Login.gov looks for a director

Login.gov, the government's shared secure sign-on service, is looking for a new director to lead plans to "drastically scale adoption" of the service "in the next year."

Currently, J. Amos Stone is serving as acting director. According to his Linkedin, he's held that position for over two years since 2019. 

The General Services Administration isn't yet accepting applications for the job, but a listing gives some details. The position is listed as remote and a GS-15 level, with a salary up to $176,300.

This news comes as identity management in government has received renewed interest. The Internal Revenue Service has been grappling with blowback about it's use of ID.me, a third-party facial recognition services provider, and announced earlier this week that it would be stopping its use of the company.

GSA's login.gov was considered to fill that gap when IRS was initially looking for a provider, but decided against. Login.gov has over 40 million users as of January 19. 

Whoever does take on this leadership role for the service will have some money to work with - login.gov got a nearly $187 million nvestment from the Technology Modernization Fund last fall. At the time, GSA told FCW that it was planning on using the money to scale the service and work on identity verification alternatives to remote verification. 

GSA's announcement of the new job posting does hint at these plans as well, saying that the future director will be in charge of "growing the size and scope of the Login.gov program, which is seeking to dramatically scale adoption in the next year."

And as some push for the federal government to take a more active role in digital identity, the listing also flags that the future login.gov director will be "involved in agency and government-wide discussions about identity strategy."

"It is expected that the Login.gov Director will serve as a subject matter expert on the topics of digital identity, cybersecurity, and accessibility, and be a vocal, public advocate for the program and the benefits of adopting Login.gov," it continues. 

ID.me update

Separately, ID.me announced on Tuesday that it's no longer requiring biometrics as the only option for identity verification through the company.

Government agencies that work with the vendor will be able to offer people the option to work with a ID.me employee to verify their identity via video chat or in-person, if the agency has gotten that option, without submitting any selfies. Up until now, facial recognition tech has been the company's primary identity verification tool.

ID.me also announced that people will be able to delete their photo used for ID.me verification beginning March 1. 

A spokesperson for ID.me told FCW that deletion will take place seven days after users submit a request.

It's also currently not clear if Americans who've been verified through ID.me already to access IRS online services will be able to continue to access them as the IRS moves away from ID.me.