Former AirBnb executive Joe Gebbia starts working at OPM as a volunteer with the job title of Expert.

Joe Gebbia announces on his social media account that he will be working on a project at OPM to modernize retirement processing and move it away from paper records currently stored at a cave in Pennsylvania.

Three DOGE staffers – Marko Elez, Edward Coristine and Joe Gebbia – are reported to be working with staff from DHS, the State Department and USCIS on implementing an application process for a $5 Million “Gold Card” visa. It is unclear what agencies they are working for and how this partnership has been structured.

OPM reports it will rolling out a Online Retirement Application (ORA) system which replaces the paper-based system for federal departments served by the National Finance Center and Interior Business Center. This was a program originally started in the Biden Administration that is being accelerated without pilot programs.

In a report about DOGE’s continued work on OPM’s Online Retirement Application (ORA) continuing to move ahead, Politico identifies DOGE staff that are working on the project under Joe Gebbia.

President Trump signs EO 14338, which creates the new National Design Studio within the EOP and tasks it with centralizing control over design across the federal government. Joe Gebbia is subsequently named the new Chief Design Officer. Similar to DOGE’s structure, the NDS contains a temporary organization within that can be used for hiring Special Government Employees (SGEs) to work for the government on a volunteer basis.

In an interview, Joe Gebbia affirms he has been the Chief Design Officer since being appointed to the role in September, after EO 14338 was issued in August. He also confirms the position is in the White House and reports directly to the Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Although it has an office nearby, Gebbia will primarily be working from his home in Austin, Texas.

The Department of Energy launches a new “Genesis Mission” to heavily use AI tools for scientific research. The website for this endeavor is created by the National Design Studio and features the classic hallmarks of their work: bold fonts on a black background with animations all on a single page with no navigation and an email signup form. According to Edward Coristine’s twitter account, this page took 3 weeks to make.

Speaking in a podcast interview, Joe Gebbia reports that the National Design Studio is working to revise every government website, adding that “look like they’re from the mid-90s.” He also states that the NDS is going to deliver a refresh of some existing websites by July 4, 2026 and that the team will eventually consist of approximately 15 engineers and 15 designers and is currently employing brilliant veterans of Silicon Valley.

Speaking at the ACT-IAC Summit, Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia touted the work of the National Design Studio and reported that OMB is working closely with NDS to “coalesce” the administration’s website design, comparing it to how certain hotel brands will all look and smell the same. He reports there are internal sandboxes running for new designs and a redesigned site for CIO.gov will soon illustrate the new look. The NDS is also reportedly leaning heavily into using AI for its work. In addition, 35,000 people have applied to the administration’s Tech Force initiative and they are reviewing 6,000 applicants.

An article on the National Design Studio in NextGov lists several people as associated with National Design Studio, including some names that hadn’t been mentioned previously.