Sahil Lavingia, the former DOGE operative who got fired from Veterans Affairs for speaking to reporters, just landed at the IRS with plans to stay a decade. The Gumroad CEO turned government reformer is now building online tax tools after Treasury's CIO personally recruited him following his public criticism of Musk's efficiency initiative.
The most surprising career move in government tech just happened quietly last month. Sahil Lavingia, the entrepreneur who became the face of DOGE's early dysfunction, is back in federal service - this time at the Internal Revenue Service.
Lavingia's return comes six months after he was fired from Veterans Affairs for going public about the chaos inside Elon Musk's government efficiency initiative. Speaking at WIRED's Big Interview event this week, the Gumroad founder revealed he joined the IRS in November as a career employee focused on "online accounts."
The recruitment happened through an unexpected channel. Sam Corcos, a fellow DOGE operative who became Treasury's chief information officer, reached out after reading Lavingia's detailed breakdown of his government experience. "He offered to put me in touch with people who could help me find a role where I could put my talents to use as a federal worker," Lavingia explained to the audience.
It's a remarkable turnaround for someone who became DOGE's most vocal internal critic. During his five months at VA, Lavingia built AI tools to analyze contract data and pushed for digital transformation of paper-heavy processes. But he grew increasingly frustrated with what he saw as DOGE's lack of organization and transparency.
"Steve Davis appeared to be the only person communicating across DOGE teams at various agencies," Lavingia told WIRED earlier this year, referring to Musk's right-hand man and Boring Company CEO. His public criticism led to his termination in May after he spoke to reporters about DOGE's internal dysfunction.
But Lavingia's experience also shifted his perspective on government efficiency. "The government is pretty efficient," he said at the event. "Could move faster." He found that many problems weren't due to lack of technical expertise but complicated legal and policy requirements - a stark contrast to DOGE's narrative about incompetent federal workers.
Now he's putting that insight to work at the IRS, where taxpayer-facing technology has lagged for decades. When Lavingia asked the Big Interview audience whether the IRS should have a mobile app, attendees enthusiastically agreed. It's exactly the kind of modernization project that could benefit from his startup background.