able to have. Some of these are include working directly alongside our government colleagues; our positioning within the Executive Office of the President; hands-on expertise in technology, design, and implementation; and our limited tour of duty model.

We don’t look like your typical government entity (hoodies and sneakers reign supreme here) and we’ve been known to attend all kinds of events together ranging from White House ceremonies to going to the movies together.

We work hard because we know the work is worth doing and we can see the impact it makes on real people’s lives. Even if you run into roadblocks or bureaucracy, you can always rely on the USDS community to help you troubleshoot, back you up, and cheer you on.