US feds are actively hiring "person who decides which models to ban"

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/856265200

by arm32 • 22 days ago

47 29 22 days ago

usajobs.gov

arm32• 22 days ago

I’m sure they’ll make the right hiring decision, right?

Avicebron• 22 days ago

"This job announcement has closed", that was fast.

antonvs• 22 days ago

The dates show that it was open for 20 days back in February.

ActorNightly2• 22 days ago

A lot of times they create job posting for someone they already want to fill a certain role.

ofjcihen• 22 days ago

That pay scale seems insulting

recursive3• 22 days ago

I'm sure that position comes with plenty of back-channel incentives.

mapontosevenths4• 22 days ago

$150k for a 13 month contract is "anyone with a pulse" money.

Nobody who is actually qualified would take it, unless they're on the grift.

minhaz23• 22 days ago

Isn’t that average or even high for a tech role? I’m in ny making less than that scale

jameshush• 22 days ago

Are you making less than 130k total comp in NYC while doing AI stuff as an engineer?

I'd highly recommend looking for a new job.

mapontosevenths4• 22 days ago

Not even in the right ballpark.

Firstly, a job of this level should be executive scale pay.

Secondly, on site should include a 30% boost above remote. It costs you money and time to commute, and thats part of total compensation.

alephnerd• 22 days ago

Govt jobs do a CoL adjustment based on the region located, which would put this kind of role at market rate base salary for adjacent positions in the DMV and Bay.

Jtsummers3• 22 days ago

That pay range already includes the cost of living adjustment for the DC area.

Jtsummers3• 22 days ago

Government pay often is. The pay scales are capped, with a few exceptions and ways around things, so unless this job goes up to an SES or similar grade that $197k is the best they can do.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries... - All pay scales

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries... - DC area, so base + locality.

Note that at the top the GS-15 steps 6-10 all get the same pay. The linked position's listed pay range spans GS-13 through GS-15, which is actually a huge spread and kind of funny. That's a large spread in responsibility between GS-13 and GS-15. In civil service, as a manager a GS-13 might be responsible for on the order of 50-100 people and millions in contracts and equipment, a GS-15 might be responsible for thousands of people and billions in contracts and equipment (location does matter a bit, the folks in DC, because the cost of living is so much higher, usually end up with some grade inflation so drop them 1-2 grades to compare to the rest of the US).

ActorNightly2• 22 days ago

Goverment does not pay as much as private sector, and pay is all based on years of experience, not talent.

Jtsummers3• 21 days ago

pay is all based on years of experience, not talent.

That's true for GS and WG positions (though they can get performance based bonus step increases, these are relatively rare unless you play golf with the boss), but the pay bands mostly try to get around that and give performance-based raises. Supervisors don't like getting taken to EEO so they often won't give low scores even to people who deserve them, though. This results in the top performers usually getting bigger raises than low performers, but low and middling performers end up with roughly equivalent raises.

In theory, most of the pay band systems offer an effective way to weed out poor performers, but it's just not used.

chrneu• 21 days ago

govt jobs are about the benefits and security. lifetime of healthcare, retirement, and job security. i know a ton of people who refuse to work in private sector after going into govt work cuz it's so much more stable.

it's worth it.

wnevets• 22 days ago

The meritocracy strikes again.

porphyra• 22 days ago

Why does usajobs.gov have an autoplaying sound?? I opened this link during a meeting by accident.

shric• 22 days ago

To literally broadcast to the world that they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing.

happyopossum• 22 days ago

Headline is absolute clickbait: please don't use quotation marks when you just make things up.

mikert89• 22 days ago

ai models are clearly a threat to the world order

add-sub-mul-div• 22 days ago

I wonder how much it costs to have the government declare your model to be too good to be allowed.

Catloafdev• 22 days ago

Closed date: 02/23/2026

OutOfHere• 21 days ago

NIST is in effect a branch of the NSA, although not literally, only in effect. If the NSA says jump, it'll ask how high. If the NSA say "ban this model because our adversaries will use it to patch their systems", NIST will say yes sir.

I guess we'll all be transitioning to open models soon enough.

US feds are actively hiring "person who decides which models to ban"

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