Sahil Lavingia
A tech founder who created the site Gumroad, Sahil Lavingia showed up late to DOGE, with the goal of helping veterans at the VA. Despite displaying a remarkable and sometimes frankly infuriating naivete about both DOGE’s real mission and how civic technology operated before, his blog post about his experiences has given us the best view of how DOGE actually operated. Sadly, it’s also what got him fired from the “most transparent organization in government.”
More recently, the IRS apparently hired him back into government in November, at the direction of Sam Corcos, reportedly as a career employee in the nonpartisan civil service. He reportedly is working on online accounts at the IRS.
Positions
Appointed:
3/17/25-5/09/25 Senior Advisor $27,444 «fired for talking to media, dates from his blog»
Appointed:
3/17/25-5/09/25 Senior Advisor $27,444 «fired for talking to media, dates from his blog»
| Source: | DOGE Days Sahil Lavingia's blog, 5/28/25 |
| Source: | Data Reveals Details About DOGE, Government Hiring in 2025 Bloomberg, 1/09/26 |
Appointed:
11/XX/25 «Reportedly a career employee at the IRS (not a political appointee)»
Appointed:
11/XX/25 «Reportedly a career employee at the IRS (not a political appointee)»
| Source: | Former DOGE Engineer Is Now Back in Government Wired Magazine, 12/04/25 |
Events
3/17/25
Appointed:
Sahil Lavingia starts as Senior Advisor at VA.
Appointed:
Sahil Lavingia starts as Senior Advisor at VA.
| Appointed: | Sahil Lavingia 3/17/25-5/09/25 |
| Position Title: | Senior Advisor, Office of the Chief of Staff |
| Salary: | $27,444 |
| Source: | DOGE Days Sahil Lavingia's blog, 5/28/25 |
| Source: | Data Reveals Details About DOGE, Government Hiring in 2025 Bloomberg, 1/09/26 |
| Note: | fired for talking to media, dates from his blog |
3/25/25
Identification:
Tech staffers and contractors noticed a new DOGE staffer, Sahil Lavingia, was pushing code to a repo in the VA’s Github instance. He also appeared to be using an AI tool to write code. This later turns out to be code that is reviewing contracts to be terminated.
Identification:
Tech staffers and contractors noticed a new DOGE staffer, Sahil Lavingia, was pushing code to a repo in the VA’s Github instance. He also appeared to be using an AI tool to write code. This later turns out to be code that is reviewing contracts to be terminated.
| Person: | Cary Volpert, Christopher Roussos, Jon Koval, Justin Fulcher, Payton Rehling, Sahil Lavingia |
| Source: | Inside DOGE’s AI Push at the Department of Veterans Affairs Wired Magazine, 4/04/25 |
| Agency: | VA |
| DOGE Project: | IT Modernization, Spending |
5/08/25
Report:
Fast Company runs an interview with Sahil Lavingia, who is promptly fired by DOGE the following day.
Report:
Fast Company runs an interview with Sahil Lavingia, who is promptly fired by DOGE the following day.
| Person: | Sahil Lavingia |
| Source: | Thanks to DOGE, Gumroad’s founder has a second job with the VA Fast Company, 5/08/25 |
| Agency: | VA |
5/09/25
Offboarding:
Sahil Lavingia leaves role as Senior Advisor at VA
Offboarding:
Sahil Lavingia leaves role as Senior Advisor at VA
| Appointed: | Sahil Lavingia 3/17/25-5/09/25 |
| Position Title: | Senior Advisor, Office of the Chief of Staff |
| Salary: | $27,444 |
| Source: | DOGE Days Sahil Lavingia's blog, 5/28/25 |
| Source: | Data Reveals Details About DOGE, Government Hiring in 2025 Bloomberg, 1/09/26 |
| Note: | fired for talking to media, dates from his blog |
6/06/25
Report:
ProPublica analyzes public code by Sahil Lavingia for an AI-powered tool to evaluate contracts at the VA and determine which ones are “munchable” (meaning they should be canceled). The analysis finds the AI was given poor instructions and lacks context to correctly make these decisions.
Report:
ProPublica analyzes public code by Sahil Lavingia for an AI-powered tool to evaluate contracts at the VA and determine which ones are “munchable” (meaning they should be canceled). The analysis finds the AI was given poor instructions and lacks context to correctly make these decisions.
| Person: | Sahil Lavingia |
| Source: | Inside the AI Prompts DOGE Used to “Munch” Contracts Related to Veterans’ Health Pro Publica, 6/06/25 |
| Agency: | VA |
| DOGE Project: | IT Modernization, Spending |
6/25/25
Oversight:
Democratic Congressman Mark Takano sends an angry letter to Secretary Collins of the VA demanding answers about DOGE activities including if they have installed spyware on agency machines, if they have been piloting AI, and if they have accessed medical records. He also asks for detailed information on DOGE staff at the agency.
Oversight:
Democratic Congressman Mark Takano sends an angry letter to Secretary Collins of the VA demanding answers about DOGE activities including if they have installed spyware on agency machines, if they have been piloting AI, and if they have accessed medical records. He also asks for detailed information on DOGE staff at the agency.
| Person: | Cary Volpert, Christopher Roussos, Jon Koval, Justin Fulcher, Payton Rehling, Sahil Lavingia |
| Source: | House Democrat demands VA disclose any spyware, AI installed on agency computers as part of DOGE initiative Stars and Stripes, 6/27/25 |
| Agency: | VA |
| DOGE Project: | IT Modernization, Anti-Personnel |
11/XX/25
Appointed:
Sahil Lavingia starts at IRS.
Appointed:
Sahil Lavingia starts at IRS.
| Appointed: | Sahil Lavingia 11/XX/25 |
| Source: | Former DOGE Engineer Is Now Back in Government Wired Magazine, 12/04/25 |
| Note: | Reportedly a career employee at the IRS (not a political appointee) |
12/08/25
Official Action:
Sahil Lavingia shares a revision to the IRS homepage’s look and feel which makes it look more like LinkedIn or similar. Design critics note that it has 3 different Sign In buttons, which Sahil states it will save the user time depending on where their cursor is.
Official Action:
Sahil Lavingia shares a revision to the IRS homepage’s look and feel which makes it look more like LinkedIn or similar. Design critics note that it has 3 different Sign In buttons, which Sahil states it will save the user time depending on where their cursor is.
| Person: | Sahil Lavingia |
| Source: | Tweet from Sahil Lavingia's X account X.com, 12/08/25 |
| Agency: | IRS |
| DOGE Project: | IT Modernization |