Amanda Scales is an American businesswoman who has served as the chief of staff of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the first part of 2025.

Early life

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Scales attended the University of California, Davis.[1] During college, she interned for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, while also teleworking for an internet startup based in Davis, CA.[2][3] She joined the honors program at the College of Letters and Sciences in 2012.[4]

Career

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Scales held talent acquisition (known as "acqui-hiring") positions at tech companies, including Uber, before joining xAI, an Elon Musk company.[5]

In January 2025, Scales was appointed to be chief of staff of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.[6] She was reportedly hired to carry out U.S. president Donald Trump and Musk's directives to purge large numbers of staff from the federal government; agencies were directed to send lists of potentially fireable employees directly to her.[7] Scales was one of only a few people with the authority to create exemptions for mass firings across federal agencies.[8] By May 20, Scales had returned to xAI.[9]

Scales is on the Board of Directors for the Evergreen Music and Performing Arts in Colorado.[10][11]

References

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  1. ^ Anonymous (July 10, 2018). "Amanda Scales | Washington Program". washingtonprogram.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  2. ^ "Psychology | Washington Program". washingtonprogram.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  3. ^ Anonymous (July 10, 2018). "Amanda Scales | Washington Program". washingtonprogram.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  4. ^ Anonymous (December 30, 2022). "Honors, Awards, and Achievements | Psychology". psychology.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  5. ^ Elliott, Vittoria (February 2, 2025). "The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover". Wired. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  6. ^ Alms, Natalie (January 27, 2025). "Musk visits OPM following workforce assignments for DOGE". Nextgov.com. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  7. ^ Rozen, Courtney (January 21, 2015). "Trump HR Office Seeks List of Easy-to-Fire Federal Workers". Bloomberg Law.
  8. ^ Katz, Eric (January 22, 2025). "Broad exemptions to Trump's federal hiring freeze begin to take shape". Government Executive. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  9. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (May 20, 2025). "Amanda Scales, a Musk hire who helped lead DOGE, has returned to xAI". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  10. ^ Arts, Evergreen Music and Performing. "Evergreen Music and Performing Arts". Evergreen Music and Performing Arts. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  11. ^ Arts, Evergreen Music and Performing. "Evergreen Music and Performing Arts". Evergreen Music and Performing Arts. Retrieved May 16, 2025.