The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced on Monday the US Tech Force, a new effort to hire early-career technologists who will serve two-year employment terms across the federal government.
OPM plans to recruit roughly 1,000 technologists for the initial cohort. Annual salaries are expected to range from $150,000 to $200,000, depending on experience level and agency placement.
OPM Director Scott Kupor said the program aims to help ensure the federal government has skilled tech talent, while also bringing the next generation of leaders into government.
“The message that we’re going to bring to people is a fantastic message, which is: Do you want to do good for the country, and also, do you want to advance your career?” Kupor said on Monday when announcing the program on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Kupor said OPM has partnered with about 25 top private technology companies on the program, which will provide career development resources and mentorship programs. OPM also plans to hold a job fair for the members of the Tech Force once they complete their two-year term.
“Give us two years of service, and then you’re going to have [Mark] Zuckerberg and all these other guys clamoring for you, because the experience you’ll get, the knowledge you’ll learn, that’s going to translate well into private sector,” Kupor said.
According to the US Tech Force website, the initial list of private sector partners includes Adobe, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Anduril, Apple, Box, C3.ai, Coinbase, Databricks, Dell Technologies, Docusign, Google Public Sector, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Snowflake, Robinhood, Uber, Workday, xAI, and Zoom.
Program participants will work on “high impact technology initiatives,” the website says, including artificial intelligence implementation, application development, data modernization, and digital service delivery.
Participants will be placed across a variety of federal agencies, including the departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Labor, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Small Business Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, General Services Administration (GSA), OPM, and others.
The program comes after the Trump administration has shed much of its tech talent. Earlier this year, GSA shuttered its 18F digital consulting office, and President Donald Trump transformed the U.S. Digital Service – which was designed to bring tech experts into the government – into the U.S. DOGE Service.
While it’s unclear how many technologists have left the federal government under the Trump administration, Kupor published a blog post on Nov. 21 that said roughly 317,000 employees left their agency jobs.
The Tech Force website clarifies that the new program “is distinct from other technology initiatives within government, including the United States DOGE Service and programs managed by GSA. These programs differ in their mandates, structure, required skillsets, and ability to convert to the competitive service.”