At a time when the DOD has incentivized civilian employees to retire, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has pledged to cut up to 8% of civilian DOD positions, GigEagle has been growing fast.
The platform has more than 12,000 users today, up from 4,500 in late 2024 and 10,000 earlier this spring.
“We have increased retirements, so we have needs that we’ve identified,” said Brig Gen. Michael T. McGinley, who oversees the platform.
About 240 people around Wright-Patterson have availed themselves of the platform, finding defense jobs that dovetail with their skills and experience.
“This not a pipe dream,” McGinley said. “We can do this today.”
The proposition: Short-term gigs to Department of Defense (DOD) employees, including Reservists and Guard members, from four hours to 90 days. These are not permanent new jobs, and supervisors must approve the temporary moves.
McGinley was hailing an Uber in Cambridge, Mass. in 2018 when he brainstormed what became GigEagle.
He and others saw all too often that it sometimes took six months to find the right people to solve problems that needed addressing today.
But when he needed an Uber, he could get a speedy response.
“Wait a minute: I have a demand signal,” recalled McGinley, who has worked for AFRL and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson. “There’s a supply of talent that’s out there, and a commercial company has figured out an algorithm that matches the demand signal with the supply, in minutes. In seconds, actually.”
“It was an ‘aha’ moment,” he added.
To take advantage of that “aha” moment, any DOD employee can simply sign up at gigeagle.mil.
Fast forward a couple of years from that initial idea. Col. Nate Diller, who was leading AFWERX for AFRL at the time, was an early supporter of the idea, as was Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, the former AFRL commander.
“I have to say I’m incredibly thankful to AFWERX and to AFRL,” McGinley said. “They were early believers in what we were trying to do.”
Some recent examples of its use: The Air Force Academy has seen about 18 civilian professors opt to retire, the one-star general said. GigEagle was the tool that helped find a roster of suitable candidates for those positions.
In the first week of June, McGinley was able to find a strategic marketing expert for a general in minutes.
“The power of our Air Force and the power of our Department of Defense rests in the capabilities of the men and women in our ranks, and what we’re doing now is turning on the light switch to see those talents as never before,” he said.
The value proposition for users is finding a way to serve one’s country in a meaningful way, McGinley said.
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