Why We Serve: Mike Land

In this series you’ll hear stories from USDSers and learn why they decided to join, why they stay, and how their work is making an impact for all Americans.

Michael Land (he/ him), Director of UX Design, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Previously with the National Park Service. From Forest, VA.

Unlike a lot of USDSers, I have worked in and around government my entire career, mostly on environmental issues. Fresh out of college and armed with a degree in biology, I did a stint in state government as a fisheries scientist at the College of William and Mary. During my down time from field research, I began to tinker around on the web, building websites for the College.

Eventually, I moved to Annapolis and began working as the Director of Web for the Chesapeake Bay Program, a multi-governmental, Bay restoration program focused on restoring the Chesapeake Bay, our nation’s largest estuary, where I led efforts to communicate Bay science and education through a series of digital products.

While in that role, I joined federal service as the Director of Product and User Experience Design for the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office, where I built digital products that connect citizens with experiences around the Chesapeake region.

In all of the digital roles, and like most designers in the government space, I have had to wear a bunch of hats — from product lead / visionary to researcher to product designer to visual designer to front-end coder.

What inspired you to join USDS?
While working for the Park Service, I became aware of the U.S. Digital Service through design colleagues like Dana Chisnell and by watching a TED talk by Haley Van Dyck, former Deputy Administrator. That year, I applied, interviewed and eventually settled on a six-month detail to USDS from the Park Service, joining the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) team to help build upon on-going efforts to bring user-centered design to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

After returning to the Park Service, I honestly could not stop thinking about the scale and impact of USDS’s mission.

In late 2017, I made the decision to re-apply and in early 2018, I officially re-joined the Digital Service as one of the first “boomerang” USDSers and plugged back into design efforts at USCIS. Since then, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to lead and build design teams at the agency and am serving as the first Director of UX Design for USCIS, where I’m focused on building a design operations program.

What’s your biggest challenge at USDS?

Trying to gain footing for design and establish design roles, particularly design leadership, within the federal government. Modern day UX/design roles don’t even exist within the federal classification standard, which were created in the 1940’s. So there’s a job description for Clothing Design, but no roles for Interaction Designers or UX Researchers.

I am working to find ways to bring all levels of design roles into federal service, including leadership roles that can help amplify design’s value and impact at scale across government.

What do you want to do after USDS?

I’m not 100% sure to be honest. I’ve now served as a civil servant in the federal government for almost 18 years, so it’s kind of hard to imagine working outside the civic tech space. I really value the mission of delivering better government services to the American people. If folks are considering joining the civic tech movement, I highly recommend it. The work can be mind-bogglingly difficult at times, but the effort is 100% worth it. We all deserve a better government — and a tour of duty with USDS is an excellent way to help transform critical, public-facing services.

What will I miss about USDS?

When hiring candidates ask me “what do you love most about USDS?”, I always answer THE PEOPLE. We have incredibly passionate, talented folks working at USDS who are ready and willing to share their immense expertise, lend a helping hand to colleagues and dive headlong into really impactful, yet challenging problems across the federal landscape.

The best of technology.
The best of government.
And we want you.
We’re looking for the most tenacious designers, software engineers, product managers, and more, who are committed to untangling, rewiring and redesigning critical government services. You’ll join a team of the most talented technologists from across the private sector and government.
If you have questions regarding employment with the U.S. Digital Service, please contact us at usds@omb.eop.gov and visit usds.gov/apply.

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