TRANSFORM THE TECH BEHIND AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
The systems that feed, protect, and sustain the country are powered by people. We're building the technology workforce that keeps those systems running — today and for the next generation.
Impact Across America
USDA technology runs in the background of American life, quietly, at a scale most tech workers never get to touch.
The People's Department grows the next generation of talent
To meet the challenges of an ever-evolving, technology-driven security landscape, USDA is investing in the engineers, analysts, and builders who will define how the federal government delivers for the American people, in food, nutrition, and beyond. We are looking towards the next decade of technological strategy.
Unify a producer's data across dozens of disconnected USDA systems so a farmer enters their information once, not once per agency, per program, per visit.
Learn more →Build the data pipelines and imagery tooling behind field science, from drone-captured crop imagery to the geospatial models that turn it into research-grade signal.
Learn more →Replace decades-old systems that touch SNAP, WIC, and farm loan delivery, the software that decides whether benefits and credit reach people on time.
Learn more →Build the tools foresters and conservationists use to plan treatments, model outcomes, and steward 193 million acres of public forests and grasslands.
Learn more →Stand up the platforms that track and respond to animal-disease outbreaks nationwide, surveillance data that protects livestock, supply chains, and public health.
Learn more →Defend the food and agriculture sector as critical infrastructure: zero-trust rollout across 100k+ endpoints and threat hunting against adversaries who treat agriculture as a strategic target.
Learn more →Ways to Build
Whether you ship infrastructure or models, defend networks or deploy code, there's a team where your craft compounds into outcomes that show up in someone's farm, lab, or kitchen.
Data & AI
Train crop yield models on petabytes of satellite imagery. Build risk forecasts that route inspectors. Feed the country, with feedback loops measured in growing seasons.
Cybersecurity
Defend the food supply as critical infrastructure. Stand up zero-trust for 100k+ endpoints. Hunt threats targeting agriculture. Adversaries treat us like a strategic asset, because we are.
Software Engineering
Replace 30-year-old COBOL with services farmers actually love. Ship public-facing tools used by 350+ county FSA offices. Code review at the scale of American agriculture.
Cloud Computing
Migrate legacy mainframes to modern cloud-native architecture. Design infrastructure that survives audits and outages. Spend less time on tickets, more time on platform.
IT Budget, Acquisition & Policy
Decide how USDA invests roughly $3B in technology each year. Run capital planning and FITARA, shape acquisition strategy, and write the IT governance that turns budget and policy into the runway engineers actually ship on.
Find Your Path to the People's Department
Students & Early Career
Pathways internships, recent-graduate tracks, and university recruiting. Top performers will have a real path to convert to a permanent role.
Military Connected
Veterans' preference, VEOA and VRA, and Military Spouse hiring authorities all apply to tech roles. We actively recruit transitioning service members and spouses into engineering, cyber, and data work.
Current & Former Federal Employees
Move into USDA tech through merit promotion as a status candidate, a lateral at the same grade usually skips the competitive process. Former feds with reinstatement eligibility can return the same way.
How to transfer to USDA →Senior & Leadership Roles
Lead teams, set technical direction, and own delivery at scale. Engineering managers, principal engineers, product and program leaders, and senior executives shape how USDA technology serves the country for the next decade.
GS-14/15 & SES roles →A Simple Three-Step Process
Federal hiring isn't fast, but it's transparent. Here's exactly what happens between "I'm interested" and "I start Monday."
Join the Network
Stay abreast of new developments and opportunities in Ag-Tech.
Apply & Interview
Application review (<3 weeks) → technical screen → panel interview.
Clearance & Start
We sponsor your background investigation. Plan for 8–14 weeks from offer to first day.
Seven Tech Hubs
Kansas City
St. Louis
Fort Collins
Salt Lake City
Indianapolis
Raleigh
Washington
A Career, Not Just A Job
Federal benefits are quietly excellent. Pension on top of TSP. 11 paid holidays. Real work-life balance.
Pension + TSP
Defined-benefit pension plus a 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plan with up to 5% federal match. Compound stability.
13–26 Days PTO
Vacation accrues with tenure. Plus 11 federal holidays, 13 sick days, and parental leave that doesn't make you choose.
FEHB Health Plans
Choose from 200+ health plans nationwide. Government pays roughly 72% of the premium, for life, into retirement.
Student Loan Help
Working at USDA qualifies you for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
Learn more →Sustainable Pace
Systems millions depend on, run by humans who sleep. On-call is real but staffed and rotated, not 2am-as-a-lifestyle. Compressed and alternative schedules across most teams.
Conference & Learning
Annual training budget. Tuition assistance. Time off to attend conferences. We expect you to stay sharp.
Answers
Everything you need to know about applying, clearance, compensation, and what working at USDA actually looks like day-to-day.
What job series should I search for?
The most common is 2210 (information technology) and 1560 (data scientist). You'll also see 1550 (computer science) and 0854 (computer engineering). Data, geospatial, and design roles can appear under series like 1560, 0150, and 1084. When in doubt, start with 2210 and 1560 and broaden from there.
How does federal pay compare?
Honestly: base salaries typically run 70–85% of FAANG total comp at the same level. We won't pretend otherwise. What changes the math is the rest of the package (pension plus TSP match, healthcare into retirement, 11 holidays, and real 40-hour weeks) and the fact that several hubs (Kansas City, Fort Collins, Indianapolis) sit well below the national cost-of-living index. The case here is impact, scope, and stability, not the top-of-band number.
Can I work remotely?
Most teams are primarily in-office at one of seven tech hubs, typically 4–5 days a week on-site. We don't pretend to be remote-first; there's real value in being close to the program teams and the people who use what you build. The exact telework posture varies by role and is stated in each posting. Relocation assistance is available for many roles.
Can non-U.S. citizens apply?
Eligibility is generally restricted to U.S. citizens. Plan on citizenship being required for permanent positions. A small number of roles may be open to U.S. nationals or lawful permanent residents where law specifically allows, but those are the exception, not the rule.
Does USDA sponsor employment visas?
No. USDA does not sponsor employment visas for these positions, and U.S. citizenship is generally required.
Can military veterans get hiring preference for technology roles?
Yes. Veterans' preference and special hiring authorities (VEOA, VRA, and 30% disabled veteran appointments) apply to technology roles just like any other. See our Veterans Employment page for the details.
I'm a current federal employee. How do I transfer to USDA?
Apply to merit promotion listings on USAJobs as a status candidate. A lateral move at the same grade generally doesn't require a new competitive process. Search the merit-promotion listings filtered to USDA and the 2210 series.
What are the background investigation and security clearance requirements?
Most roles require a Public Trust or Secret-level background investigation. We sponsor it. You don't need a clearance to apply. Some cyber and infrastructure roles require Top Secret; we'll fund and shepherd that process. Plan for roughly 2–6 months from offer to start.
What does the interview process look like?
Application and résumé review (under 3 weeks) → technical screen → panel interview → references and clearance kickoff. Total is roughly 8–14 weeks from apply to start, longer if your role needs higher clearance. We tell you what stage you're at, every step, no ghosting.
Ready to Build For America?
Technology roles are open across USDA right now. Browse the live listings on USAJOBS.