The Administration · Money, markets and the airwaves
Scott Kupor
OPM Director
A Silicon Valley venture capitalist who runs the federal government's personnel office, overseeing the shrinking of the civil service by hundreds of thousands of jobs and new rules that make workers easier to fire.
Biography
Scott Kupor was born on October 6, 1971, grew up in Houston and earned his bachelor's and law degrees at Stanford, finishing law school in 1996. 1 After a year clerking for a federal appeals judge he became an investment banker, then joined the software start-up Loudcloud, later renamed Opsware, in 1999. 1 When Hewlett-Packard bought the company in 2007 he stayed on as an executive running its global support organization. 1 2
In 2009 he became the first employee of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he rose to managing partner as the firm grew to more than $45 billion under management. 1 2 He chaired the National Venture Capital Association and taught at Stanford's business school. 2 Trump named him for the personnel office in December 2024. The Senate confirmed him 49 to 46 on July 9, 2025, and he was sworn in on July 14. 1 2 3
The office he leads writes the rules for 2 million federal workers. Soon after arriving he predicted his own agency would lose a third of its staff and that the government would end 2025 with about 300,000 fewer employees. 1 Fortune later reported that roughly 387,000 workers left in the first year of Trump's term, a net reduction of about 264,000. 5 He ended the weekly five-accomplishments emails started under Elon Musk and scrapped a hiring rule dating to the 1800s. 1
Kupor has paired the cuts with recruiting drives aimed at technology workers, including a Tech Force launched in December 2025 to hire 1,000 engineers with help from major tech companies. 5 Unions have sued over his hiring plan, which they call a loyalty test, and over layoffs threatened before the 2025 government shutdown. 1 He remains director: his office's news releases in October 2026 show him promoting a new artificial intelligence hiring effort and a rule easing promotions. 6
In the job
The acts and events that have defined the post so far, oldest first.
Ended the weekly emails requiring federal workers to list five accomplishments, and said the government would finish the year with about 300,000 fewer employees. 1
Ended the long-standing rule that agencies hire from among the three top-scoring applicants. 1
Launched the U.S. Tech Force to hire about 1,000 engineers and specialists, with partner companies including Amazon Web Services, Google, Nvidia, Palantir and OpenAI. 5
His office finalized the Schedule Policy/Career rule, which strips some job protections from certain policy-related career positions. 7
Proposed further rule changes described by the office as strengthening accountability across the workforce. 6
Finalized a rule removing the government-wide requirement that employees spend a set time in a pay grade before promotion. 6
Disputes, and their side
What critics, courts or investigators have said, and the answer given. An allegation is not a finding.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Robert Garcia wrote to Kupor and budget director Russell Vought warning that moving staff from Musk's cost-cutting team into permanent career jobs could break laws against political hiring. 4
Their side: Kupor said his office reviews every such move for compliance with civil service law and that no one tied to that team had unlawfully moved into a career job. 4
Federal employee unions sued over a hiring plan that asks applicants how they would advance the president's priorities, which the unions call a loyalty test. Unions had also sued Kupor and Vought in September over mass layoffs threatened ahead of the government shutdown. 1
Their side: No public response found in the sources opened.
Fortune reported concerns that bringing technology company employees into government on short stints, with the companies promising to consider them for jobs afterward, creates conflicts of interest. 5
Their side: Kupor told Fortune the risks should not be dismissed but are outweighed by the benefits, and that safeguards would include keeping such hires out of purchasing decisions. 5
Career
- Law clerk to Judge Jerry Smith, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- Investment banker at Credit Suisse
- Executive at Loudcloud, later Opsware
- Executive at Hewlett-Packard after it acquired Opsware
- Andreessen Horowitz, from first employee to managing partner
- Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association
- Director of the Office of Personnel Management
Our reporting
We have not yet published a story that names Scott Kupor. When we do, it will appear here.
Sources for this file
- Wikipedia, Scott Kupor, Feb. 25, 2026
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM Director Scott Kupor (official biography), Nov. 13, 2026
- ExecutiveGov, Scott Kupor Confirmed as New OPM Chief, July 11, 2025
- CBS News, Congressional Democrats ask Trump administration to stop DOGE employees from moving into permanent positions, Aug. 7, 2025
- Fortune, OPM Director Scott Kupor won't 'dismiss' conflict of interest risks with tech hiring push, April 4, 2026
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, News Releases, Nov. 2, 2026
- Federal News Network, OPM's Kupor defends Schedule Policy/Career, as finalization nears, March 2026
File checked Nov. 13, 2026. Something wrong or out of date? Tell the desk.