The National Design Studio Became a DOGE Landing Pad. Now ‘Big Balls’ Is Recruiting
Last year, the first iteration of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began to wind down with billionaire Elon Musk’s departure from government in
Last year, the first iteration of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began to wind down with billionaire Elon Musk’s departure from government in June 2025. But a new entity, led by yet another tech billionaire, emerged much more quietly less than two months later: the Design Studio (NDS). NDS is headed by Joe Gebbia, the cofounder of Airbnb who now serves as the country’s chief design officer. Its mission is to redesign government websites to make them “beautifully designed” with a “great user experience,” according to Gebbia. But NDS retains many of the hallmarks of DOGE, including some of its team members, an opaque structure, and a seeming lack of adherence to the way many rules and systems in the federal government work. As it continues hiring, WIRED spoke to an engineer who interviewed for a position with the agency. “I don't want to come off as a prude and say it was deeply unprofessional, because I've had plenty of casual interviews,” says the engineer who interviewed for the job and who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“But it was casual to the point where I don't think there was any process established.” Like DOGE, NDS is nested under the Executive Office of the President. Though the NDS website says that the group is hiring, there is little information about the roles and seemingly no way to apply for the jobs from the website. NDS jobs also do not appear on USAJobs, the hiring portal for the federal government. Similarly, DOGE also solicited applications through a separate website, and before President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, via direct message on X. Gebbia has long been a close associate of Musk’s, and joined DOGE in February 2025. As DOGE members dispersed across the government and private sector, NDS became a landing spot for some of DOGE’s key operatives. Edward “Big Balls” Coristine and Akash Bobba, both of whom WIRED identified as part of the cadre of young engineers who formed the early core of DOGE, have both ended up at NDS.
Coristine, who was 19 years old when he joined the government and had reportedly been terminated from an internship at a network monitoring firm known for hiring reformed blackhat hackers, after being suspected of leaking internal information, is now the group’s head of engineering. It’s not always clear who is a part of NDS, and in what capacity. Zachary Terrell, a former DOGE affiliate who is currently serving as chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also “contributes” to NDS, according to his website. Bobba retained a position as an “unpaid expert appointment” at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) until March 7, 2026, more than six months after he reportedly moved over to NDS, according to documents filed in a lawsuit by the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents federal workers. The White House, NDS, HHS, and OPM did not reply to requests for comment.
The BriefWire