National Design Studio Inherits DOGE's Legacy: “Big Balls” Is Recruiting
The National Design Studio, led by Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, has become a landing pad for former DOGE operatives, but its hiring practices and privacy safeguards are raising concerns.
Last year, the first incarnation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began to wind down after Elon Musk left the administration in June 2025. Less than two months later, a new entity quietly appeared: the National Design Studio (NDS), headed by Joe Gebbia, Airbnb cofounder and now the country's chief design officer. Its stated mission is to redesign government websites so they are visually appealing and easy to navigate.
But NDS retains many hallmarks of DOGE, including some of its core team members, an opaque structure, and a seeming indifference to standard federal rules. WIRED spoke to an engineer who interviewed for a role with the agency. The engineer, who requested anonymity, said they were cold-pitched by Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, NDS's head of engineering. Coristine, who was 19 when he entered government, reportedly invited the engineer to discuss a position and said the group was looking for very talented and driven engineers who could deliver products.
The interview was unusually casual. The engineer said there was no recruiter present — only Coristine on a video call. They noted that usually initial screenings are done by phone rather than video to reduce bias, and that Coristine appeared unaware of the skills required for a full-stack engineer. Coristine did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the engineer, the role centered on Rampart, a tool launched in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user's browser, particularly when using a chatbot. Coristine described the project as a side quest and said the team of around 30 did not include a machine-learning engineer. The tool resembles OpenAI's browser-based privacy filter, but its purpose in government services remains unclear. The engineer pointed out that government users often need to submit PII, such as a Social Security number or address, to access benefits, so redacting it could be counterproductive.
NDS has also faced scrutiny over privacy. In June, The Guardian reported that the studio seemed to be building websites for passport applications and voter registration, where users enter sensitive data. Some deployed sites used commercial tracking tools that may not comply with the Privacy Act. Akash Bobba, a former DOGE member now contributing to NDS, told the National Association of Secretaries of State he was unsure what data was retained or logged. The White House, NDS, and other agencies did not reply to requests for comment.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent government technology. Last year, DOGE fired technologists working on similar projects and killed an IRS free-filing tool. An OPM memo last week urged agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent. Yet the engineer questioned whether NDS's work is superfluous, asking why people so closely tied to the White House are spending taxpayer money on a small hacker-style project.
