Applications for the January 2027 fellowship are now open and will close on June 25, 2026 at 11:59pm ET.

The Congressional Innovation Fellowship places technologists in Congressional offices to provide expertise on technology policy. The fellowship aims to help build a critical mass of technology expertise in government by ensuring informed decision-making on issues like cybersecurity, privacy, and emerging technologies.

We are recruiting up to 20 fellows for the January 2027 Congressional Innovation Fellowship: 10 fellows to serve in Democratic offices and 10 to serve in Republican offices. For the January 2027 cohort, we are searching for both early- and mid-career technologists.

We’re expanding our fellow profile beyond just “technologist” in the traditional sense. We’re hoping to have at least 2 fellows who fit within one of the following verticals:

• Climate & energy

• Government innovation

• Science, research, and innovation

If you have a technical degree and/or have worked in engineering, development, journalism, scientific, legal, or government roles in any of these spaces then we also encourage you to apply! You can find more information about our verticals in our Apply FAQs.

Please note that selecting or not selecting a vertical on your application does not impact how your application is scored. It just helps us figure out what issues you’re interested in working on!

Since 2016, we’ve sent over 140 technologists to Congress who have made an incredible impact on both the institution and tech policy. Congress needs people like you.

Sign up for our newsletter and view application resources below— including our offline application, testimonies from our fellows, frequently asked questions, and information about upcoming informational calls.

general

TechCongress’ Senior Congressional Innovation Fellowship (our mid-career pipeline), and Congressional Innovation Fellowship (our early-career pipeline) places scientists, engineers, and other technologists to serve as policy advisors to members of Congress.

As a TechCongress Fellow, you will:

• Work with TechCongress to choose a placement with a Member of Congress or Congressional Committee and report directly to a senior staffer (like a Legislative or Staff Director) in that office.

• Perform duties similar to other Congressional staff by applying your experience in technology to a variety of work, including:

  • Researching relevant policymaking (on issues like encryption, autonomous vehicle regulations, facial recognition privacy, health IT, election security, disinformation, open data, cyber/data security and many others).

  • Helping educate Members and staffers about these issues.

  • Writing legislation.

  • Preparing for and organizing Committee hearings, markups, or investigations.

  • Building coalitions with partners and other groups.

• Support TechCongress by writing about and presenting on your experience periodically, and represent TechCongress and the Congressional Innovation Fellowship at meetings or events.

This is a full-time, paid, in-person fellowship. Fellows must relocate to Washington, D.C. and work in-person in order to participate.

You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for the fellowship. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, or those eligible for the DACA program, are eligible and encouraged to apply.

You can get a more in-depth look into our eligibility requirements on our FAQ page.

stipend and benefits

Senior (mid-career) Fellows will serve in their offices from January through December 2027. They will have the option of a one-month extension, through January 2028, to write about their experience and to provide extra time for a post-fellowship job search. We're looking for our mid-career fellows to have at least eight years of work or postgraduate study. Mid-career fellows (Senior Fellows) receive a stipend of $100,600/year.

Congressional Innovation (early career) Fellows will serve in their offices from January - October 2027. Early career fellows will have between two to six years of full-time experience (or having recently finished or projected to finish a graduate technical degree program, such as a Master’s or PhD, before the start of the program in January 2027). Early career fellows (Fellows) receive a $78,000 annual-equivalent stipend.

Applicants with seven years of experience qualify for an intermediate tier with the stipend allocated based on relative experience, and may select both tiers when applying. Our application reviewers will determine final eligibility.

TechCongress additionally provides the following benefits:

• A health insurance supplement of up to $425/month*,

• Up to $2,000 for relocation to Washington, D.C. for those moving from outside the area,

• A reimbursement of up to $2,000 for accommodation for the first month of the fellowship in the D.C. area for short term housing (Airbnb, etc.) to ease the transition,

• Up to $2,000 for official travel, including a visit to the home district of your boss,

• A $500 clothing allowance for purchases of professional attire ,

• Up to three sessions with a career coach to help plan for post-fellowship opportunities.

*Fellows access the same coverage options as Members and Congressional staffers through DC Health Link, the Washington, D.C. Health Insurance Exchange

application resources

Curious about our eligibility requirements? Want to know more about how we select fellows? Need help with your policy essay? Know someone who would be a good fit for our fellowship? Check out our resources below:

informational events

Interested in learning more about the fellowship and our application questions? attend or watch a recording of our informational events!

Throughout our recruitment cycles, we host several events to help guide our prospective applicants through the entire process with hands-on help from the TechCongress team and former fellows.

All recruitment events for this cycle have concluded, but don’t worry— you can find the recordings of our events on our blog or YouTube channel.

IMPACT

Curious about where some of our fellows served and landed post-fellowship?

MORE ABOUT TECHCONGRESS

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