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CASE STUDY · 01 Phase 1 delivered · Intelligence Community roadmap

ICJobs

From prototype to a top-5 ODNI strategic priority. Presented to senior leadership at Congressional-level demonstrations, on a path to become the single front door for hiring across the entire Intelligence Community.

ICJobs is the Intelligence Community’s internal job board, designed from UX research through a full ServiceNow Service Portal implementation on the classified high-side, built and owned end-to-end on the frontend.

ROLE
Frontend Application Developer · Owner, frontend architecture
CLIENT
ODNI Intelligence Community CIO · via CACI
TIMEFRAME
Feb 2026 – Present
ENVIRONMENT
Classified high-side network
Sanitized interface stand-in. The production UI runs on a classified network and cannot be reproduced here.
Top-5
ODNI strategic priority
Community-wide
entire Intelligence Community, at scale
<2s
page-load target
0
OWASP critical vulns · WCAG 2.1 AA
The brief

The Intelligence Community needed a single internal job board on the classified high-side: a place for cleared personnel to browse vacancies, apply, and move through hiring, all in one place. What existed was fragmented and scattered across agencies.

The environment sets the terms. No external CDN. Every upload is security-scanned. Fonts install locally or fall back. The interface has to be fast, accessible, and completely self-contained, and built to scale toward the entire cleared workforce.

What I owned

The frontend, end to end: from research to running widgets.

Research & strategy

Six weeks evaluating out-of-the-box vs. custom architecture, then authored the platform recommendation that set the project’s technical direction.

Design system & UX

A tokenized design system built from scratch: color, type, grid, and a full component library, plus wireframes, user flows, and requirements across six roles.

Implementation

HTML/CSS/JS prototypes first, then production AngularJS 1.x widgets in the ServiceNow Service Portal, wired to server-side data with GlideRecord.

The decision that shaped the build

Custom frontend over out-of-the-box.

A vendor assessment claimed 90% of ICJobs could ship out-of-the-box. Measured against the actual requirements rather than a one-line summary, that number didn’t hold. I documented exactly where the stock modules broke and what the project genuinely needed.

The out-of-the-box marketplace couldn’t support unauthenticated vacancy browsing, and its component set assumed CDN access the classified network doesn’t allow. The recommendation established a hybrid model: the platform’s workflow engine on the back end, a fully custom Service Portal frontend on top, where the product’s value actually lives.

HYBRID ARCHITECTURE
Workflow engine
Platform HRSD · back end
Custom Service Portal frontend
AngularJS 1.x widgets · the value driver
Design system · built from scratch

One tokenized system for the whole product.

Slate
#1B3A4B · nav / header
Terra
#C4622D · primary CTA
Sage · vacancy open
Sky · informational
Amber · clearance flag
Violet · featured role
Red · vacancy closed
DisplayFraunces → Georgia fallback
BodyPlus Jakarta Sans → Segoe UI
Grid8 pt rhythm · 1440 px max
Layout1fr content + 300 px rail
ButtonsCardsTagsFormsNavAlertsModalsData displayFilters
Frontend engineering

Built for the constraints of a classified network.

AngularJS 1.x Service Portal widgets

Custom widgets for browsing, application, and dashboards, with client scripts and CSS controlling every piece of the rendered UI. No out-of-the-box ServiceNow screens.

Server-side database queries

Vacancy, application, and profile data is queried directly against the platform database server-side with GlideRecord, with no external REST layer, keeping every read inside the security boundary.

Live stats from live data

Query results are aggregated and transformed server-side into real-time figures like open vacancies, applicant counts, and pipeline status, then rendered as live dashboard widgets that update as the data changes.

Application & vacancy workflow

Candidates attach a PDF resume and submit; Business Rules and Client Scripts drive each application through its stages, writing status changes back to the database and triggering the right notifications.

Role-based access controlLocally-installed fonts · no CDNOWASP zero-critical via CI/CDWCAG 2.1 AA
Requirements · BRD v2

Six roles, one flow.

EmployeeManagerHR ManagerIntelligence Community AdminVacancy Admin / POCAgency POC
ACCESS
Unauthenticated vacancy browsing
PROFILES
Candidate profiles with multiple stored resumes
SCREENING
Automated eligibility screening for clearance & completeness
HR TOOLS
HR dashboard with bulk CSV export
PERMISSIONS
Role-based access control across all six roles
NOTIFICATIONS
Status transitions with automated email ≤5 min
Where it’s headed

One front door for hiring across the entire Intelligence Community.

The ambition keeps growing. What started as a job board is being scoped toward the Intelligence Community’s single hiring platform: a LinkedIn for the cleared workforce, with user profiles, awards, and professional networking on top of every vacancy. Each agency that joins imports its job leads into one high-visibility portal, and every candidate meets the community through a single front door.

Unified profiles

One cleared-workforce profile holding SF-50, resumes, and eligibility that follow the candidate across every agency.

Awards & recognition

Commendations and career milestones surfaced on the profile, so reputation travels with the person.

Professional network

A LinkedIn for the mission: connections, endorsements, and internal mobility inside the security boundary.

Cross-agency vacancy feed

Every participating agency’s openings aggregated into a single searchable, high-visibility board.

Automated eligibility

Clearance and completeness screened at the door, regardless of which agency posted the role.

Per-agency workflows

A shared platform that still respects how each agency actually hires, with configurable stages and forms per org.

OUTCOME

Where it stands now.

“It didn’t look like a government website.”
THE REACTION TO THE DELIVERED INTERFACE

Phase 1 shipped. The work was presented directly to ODNI senior leadership at Congressional-level demonstrations, and ICJobs was elevated to a top-5 ODNI strategic priority under the Intelligence Community Director, with a roadmap to expand across the Intelligence Community.

The platform went fully live in the weeks that followed. IC CIO Doug Cossa confirmed the launch publicly at the 2026 DoDIIS Worldwide Conference, describing ICJobs as the community’s classified answer to USAJobs, available to TS/SCI-cleared staff so resumes and job postings can move on the high side. NGA and the National Reconnaissance Office are the first agencies onboarded, with more expected to follow as ODNI builds out shared human-capital services across the Intelligence Community.

FEDERAL NEWS NETWORK · IN THE NEWS

‘ICJobs:’ Intel community gets new classified jobs portal

By Justin Doubleday · August 12, 2026

Reporting on Cossa’s DoDIIS keynote in Tampa, Federal News Network covered the launch as part of a wider IC push to compete for AI talent, with Cossa framing the stakes as finding “the right people with the right talent for the right work.” The piece also places ICJobs inside ODNI’s larger shared-services agenda, alongside new zero-trust and identity-management initiatives.

Read the coverage →
AT A GLANCE
PlatformServiceNow Service Portal
FrontendAngularJS 1.x · HTML5 · CSS3
DataGlideRecord · JSON
NetworkClassified · high-side
StatusLive · publicly confirmed
AdoptionNGA · NRO onboarded
PressFederal News Network, Aug 2026